A Case For Horror At Halloween (2026 Edition)

[LoveCinema]

For whatever reason, the horror genre is just not popular on our platform. There are certainly some enthusiastic devotees, and we hate to disappoint anyone, but to be a successful offering, we have to be data-driven.

<record scratch> <freeze frame> Yep, that's me. I bet you're wondering how we got here?

You know, I make a post like this every year. And, I've written this post multiple times over. At one point it was three parts with a story, data, and ask. I imagined next year would be a novella. But, this doesn't need to be that complicated. The fact is, K's position on horror is a combination of bad priorities and not following the data.

I admit, Horror has challenges. The audience is limited and viewing is often seasonal and rarely demo-worthy. While a hot title like Obsession can skyrocket up the charts, at best catalog horror is going to sell in the middle of the pack (alongside titles like Citizen Kane, A Clockwork Orange, and Westside Story).

Look at the bottom of any filtered list in the K Store sorted by popularity. Undoubtedly you'll see horror but undoubtedly you won't recognize any of it. In fact, that's the real story here, and it's not specific to horror: K prioritizes direct-to-video new 4K releases over 4K catalog upgrades.

We don't have A Nightmare on Elm Street, Rosemary's Baby, The Omen, Hellraiser, or Jacob's Ladder in 4K. But we do have The Home, House on Eden, Vicious, Coyotes, and Dark Harvest. And, K will point to poor sales of the latter to justify not getting the former.

Last year K released a long overdue 4K Dolby Vision upgrade of John Carpenter's Halloween (1978). I sent up the flares and called on everyone wanting more catalog 4K upgrades to buy it and make their voices heard. How'd it do? At the moment, Halloween is currently:
Top 25% Most Popular ALL Movies (Page 27 of 107)
Top 60% Most Popular ALL 4K Movies (Page 15 of 24)
Top 20% Most Popular Horror Movies (Page 2 of 11)
Top 40% Most Popular Horror 4K Movies (Page 2 of 4)

Here's the facts: The K Store's catalog horror offerings are absolute trash. And, "they don't sell" doesn't cut it when we can see what you're selling. Of course no one is buying old direct-to-DVD titles, and carrying movies only in SD doesn't count in 2026. Frankly, it's embarrassing.

As always, my ask is modest: Follow the studios. They are finding sales releasing catalog 4K upgrades of classic horror films at premium prices in the Halloween season. Although 2025 was a monster year (pun fully intended), most years we're talking about half a dozen titles at best. Meanwhile, K continues to get low-quality direct-to-video horror titles that sell poorly while either sitting out 4K catalog upgrades or handicapping them on release (The Exorcist, Wicker Man). The K Store deserves better, and so do K owners.

 

[kscape360]

I buy tons of horror on disc that I'd much rather get through K-scape. I'm not buying now because I won't buy an SD or HD version of a film that has a concurrent 4K release on every other platform, digital and physical. I totally understand that if a title is not available digitally, K-scape can't get it. But these titles are available digitally.

 

[Imakeller]

I buy tons of horror on disc that I'd much rather get through K-scape. I'm not buying now because I won't buy an SD or HD version of a film that has a concurrent 4K release on every other platform, digital and physical. I totally understand that if a title is not available digitally, K-scape can't get it. But these titles are available digitally.

Exactly where I’m at and how I feel. Horror is a genre that I enjoy. Over the years, I’ve gotten the best available versions of the horror movies I’ve liked. This has often involved double-dipping or triple-dipping. I’m not above buying many of these movies again on K-scape, but they’ve got to give me a reason to do it. K-scape now has that motivational factor readily available — 4KC! Wake up K-scape!

I was glad to see Lee Cronin’s The Mummy is being released in 4KC. No need to purchase that on disc now. That’s the way it should be. Why no 4KC for Evil Dead Burn too? I haven’t ordered that disc yet as I’m holding out hope for 4KC. Evil Dead is an example of a franchise where I have them all on disc, but would buy again to get 4KC. Wake up K-scape!

 

[Stitch1]

Now that I have a K, I plan to buy quite a bit of horror titles. I have been disappointed with what I have seen listed but there are newer options that I will start adding to my collection. Hopefully someone from K see this and will start upgrading some of the older offerings. I was excited to see a somewhat niche title I haven't seen was available on K only to be disappointed it is only in SD. It's like they are expecting us to watch these on Apple TV or some other source. Why?

