Why We Like to Be Scared
October 31, 2026
In a moment marked by economic anxiety, concerns over artificial intelligence, and geopolitical instability, frightening fiction is thriving. From the page to the big screen, horror has had a massive year.
In publishing, the horror sub-genre is set to break new sales records. Readers aren’t the only ones seeking a good scare. Horror films dominated the silver screen this summer, with Backrooms and Obsession grossing more than $460 million domestically and roughly $900 million globally. Both films came from young directors who cut their teeth on YouTube, with their fingers on the pulse of this generation’s anxieties and fears. Even as major franchises like Spider-Man broke box office records, audiences turned two original horror stories into blockbuster hits.
