Common Sense Media Review
By Kat Halstead
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Flashes of bloody violence in bleak atmospheric folk horror.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 15+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
The Dreadful
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
In THE DREADFUL, Anne (Sophie Turner) lives a quiet and gloomy life with her mother-in-law, Morwen (Marcia Gay Harden), while her husband is away at war. Their days are deeply rooted in the Christian faith, but Morwen's outward piety disguises greedy and brutal impulses beneath. Their isolated existence is eventually disturbed when a man from their past (Kit Harington) unexpectedly returns.
Is It Any Good?
Even for a folk horror, this movie is heavily laden with doom and gloom and does little to relieve viewers from the bleakness until the very end. What does elevate The Dreadful is consistently strong performances from the well-known cast—Turner carries the film confidently in the lead role, Harden is truly menacing as her murderous mother-in-law, and Harington adds great chemistry into the mix. The familiar themes of the genre are present: a strict religious community, an isolated homestead, feelings of grief and hopelessness, and hints of the supernatural lurking in the shadows—the ominous image of a knight on white horseback recurs and gains poignancy. Heavy with a static, expectant atmosphere, the movie does a decent job of maintaining viewers' attention, but there's something very familiar about it all, and not an awful lot new thrown into the mix.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the theme of religion in The Dreadful. How did religion impact the lives of Anne and Morwen? How did Morwen try to use religion to manipulate? In what ways did Anne internalize the positive aspects of her Christianity?
The movie relies strongly on atmosphere rather than action or jump scares. How did that affect your experience of it? Was it still frightening? Were there any scenes that stood out as being particularly unsettling, and how did the director, Natasha Kermani, achieve that result?
The film could be classified as a folk horror. Have you seen other movies within this subgenre? If so, how do they compare? If not, does this movie make you want to watch more horrors with similar themes?
Movie Details
- In theaters : February 20, 2026
- On DVD or streaming : February 20, 2026
- Cast : Sophie Turner , Kit Harington , Marcia Gay Harden
- Director : Natasha Kermani
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Director(s) , Middle Eastern/North African Movie Director(s) , Female Movie Actor(s) , Female Movie Writer(s) , Middle Eastern/North African Movie Writer(s)
- Studio : Lionsgate
- Genre : Horror
- Topics : Faith ( Christianity ) , Family Stories
- Run time : 94 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- MPAA explanation : violence/bloody images and a sexual reference
- Last updated : February 25, 2026
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