 

[artur9]

At a minimum, I would hope that K has every movie listed here: List of highest-grossing horror films - Wikipedia

 

[LoveCinema]

At a minimum, I would hope that K has every movie listed here: List of highest-grossing horror films - Wikipedia

Missing/Incomplete Titles Referenced:
Day of the Dead (Missing Completely; Available in HD)
The Exorcist (SDR Only; Missing Extended Cut)
The Exorcist II: The Heretic (SD Only; Missing HD Upgrade)
The Last House on the Left (Missing Completely; Available in HD)
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (SD Only; Missing 4K Upgrade)*
The Omen (Missing 4K)
The Ring (Missing 4K)
Rosemary's Baby (Missing 4K)
Saw III (Missing 4K)*
Scream 3 (Missing 4K)
Scream 4 (Missing 4K)
World War Z (SDR Only)

We'll see this month:
The Blair Witch Project
Interview with the Vampire

*Multiple incomplete titles from franchise.

 

[JWort93]

Blair Witch is gonna be interesting because it’s not a 4K upgrade, just a new 1080p master. I imagine that’ll be more likely, since they already pay for the old 1080p master, but who knows

I bought this new master a couple years ago with the Second Sight blu-ray release, and it’s a significant upgrade IMO.

 

[Stitch1]

The Ring is one of the ones I was wanting to revisit for October this year. I saw the the Saw collection on K and was pretty disappointed most of them are only HD.

There are a lot in that list I would be interested in owning on K.

 

[Spankey00]

This has been eating at me a lot this week. Bottom line is that K does not like horror and the powers that be don’t care if you do! I was doing a search this week for some more titles that are available in 4k and shocked that they were either not in 4k or not in the store at all.

John Carpenter is not a no name director. Where is The Fog, Prince Of Darkness, In The Mouth Of Madness. Not JC directed, but Halloween 2 and 3? Yes, I do think Halloween 3 is a pretty good movie!

Missing the Nightmare On Elm Street Collection is a total slap in the face to customers and really inexplicable.

To quote Joey Swoll…K..DO BETTER!

 

[artur9]

Now you have me wondering.

If "K does not like horror" what does K like? Kid movies? Rom-coms? Blockbusters (except horror blockbusters)?

Presumably, it's K's customers that "do not like horror." Get all your horror-loving acquaintances, friends, business associates to buy some K stuff and start a major clamoring!

 

[Spankey00]

We are clamoring here and have been. If K is only going to provide old HD transfers that have long since been upgraded to 4k on other digital platforms they are not going to make sales.

 

[Balthazar2k4]

If you keep doing the same thing over and over again you can't expect a different result. K wishes to use analytics to drive their store and the fans of the horror genre won't buy unless they are given something worth buying. If I can buy a 4K BD of a movie for the same or even more than the HD copy of a movie on K then I will gladly buy the physical. It isn't necessarily that I prefer it that way, just that I don't see K giving me a real alternative. Don't even get me started on the titles that are just straight up missing from the store... now if I were into Angel Studios fare I would be golden from what I can tell.

 

[thrillcat]

if I were into Angel Studios fare I would be golden from what I can tell.

Angel Studios has me considering requesting the ability to completely hide a studio from my browsing preferences. But I'm trying really hard to not be a dick about it.

 

[LoveCinema]

John Carpenter is not a no name director. Where is The Fog, Prince Of Darkness, In The Mouth Of Madness. Not JC directed, but Halloween 2 and 3? Yes, I do think Halloween 3 is a pretty good movie!

SOME of this is out of K's hands as many of John Carpenter's biggest titles are boutique label darlings and not available in their highest quality digitally. This applies to titles like The Fog, Prince of Darkness, In The Mouth of Madness, Escape From New York, etc. However, K does have some titles in 4K: Halloween, The Thing, They Live, Escape from LA, and Christine. The last three could use some sales as they're definitely in the bottom of popularity for 4K titles. Everyone, buy THEY LIVE!

Halloween 2 is limited to HD digitally but is currently on K in SD. Same for Memoirs of an Invisible Man.

Missing the Nightmare On Elm Street Collection is a total slap in the face to customers and really inexplicable.

An absolute tragedy. It is shameful. I would probably say adding the original A Nightmare On Elm Street (Uncut) in 4K Dolby Vision is my number one ask for K at Halloween because it's such a neglected genre inside the genre.

 

[artur9]

... John Carpenter's ... Everyone, buy THEY LIVE! ....

K has They Live!?! I've been watching a bunch of youtube videos on obscure, hard-to-find SciFi titles and They Live! is on all of them!
Must be a big mistake on K's part to also have it.

That movie is serious mojo.

P.S. One of those Director Focus things on John Carpenter would be amazing!

