The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is getting spooky.
The museum will “celebrate one of global cinema’s most enduring, popular and influential forms of filmmaking with the new exhibition,” entitled The Horror Show, which will be opening in the fourth-floor Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg Gallery on Sept. 26 — just in time for Halloween.
This new exhibition 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,” according to the official release.
What’s more, the exhibition will be accompanied by public programs and film screenings that begin Sept. 26 with the retrospective film series, John Carpenter: Prince of Darkness; the 2026 Monster Mash on Oct. 24 featuring the U.S. premiere of the 4K restoration of 1958’s “Horror of Dracula;” Museum After Dark on Halloween night featuring a screening of 1996 cult favorite “The Craft;” and a 50th anniversary screening of “Carrie” (1976) with Oscar-winning actress Sissy Spacek in attendance on Nov. 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,” said Amy Homma, director and president of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and Academy Collection. “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,” senior exhibitions curator Jessica Niebel added. “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.”
Willem Dafoe, who serves on the advisory team for The Horror Show (and has been in many scary movies himself, including Robert Eggers’ upcoming “Werwulf”), further stated: “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,” echoed “Longlegs” 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.”
In addition to Dafoe and Perkins, the advisory team includes documentary filmmaker Ariel Baska, Oscar-winning prosthetic makeup artist Howard Berger, author and filmmaker Tananarive Due and film scholar Angela Marie Smith.
The Horror Show will be on view through July 25, 2027. While parental guidance is advised for the main exhibition, the Academy Museum will also present a small -scale, family-friendly exhibition, Zombies!, in the adjacent Warner Bros. Gallery during the same run, for those little ones that also enjoy a good scare.
This second exhibition “explores how movie zombies are created and where their stories come from.” Set in an interactive educational space, Zombies! “showcases how filmmakers and artists create the unforgettable images of the undead we see on screen. Visitors can also discover the origins of zombies and how they have been adapted to become the classic horror monsters we know today.”
A publication by the Academy Museum and DelMonico — richly illustrated with concept art, film stills and behind-the-scenes production photos — will be available in September. The Academy Museum store will also offer exclusive The Horror Show merchandise, including apparel, toys, collectibles and books.
