All through October, I’ll be posting reviews of the best of the best films in the horror genre released since October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2026. As an added bonus, I’ll be doing a secondary review that may be somewhat related to the main review or slightly missed the countdown by inches. Follow along the countdown every day in October. Feel free to agree, disagree, or better yet, give me your own picks for your favorite horror movies of the year. Happy Halloween!

The Best in Horror 2025-2026 So Far…

#31 – DOLLY (GATOR FACE)
#30 – THINESTRA (SACCHARINE)
#29 – ONSLAUGHT (BEAST OF WAR)
#28 – READY OR NOT 2: HERE I COME (PENNY LANE IS DEAD)
#27 – IN OUR BLOOD (V/H/S/HALLOWEEN)
#26 – SEND HELP (HEEL)
#25 – THE CARPENTER’S SON (THE BOOK OF SIJJIN AND ILLIYYIN)
#24 – OTHER (YOU ARE NOT ME)
#23 – WHO’S WATCHING (MATCH)
#22 – HOPE (TOUCH ME)
#21 – THEY WILL KILL YOU (MEAT KILLS)
#20 – IT ENDS (ANACORETA)
#19 – TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA (PLAY DEAD)
#18 – IRON LUNG (THE DEEP DARK)
#17 – LEE CRONIN’S THE MUMMY (SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT)
#16 – BUFFET INFINITY (KETCHUP ON WAFFLES)
#15 – DUST BUNNY (THE YETI)
#14 – BUDDY (MONKEY’S MAGIC MERRY GO ROUND)
#13 – INFLUENCERS (PRIMAL DARKNESS)
#12 – KEEPER (THE HOUSE WAS NOT HUNGRY THEN)
#11 – UNDERTONE (MAN FINDS TAPE)

#11 – UNDERTONE (2025)

Released on March 13, 2026!
Streaming on HBO MAX from A24!
Directed/Written by Ian Tuason.
Check out the trailer here!

Evy (Nina Kiri) returns to her childhood home to care for her dying mother for her last days, taking the responsibility upon herself to feed, clean, and care for her. Though her mother is non-responsive, Evy seems to have put everything in her life on hold while her mother wastes away. Everything except her weekly supernatural podcast, the Undertone, where Evy plays the cynic to her fellow podcaster Justin (voiced, but never seen, by Adam DiMarco), who tends to be more of a believer in all things supernatural, or at least seems to be open to there being things out there that just can’t be explained. Justin receives an email from an anonymous party that contains ten audio files and both he and Evy decide to open the mysterious files on the air in sequence. But playing these audio files out loud seem to be affecting Evy, who aside from her non-responsive mother, is alone in this large, lonely, and horribly lit house.

Let me start by saying that UNDERTONE is not going to be for everyone. It moves at a very slow pace with a lot of ominous things occurring around Evy, but very little action. The film takes place entirely in the home of Evy’s mother, so much of the film revolves around Evy walking through the hallway slowly, investigating strange noises, and of course, doing her podcast at her computer. If you’re the type of viewer who needs a jump scare or heinous death scene every five minutes, you’re going to find UNDERTONE to be a tough trek to travel. For those who don’t mind a depthy character study that depicts a person slowly turning from a cynic to believer after some paranormal occurrences that grow in intensity as the minutes tick by, I think UNDERTONE is going to be one to seek out.

Nina Kiri is basically putting on a one woman show here as Evy. She is front and center in every scene, only interacting with her unresponsive mother upstairs and her unseen podcast partner Justin throughout the entire movie. It’s not an easy task but she handles the weight of this film well. We experience the sense that something is off with both the recordings, as well as what is going on in the home, through her eyes and ears. It makes for a very intimate experience as we get to know the burden Evy carries with taking care of her mother, paired with a healthy dose of catholic guilt piled upon her as indicated by the numerous crosses and religious symbols adorning the walls of this small home. All this paints a very sympathetic character to follow.

But the main star of UNDERTONE is the sound design. The audio files played for the podcast reminds me of the sounds from Regan’s room in THE EXORCIST combined with those terrifying phone calls from the classic slasher BLACK CHRISTMAS. Yeah, it gets to be that unsettling. And as the movie goes on, I came to dread the playing of the next recording just like when I felt overcome by a sense of blackness every time a new night scene arrived in PARANORMAL ACTIVITY. Having seen that film in a theater full of people, the shudders and groans of anticipation that something horrifying is coming up feels like an apt comparison to this film as it played on and we descended deeper and deeper into these recordings.

One thing I should point out that I guess is a gripe about UNDERTONE is the reliance on nursery rhymes, or more accurately, the slowing down and creeping up of nursery rhymes is a long-tired trope in horror. It’s been played out in most CONJURING, INSIDIOUS, and the like movies. Hell, I even remember thinking the nursery rhyme creep factor had died out when I saw the 1997 thriller NIGHTWATCH with Ewan MacGregor back in the day. And yes, it is kind of macabre that all of those old kids’ songs serve as warnings for children about the terrors of adulthood or are based on some specific dark story. Still, the concept is a bit tiring, yet it shows up in UNDERTONE and relates prominently to the plot. It was surprising to me that such a horror savvy film would use this trope, but at least it does it well.