 

[artur9]

@LoveCinema is this lack of horror a lack of horror studios or is K suffering specifically from phobophobia when it comes to these kinds of movies?

 

[deyorew]

What I don't understand is that Horror does extremely well in the theaters now. It does extremely well on disc with some boutique labels merely existing due to a foundation in horror. So Kaleidescape must not really have any horror fans working there. Frankly it's a niche that has an enormous audience who are willing to part with cash.

I am surprised Kaleidescape doesn't see the revenue coming in. Of course, Horror fans want 4K and at least HD.

by the way, I am not even a horror fan and have probably 30-50 UHDs of horror.
I think the bigger miss for Kscape is all the missing Sony Dolby Vision titles that are available. They seem to be releasing some lately, but the backlog is huge.

 

[mkozlows]

What I don't understand is that Horror does extremely well in the theaters now. It does extremely well on disc with some boutique labels merely existing due to a foundation in horror. So Kaleidescape must not really have any horror fans working there. Frankly it's a niche that has an enormous audience who are willing to part with cash.

Yeah, but the Kaleidescape audience is not a general audience. It is a very specific demographic, and when you look at the most popular movies, they're almost all "dad movies" or movies that people put on for their grandkids.

Like, at the box office last year, if you're looking at horror movies, Sinners (only sort of horror) was the #5 grossing movie, The Conjuring: Last Rites was #15, Weapons was #16, and Black Phone 2 was #27. Currently on their popularity-sorted movie charts, Sinners is #12, and Weapons is #59. Black Phone 2 is #706. The Conjuring: Last Rites is #736.

Sinners is doing very well, and Weapons isn't doing badly, but those other two -- the most traditional, non-"elevated" horror -- are just waaaaaaaay below box office numbers (and they're all 4K).

Meanwhile, in the dad-movie genre, F1 was #14 (right next to that Conjuring movie!), and it's at #1 on Kscape. Mission Impossible 8 was #12 and it's #3. Predator Badlands is #23 on the box office charts -- way below three of those horror movies, and just a titch above Black Phone -- and it's #10 on the Kscape charts. #2 on Kscape is a four year old movie, the daddest movie of them all, Top Gun: Maverick.

I'm sure that horror would sell better if there were more availability for it; and to the extent that the Kscape folks want to make inroads into the disc audience, it's clear that horror is a huge genre on disc. But if they want to keep selling to their core audience of well-off older men, it really does just look like horror isn't the main genre that's gonna do it.

 

[Imakeller]

Yeah, but the Kaleidescape audience is not a general audience. It is a very specific demographic, and when you look at the most popular movies, they're almost all "dad movies" or movies that people put on for their grandkids.

Like, at the box office last year, if you're looking at horror movies, Sinners (only sort of horror) was the #5 grossing movie, The Conjuring: Last Rites was #15, Weapons was #16, and Black Phone 2 was #27. Currently on their popularity-sorted movie charts, Sinners is #12, and Weapons is #59. Black Phone 2 is #706. The Conjuring: Last Rites is #736.

Sinners is doing very well, and Weapons isn't doing badly, but those other two -- the most traditional, non-"elevated" horror -- are just waaaaaaaay below box office numbers (and they're all 4K).

Meanwhile, in the dad-movie genre, F1 was #14 (right next to that Conjuring movie!), and it's at #1 on Kscape. Mission Impossible 8 was #12 and it's #3. Predator Badlands is #23 on the box office charts -- way below three of those horror movies, and just a titch above Black Phone -- and it's #10 on the Kscape charts. #2 on Kscape is a four year old movie, the daddest movie of them all, Top Gun: Maverick.

I'm sure that horror would sell better if there were more availability for it; and to the extent that the Kscape folks want to make inroads into the disc audience, it's clear that horror is a huge genre on disc. But if they want to keep selling to their core audience of well-off older men, it really does just look like horror isn't the main genre that's gonna do it.

Backrooms from A24 was a pretty big hit that I’d classify as horror. Glad to see that on K-scape in 4KC and Atmos.

 

[mkozlows]

Backrooms from A24 was a pretty big hit that I’d classify as horror. Glad to see that on K-scape in 4KC and Atmos.

#9 top-grossing movie of this year, and #356 on Kaleidescape's popularity charts right now. (I rented it just this past week.) Obsession did even better, #7 in box office, and it's all the way at #104. But meanwhile, the #6 movie, the dadcore Project Hail Mary, is up at #4 on the Kscape charts. #15 at the box office, Spielberg's Disclosure Day, a movie that made less than half what Obsession did, is #23 on the Kscape charts.

So yeah.