Academy Museum Unveils Immersive ‘The Horror Show’ & ‘Zombies!’ Exhibitions Just Forward of Halloween

It’s formally spooky season, and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is getting ready to open its doorways this Halloween season to The Horror Show, a daring and immersive exhibition celebrating the profound cultural influence and enduring reputation of horror cinema.

Running from September 26, 2026, by means of July 25, 2027, the exhibition asks a central query: Why do horror movies matter so deeply to so many?

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Blurring the strains between a standard museum presentation and an eerie cinematic spectacle, The Horror Show begins with an atmospheric introductory gallery sound set up. From there, guests will stroll by means of “The Hallway,” an area modeled after a basic horror trope, which leads straight into six distinctly themed galleries: Gothic, Psychological, Science, Slasher, Religion, and Ghosts.

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Each gallery invitations company into iconic settings populated by legendary creatures, monsters, and artifacts from a few of the style’s most celebrated movies. The exhibition options props and behind-the-scenes glimpses into the manufacturing and storytelling of horror milestones, together with Alien (1979), The Horror of Dracula (1958), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), Get Out (2017), Halloween (1978), Ju-on (1998), Midsommar (2019), Misery (1990), Poltergeist (1982), Ringu (1998), The Blair Witch Project (1999), The Exorcist (1973), The Shining (1980), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974).

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The Horror Show is organized by Senior Exhibitions Curator Jessica Niebel, alongside Assistant Curator Nicholas Barlow and Curatorial Assistant Alexandra James Salichs, with further help from THI Moving Image Lab Curatorial Fellow Bradford Nordeen.

Alongside the primary exhibition, the museum is introducing Zombies!, a family-friendly companion exhibition curated by Alexandra James Salichs. Designed for guests of all ages, Zombies! steps right into a playful, fake cemetery stuffed with eerie visuals and sound.

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The companion house explores the origins of zombie lore and traces its visible historical past by means of a retrospective of film posters, spanning from White Zombie (1932) to Night of the Living Dead (1968). Through behind-the-scenes footage from movies like 28 Days Later (2002), company can learn the way filmmakers convey the undead to life. The interactive expertise additionally incorporates a customized, animatronic puppet created particularly for the museum by Spectral Motion, proving that even the undead are simply film magic.

Both The Horror Show and Zombies! open to the general public on September 26, 2026, and can stay on view on the Academy Museum by means of July 25, 2027.