By MICHAEL GINGOLD
Some heavy genre hitters are part of this salute to the history of screen scares.
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles has announced the expansive exhibition “The Horror Show,” which opens in the fourth-floor Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg Gallery on September 26 and will continue through July 25, 2027. According to the Museum, “‘The Horror Show’ will take visitors on a journey through conventions, characters, and settings that have haunted theaters and audiences for more than a century. Winding through six thematic ‘chambers’ filled with rare, original props, costumes, production materials, and interactive displays, the exhibition explores why people love to be scared at the movies and how filmmakers satisfy that desire.” Those chambers include Gothic, Psychological, Science, Slasher, Religion and Ghosts; the only pathway out will take visitors through The Blood Room, “an immersion in the many textures and shades of cinematic blood.” There will also be a small-scale, family-friendly Zombies! section in the adjacent Warner Bros. Gallery.
In addition, “The exhibition will be accompanied by public programs and film screenings that begin September 26 with the retrospective film series John Carpenter: Prince of Darkness; the 2026 Monster Mash on October 24, featuring the U.S. premiere of the 4K restoration of HORROR OF DRACULA (1958); Museum After Dark on October 31, featuring a screening of THE CRAFT (1996); and a 50th anniversary screening of CARRIE (1976) with Oscar-winning actress Sissy Spacek on November 19.
“Our teams have done a phenomenal job creating an immersive and thrilling journey through the history of horror films, making an exhibition that is both emotional and experiential,” says Director and President of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and Academy Collection, Amy Homma. “Along with our amazing programming teams, we have selected a variety of film and educational programming to accompany the exhibition that is sure to excite all types of horror fans.”
“‘The Horror Show’ is an exploration of horror’s emotional, cultural, and symbolic power and examines why horror matters so deeply to many different types of communities,” says Senior Exhibitions Curator Jessica Niebel. “We are excited to celebrate the daring creativity of horror cinema with devoted fans and curious newcomers alike, inviting audiences to confront what frightens us—and discover why we keep coming back for more.”
Among the advisory team for “The Horror Show” is Willem Dafoe, who says, “Cinema in general engages your sense of wonder, but horror can explode it. It is a popular form, born of modest financial resources and with a strong, lasting independent streak. And it has all the same possibilities for originality, inventiveness, and freedom that it did in its infancy.”
“Horror is crucial to culture and cinema, and to our evolving understanding of what it means to be alive on earth,” says filmmaker and exhibition advisor Osgood Perkins. “I couldn’t think of a bigger or better celebration of the films and stories that have impacted audiences so profoundly and for so long. There is something for every horror fan to appreciate and enjoy in this exhibition, a hallway of limitless doors to be opened and explored.”
The team also includes documentary filmmaker Ariel Baska, Oscar-winning prosthetic makeup artist and Academy member Howard Berger, author and filmmaker Tananarive Due and film scholar Angela Marie Smith. For more information, head over to the Academy Museum’s website.
