2026 has been a good year for movies. From big-budget spectacles like Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, the MCU’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day, small-budget horrors like Obsession and Backrooms, and visually stunning sci-fi like Ryan Gosling’s Project Hail Mary, Steven Spielberg‘s Disclosure Day,and Alan Ritchson’s War Machine. Fans were spoilt for choices and rightfully so.
Right before 2026 kicked off, another notable movie that hit the scene in 2025 was the Paul Feig-directed The Housemaid. Starring Sydney Sweeney and based on the novel of the same name by Freida McFadden, the psychological horror was a sleeper hit and is proving a streaming favorite. We follow Millie (Sweeney), a young woman attempting to rebuild her life after a troubled past. She takes a job as a live-in housemaid for Nina Winchester (Amanda Seyfried), but what initially appears to be a fresh start quickly spirals into a dangerous web of secrets, manipulation, and shifting power dynamics.
The Housemaid received wide praise for its lead cast’s performances, including Amanda Seyfried as Nina and Brandon Sklenar as Andrew. The 73% Rotten Tomatoes-rated film earned $401.7 million at the box office on a $35 million budget. It then went on to impress audiences on PVOD and streaming, consistently maintaining the #1 position on several services. Interestingly, the feature has maintained its streaming stronghold for months now.
The Housemaid has spent over 281 days on Prime Video, as per FlixPatrol. Continuing its streak, it has spent 290 days on Apple TV’s top 10 list, and on platforms like Starz and Prime Video, it’s been on the top 10 list for over 80 days. Certainly, the feature is proving a good watch for all seasons and has developed a dedicated fan base. At this pace, the feature is emerging as a modern classic in the genre.
Horror/Quizzes/Survival Odds
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Survival TestSP · Do Not Rewind
Collider QuizWhich Horror Villain Could You Survive?8 Questions · 5 VillainsFive villains. Five completely different ways this ends badly if you are not smart enough, fast enough, or self-aware enough to avoid it. Only one of them is the villain your particular set of instincts gives you a fighting chance against. Eight questions will figure out which one.The Lineup
Jason Voorhees
Michael Myers
Freddy Krueger
Pennywise
Chucky
Survival Odds CalculatedYour Best Chance Is Against
Your instincts, your strengths, and your particular way of thinking under pressure
point to one villain you have a real fighting chance against. Everyone else: good luck.
Friday the 13thJason VoorheesCamp Crystal Lake · Friday the 13th, 1980Relentless, but he never once changes the plan.
Jason is relentless, but he is also predictable, and that is the gap you would exploit.Why You Last Longer
He moves in straight lines toward his target. He doesn’t strategize, doesn’t
adapt, doesn’t outsmart. He simply pursues.
Your ability to keep moving, use the environment, and resist the panic that freezes most
people gives you a genuine edge.
The Crystal Lake survivors were always the ones who stopped running in circles and started
thinking about terrain, water, and distance.
You think like that. Which means Jason, for all his indestructibility, would face someone
who simply refused to be where he expected.
From The Collider File
Crystal Lake, the Peacock prequel series, dropped all eight episodes on October 15, 2026.
It ended a 17-year gap, the longest the franchise has ever gone without a new entry.
Keeps MovingReads TerrainCrystal Lake
HalloweenMichael MyersHaddonfield, Illinois · Halloween, 1978He is already in the frame. You just have to look.
Michael watches before he moves. He is patient, methodical, and almost impossible to detect, until it’s too late for anyone who isn’t paying close enough attention.Why You Last Longer
But you are paying attention. You notice the shape in the window, the car parked slightly
wrong, the silence where there should be sound.
Michael’s power lies in the invisibility of ordinary suburbia, the fact that nothing
ever looks wrong until it already is.
Your spatial awareness and instinct to map every room, every exit, and every shadow before
you need them is precisely the quality Laurie Strode had.