There are plenty of horror scenes that occur every time Evy puts her headphones on in UNDERTONE. It’s one of those films that takes advantage of the very specific fear that, while wearing headphones, something dangerous might just be creeping up on you as Evy’s headphones drown out everything around her. She even sleeps with ear buds, once again, blocking out any kind of dangers that might be looming in the home or coming from these audio recordings. It says a lot about Evy’s character that she seems very eager to drown out the real world and all the problems that comes with it in this way. As an added bonus, it makes for some sheer terrifying scenes where you don’t know if the sound is coming from the audio recordings or from the house Evy is residing in. All of this escalates into an almost deafening cacophony of nightmare noise by the time the film climaxes. This is a film to watch with the volume all the way up to 11 to really immerse oneself in the horror.

If you have the patience for it, UNDERTONE is something you should go see immediately. I say this mainly because this is a film that really should be seen in a theater—unless you have a seriously badass sound system in your home, that is. UNDERTONE is more of a theatrical experience as the use of sound is the most important, the most terrifying factor of the movie. The shocking conclusion is an assault to the ears and a knife to the heart growing and growing until the absolutely shattering silence that occurs as the credits roll. See this one and more accurately hear this horrifying movie as fast as you can.

Worth Noting – MAN FINDS TAPE (2025)

Released on December 5, 2025!
Streaming on Tubi from XYZ Films and Vertigo Releasing!
Directed/Written by Paul Gandersman, Peter S. Hall.
Check out the trailer here!

A struggling YouTuber (is there any other kind?) named Richard (Shane Brady) who finds a box of video tapes, one revealing a strange, shadowy man walking into his room as a child. As he searches for meaning behind this encounter, a conspiracy that encompasses his entire small town of Larkin, Texas. When Richard’s videos go viral, he suddenly stops posting, forcing obsessed YouTube fans to track down Richard’s sister Lynn (Kelsey Pribilski), herself a documentary filmmaker, who doesn’t want to be bothered in her brother’s antics online. But when Richard fails to respond to her, Lynn goes home to do a wellness check, only to find that the conspiracy and something much more other worldly is real.

Are the actors successfully acting like they aren’t acting?
Both lead actors, Shane Brady and Kelsey Priblski feel natural and unrehearsed in front of the camera. There are a few recognizable actors in the film, namely Graham Skipper and John Gholson, who play significant roles and feel less convincing only because I recognized them from other films. I think with found footage, the lesser known the actor, the more believable they are. It’s less distracting when you’re not wondering where you’ve seen the actor before. Skipper and especially Gholson give convincing and decent performances, but their recognizability took away from the performances.

Does the footage found seem authentic and untouched by additional production?
MAN FINDS TAPE is filmed in a mock documentary format, something I refer to as shockumentary style, where there is produced music underscoring scenes as well as multiple edits from different cameras and format. Because the film is following the mockumentary format, a little leniency is always given, as this is clearly a documentary done to promote a certain viewpoint with less objectivity. There are scenes of found footage and footage caught in the moment that lack that produced feel that comes off as authentic scattered throughout, more so as the mystery deepens and Lynn gets closer to the truth.

Why don’t they just drop the camera and get the hell out of there?
Richard is a bit of an attention whore. So, he’s filming not only to get to the truth, but also for the hits. Lynn begins to believe in what Richard is saying about the small-town conspiracy and wants to capture it all on camera to root out the truth. Because of those two motivations, the camera is never dropped and always rolling.

Are there any found footage cliches like an up-nose BLAIR WITCH confessional or a REC-drag away from the camera?
Not really. For the most part, this is a film that doesn’t need to rely on such overused cliches of found footage cinema.

Does anything actually happen? Is the lead in too long and the payoff too short?
I feel as if a lot happens in MAN FINDS TAPE. Like any good documentary, the layers peel off like an onion revealing a much more diabolical and grotesque layer underneath. What starts out as a tape found that suggests some kind of perverse encounter between a man and a boy unravels into a bigger, more other dimensional horror-show. The information revealing this conspiracy and the horrors lurking under the surface in this small town is parsed out evenly through the runtime.

Does the film add anything to the subgenre and is it worth watching?
MAN FINDS TAPE was produced by Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson, the talented pair of filmmakers behind SPRING, THE ENDLESS, and RESOLUTION. Their work has always teetered around unknown worlds and Lovecraftian terror, and that’s what MAN FINDS TAPE eventually evolves to be. I loved the subtle way this movie moves from a small incident to a conspiracy that is bigger than anyone would have imagined. While low budget, the film stays within its budgetary constraints. Some of the final effects are a little dodgy and I don’t know if I understood all of what was going down by the end of the film. But the trip there is surreal, grotesque, and intriguing. The mocumentary format holds up throughout the film and while it never provides all the answers, it does open things up to an infinite number of places this film could go. Not that a sequel is necessary, but those who like all the boxes ticked by the end are going to be left wanting. Still, I found the mystery to be engrossing, the format to be authentic, and the horrors to be potent and unexpected all the way through MAN FINDS TAPE.

Once again, feel free to agree, disagree, or how about you play along at home and give me your own picks for your favorite horror movies. It’s October, so let’s talk horror. Come back tomorrow for the next level in the Best in Horror Countdown. Be sure to hit all of the pertinent bells and whistles down below and you’ll never miss a post! Happy Halloween, folks!