5 Best Horror Movies on Peacock Right Now (January 2026): ‘Black Phone 2’ and More

At the end of 2022’s The Black Phone, the child serial killer The Grabber (Ethan Hawke) was successfully killed by his intended victim, Finney (Mason Thames). But you can’t keep a good villain down — especially when the original movie made lots of money at the box office — so The Grabber is back to terrorize Finney and kid sister, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), once again.

In this sequel, The Grabber is essentially Freddy Krueger and attacks Gwen in her dreams to get back at Finney. Since The Grabber’s newfound dream power is somehow tied to past unsolved murders at a summer camp, the siblings and their friends travel to the camp to defeat The Grabber once and for all.

Black Phone 2 shamelessly rips off A Nightmare on Elm Street’s core concept of a child killer stalking teens while they sleep, but it works due to Hawke’s unsettling performance. The Grabber is creepier as an ethereal entity instead of a flesh-and-blood killer, and the movie effectively generates enough scares to make it a worthy horror sequel.

Pro football can be murder, and that’s especially true for rookie Camercon “Cam” Cade (Tyriq Withers). When he’s invited to train with his idol, legendary quarterback Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans) at a remote desert compound, he’s thrilled at first, but as his training progresses he suspects he’s there for another, more deadly reason. Does Isaiah truly want to help him become the best football player he can be? Or does he want Cam out of the way so he can remain in the spotlight?

Him is a weird mixture of sports drama and surreal horror that’s not really like anything you’ve seen before. The movie doesn’t follow traditional genre conventions — instead, it marches to the beat of its own, weird drum. Expect lots of dynamic visuals, unhinged performances from Wayans and costar Julia Fox and a “WTF?” ending that leaves you with more questions than answers.

After escaping an abusive relationship with tech millionaire Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), Cecilia Kass (Mad Men’s Elisabeth Moss) thinks she’s rid of him forever after discovering he died by suicide. But as time progresses, she begins to believe someone — or something — is stalking her. Is Adrian haunting Cecilia from beyond the grave? Or is it something more sinister — and logical — than that?

A clever update on H.G. Wells’ classic sci-fi horror story, The Invisible Man is a great example of a remake done right. It retains the core concept — what would happen to a man if he could turn invisible? — and updates it to a specific time and place: the pre-COVID, misogynistic tech bro culture of Silicon Valley. As the haunted heroine, Moss is terrific at conveying Cecilia’s mounting bewilderment and fear. The twist, once revealed, is ingenious — you’ll kick yourself for not thinking of it yourself.

When brilliant roboticist Gemma (Allison Williams) unexpectedly becomes the guardian of her orphaned niece Cady (Violet McGraw), she uses her latest invention, the lifelike doll M3GAN (Model 3 Generative Android) to help care for her. But when M3GAN’s directive to “keep Cady safe” turns violent, a cutting-edge creation turns into a terrifying nightmare. 

Both M3GAN and its sequel, M3GAN 2.0, are now available on Peacock, and both films combine horror with campy humor and satire. If you’re feeling a little too dependent on AI these days, it might be worth watching M3GAN to give yourself a little scare.

Master of horror and social commentary Jordan Peele is back at it with Nope, a sci-fi/western/horror that examines humanity’s relationship with nature and the unknown. Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer star as siblings OJ and Emerald Haywood, who run a horse ranch in the California desert that’s endangered by a strange object in the sky.

As the siblings try to capture the UFO on camera, they clash with neighboring showman Ricky “Jupe” Park (Steven Yeun), whose past trauma as a child actor shapes his misguided belief that he can control the mysterious creature. Suspense, social commentary and flashes of dark humor combine in this captivating modern horror film.