You are not a target waiting to happen. You are someone who already suspects something is
wrong, and acts on it.
From The Collider File
John Carpenter is producing a new Halloween film with Blumhouse and Miramax.
The 1978 mask was a store-bought Captain Kirk mask, widened at the eyes and painted white.
Checks ExitsNotices FirstHaddonfield
A Nightmare on Elm StreetFreddy KruegerElm Street · A Nightmare on Elm Street, 1984He needs you rattled. You are hard to rattle.
Freddy wins by getting inside your head, using your own fears, your own memories, your own subconscious against you. That strategy requires a target who can be destabilized.Why You Last Longer
You are harder to destabilize than most. You’ve faced uncomfortable truths about
yourself and you haven’t looked away.
The survivors on Elm Street were always the ones who understood what was happening and chose
to face it rather than flee from it.
Freddy’s greatest weakness is that his power evaporates in the presence of someone who
refuses to give him the fear he feeds on.
Your psychological resilience, the ability to stay grounded when reality itself becomes
unreliable, is exactly the quality that keeps you alive here.
From The Collider File
Paramount set a new A Nightmare on Elm Street in motion in July 2026, with the Wes Craven
estate involved.
Craven built the original on newspaper reports of people so afraid of their own nightmares
that they refused to fall asleep.
Stays LucidFaces ItElm Street
ItPennywiseDerry, Maine · It, 1990It eats fear. You are not serving any.
Pennywise is ancient, shapeshifting, and feeds on fear, but it has one critical vulnerability: it cannot function against someone who truly stops being afraid of it.Why You Last Longer
The Losers Club didn’t survive because they were braver than everyone else. They
survived because they faced their fears together, and faced them honestly.
You ask the questions others avoid. You look directly at what frightens you rather than
turning away.
That directness, the refusal to let fear fester in the dark, is Pennywise’s worst
nightmare.
It chose the wrong target when it chose you. You are exactly the kind of person whose fear
tastes like nothing at all.
From The Collider File
HBO renewed It: Welcome to Derry for a second season, with Bill Skarsgard back under the
makeup.
The showrunners have said season two reaches further back, to younger versions of the first
season’s characters.
Asks Out LoudUnrattledDerry
Child’s PlayChuckyChicago · Child’s Play, 1988Everybody laughs. You are not laughing.
Chucky’s greatest advantage is that nobody takes him seriously until it’s already too late. He exploits the gap between how something looks and what it really is.Why You Last Longer
You don’t have that gap. You take threats seriously regardless of how they present, and
you never make the mistake of underestimating something because of its size or appearance.
Chucky relies on surprise, on the delay between recognition and response. You close that
delay faster than almost anyone.
Your instinct to treat every unfamiliar thing with appropriate skepticism, rather than
dismissing it because it seems absurd, is the exact quality that keeps you breathing.
Against Chucky, not laughing is already winning. You are very good at not laughing.
From The Collider File
Don Mancini is writing the next Chucky film and plans to direct it himself, aimed back at
the scarier end.
Brad Dourif has voiced the doll since 1988 and has said he has no plans to stop.
Takes It SeriouslyFast ResponseChicago
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A Collider InteractiveCOLLIDERMore quizzes at collider.com
‘The Housemaid 2’ Is in the Works
The movie’s success was capitalized on by the makers with a sequel announcement. The sequel will be based on McFadden’s bestseller, The Housemaid’s Secret. It follows Millie as she takes a housekeeping job for a woman she’s never allowed to meet. Things take a turn when she learns the truth behind a locked door and finds herself caught up in secrets that may be even darker than her own. Feige has returned to direct, along with Sweeney as Millie and Michele Morrone as Enzo. Kristen Dunst has joined the cast in a new role. The sequel is expected to do the same by offering moviegoers a darker, R-rated thriller during the 2027 holiday season.
Check out The Housemaid on Amazon or Apple TV and stay tuned to Collider for more such updates.