Written By: Sam Santiago
Living just outside Los Angeles, you'd think we would've made countless trips to the Academy Museum by now.
Truth be told, while we've always appreciated what the museum has offered film fans, there simply hadn't been that one exhibit that absolutely demanded we clear our schedules and make the drive.
Until now.
Come Sept. 26, we'll happily be making our way to Los Angeles because The Horror Show looks like exactly the kind of exhibition we've been hoping to see. In fact, don't be surprised if we're among the first horror fans walking through those doors.
According to Variety, the Academy Museum has officially unveiled The Horror Show, an ambitious new exhibition celebrating the history, artistry, and enduring legacy of horror cinema. Rather than simply displaying costumes and props behind glass, the exhibition promises an immersive journey through the genre itself.
According to the Academy Museum, visitors will begin with an introductory sound installation before making their way down "The Hallway," inspired by one of horror's most recognizable tropes. From there, guests will enter six themed galleries dedicated to Gothic, Psychological, Science, Slasher, Religion, and Ghosts, each bringing iconic settings, legendary monsters, and unforgettable moments from horror history to life.
For genre fans, it's difficult to imagine a better way to celebrate horror's rich legacy.
The Academy Museum will also host an impressive lineup of screenings and public programs throughout the exhibition, including:
- John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness
- The 2026 Monster Mash on Oct. 24, featuring the U.S. premiere of the 4K restoration of Horror of Dracula
- A Halloween night screening of The Craft
- A special 50th anniversary screening of Carrie on Nov. 19 with Sissy Spacek appearing in person
- A January retrospective celebrating Hammer Films
The exhibition itself will feature material from some of horror's most beloved films, including Get Out, The Hunger, Sinners, The Shining, original storyboards from Psycho, the iconic Creature mask from Creature from the Black Lagoon, costumes from Midsommar, and costumed figures of Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, Ghostface, and Art the Clown.
The Horror Show is organized by Senior Exhibitions Curator Jessica Niebel with Assistant Curator Nicholas Barlow and Curatorial Assistant Alexandra James Salichs, with Willem Dafoe and filmmaker Osgood Perkins serving as advisors on the exhibition.
Dafoe summed up horror's importance beautifully:
"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."
Perkins added:
"Horror is crucial to culture and cinema, and to our evolving understanding of what it means to be alive on earth. 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."
Opening Sept. 26, 2026, and running through July 25, 2027, The Horror Show already feels like one of the year's must-see events for horror fans.
We'll certainly be making the trip, and we look forward to sharing our experience with the TrulyDisturbing community. If this exhibit is anything like it sounds, it won't just celebrate horror history. It'll become part of it.