The Thing Meets Zodiac In An Unmissable New R-Rated Horror With A Near-Perfect RT Score

Published Oct 26, 2026, 11:30 AM EDT

Simon Gallagher has worked in movie and TV journalism for more than 17 years. He has written more than 6000 articles and reviews, and edited thousands more. He is an expert in the entertainment industry, particularly in the golden age of screen superheroes. Simon is also a Rotten Tomatoes approved critic.
 

When Stephen King recommends a horror movie, it’s as close to an essential endorsement as you’re likely to see. The master has spent decades refining horror and thriller storytelling in a way that makes him a real tastemaker. And when he goes out of his way to share a recommendation for a new movie or TV series on social media, you really ought to seek that project out.

As well as recommending Apple TV’s Last Seen and Taylor Sheridan’s Landman, King has sung the praises of Undertone, Thrash, and Obsession, but his endorsement of a brand new horror that’s now doing well on streaming might be the most intriguing of all.

Released on Shudder on Friday, October 23, The Cycle is the latest feature from horror newcomer Jordan Downey, who made The Head Hunter back in 2018, and has earned King’s praise as “special.” The horror maestro likened it to a gruesome mash-up of The Thing and The Silence of the Lambs, thanks to its procedural elements and body horror. He’s not wrong, but the cop show element is also a major draw for fans of David Fincher’s Zodiac and HBO’s Mare of Easttown, thanks to its moody balance of crime and personal trauma.

Thanks to a festival release that earned it an early 100% Rotten Tomatoes score, and subsequent critical reviews that have kept it at an impressive 94%, The Cycle has earned an overwhelmingly positive wave of buzz, crowned by King’s praise, and it’s one of the most surprising and most essential horror movies of the year.

Everything You Need To Know About The Cycle

The Cycle was written and directed by Downey alongside his The Head Hunter collaborator Kevin Stewart, and is a delightfully unsettling blend of slow-burn crime procedural and gruesome creature feature in the grandest tradition.

In an impressive casting coup, it stars Daredevil: Born Again’s Karen Page actor Deborah Ann Woll as Meg Garland, a forensics expert in human decay who is tasked with solving a grim case of the double murder of a mother and child who appear to have been killed by an animal. Things take an even more surprising turn when the corpse of her father appears despite him being missing for more than 35 years, bearing confusing marks of decay that suggest he’s been dead for a long time, but with fresh signs of torture injuries.

As she solves the linked mysteries, Meg is forced to reckon with her own traumatic past, and uncovers a far darker mystery than she ever expected. The procedural elements and the body horror feel very much like David Fincher’s Se7en and Zodiac - as does Meg’s personal stake in the story and its impact on her - and the blooming horror element that escalates around the middle of the story is pure The Thing magic.

Woll is supported by Jeffrey Donovan (Burn Notice), Will Hochman, Gretchen Corbett, and Jack Doolan, but it’s her emotionally raw lead performance that takes the audience on the journey from intriguing cold-case procedural to full-blown monster horror.

The Cycle Is One Of 2026's Highest Rated Horrors

The broad critical reception of The Cycle has confirmed it as one of the most acclaimed horror titles on Rotten Tomatoes of the year so far, thanks to that 94% Tomatometer score. The 100% festival score was obviously impressive, but anything over 90%, given the context of the rest of the year’s horror releases, tells you exactly how good The Cycle is.

Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil has been widely heralded as the best horror movie of the year and sits at 96%, while Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is on 94%. At the moment, there’s nothing else at the same score or above The Cycle, with Obsession on 93%, Send Help on 92%, and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple rated at 91%. The caveat, of course, is that all those titles have more reviews, thanks to far higher profiles, but The Cycle’s Tomatometer score at least confirms it’s in good company.

In a strong year for horror, seeing a Shudder exclusive from a comparatively new name in the genre is definitely a good thing. And horror fans looking for something new to watch at Halloween have a new strong recommendation.

The Cycle is streaming on Shudder now.

The Cycle