Image via Lionsgate
Published Feb 20, 2026, 2:13 PM EST
Therese Lacson is a Senior TV Editor who has been with Collider since 2021. She got started in this business over ten years ago working primarily as an interviewer and critic. At Collider, she works closely with the features team to support the writers and also ideates and develops content daily. She has covered major industry events including Cannes Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, SXSW, Toronto International Film Festival, and San Diego Comic-Con. Although she reviews and covers both film and television, her focus is in television and her expertise is in fantasy and sci-fi genre shows. Her favorite shows to cover include House of the Dragon, Bridgerton, Fallout, 9-1-1, and Rivals.
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Seven years later, Sophie Turner and Kit Harington have finally reunited after their long stint on the HBO hit fantasy series Game of Thrones. The series, known for its meteoric success and polarizing finale, marks the last time we saw Turner and Harington on screen together until now in Natasha Kermani's latest Gothic horror, The Dreadful. In the film, Turner's Anne lives with her mother-in-law, Morwen (Marcia Gay Harden), and is anxiously waiting for the return of her husband, Seamus (Laurence O'Fuarain), from the war. Everything begins to go wrong when Seamus' childhood friend, Jago (Harington), returns with devastating news about Seamus and upends both women's lives. Deeply mired in Gothic imagery and full of blood and religious guilt, The Dreadful is a thematically rich film that just can't seem to stick its landing in the third act.
Natasha Kermani Channels 'Onibaba' for 'The Dreadful'
The Dreadful tells the story of Anne, a religiously pious woman living in the 15th-century. She and her mother-in-law, Morwen, live on the brink of poverty. Whatever money they have, they spend on the bare necessities and on food. Getting older, Morwen has become reliant on Anne, down to the point where the younger woman is even chewing up her food for her. As they both patiently wait for Seamus' return, Morwen and Anne are forced to scrimp and save, with Morwen more than willing to do things like steal from their neighbors to help them get by.
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When Jago, Anne and Seamus' childhood friend, returns from the war to inform Anne and Morwen that Seamus is dead, the revelation is heartbreaking. Morwen descends deeper into darkness, willing to use violence to get what she wants, and this makes Anne a reluctant accomplice. Jago, who reveals he's a deserter, is interested in Anne and coaxes her to come and live with him. Caught between the thrill of a new love with Jago and her responsibility to Seamus' mother, Anne struggles to find balance between two people who are obsessed with possessing her more than they are with being with her.
As Turner revealed in our interview with her last year for Trust, The Dreadful borrows heavily from Onibaba. The 1964 historical horror by Kaneto Shindō tells a similar story to the one Kermani tells here, following the story beats relatively closely. However, there are some key differences. The main one lies in the ending, which is where The Dreadful ultimately falls flat.
'The Dreadful' Struggles To Keep Its Horror Tone in the Third Act
Image via LionsgateLeading up to the third act, The Dreadful is atmospheric, eerie, and thematically consistent. Anne's unwavering faith guides her, but life is cruel. It constantly challenges her both with Jago's irreverence for religion and Morwen's twisted interpretation of it. Plagued by disturbing nightmares and flashes of gore and foreboding, Anne is a strong point-of-view character as we watch her navigate these two opposing relationships in her life. Though the cast is enjoyable, especially Harden as the avaricious Morwen, the strength of the film lies both in Julia Swain's almost dream-like cinematography and Kermani's skill at piecing together a horrific mystery. Composer Jamal Green adds the perfect seasoning with his lilting and dark soundtrack that picks up in the perfect moments.
However, as the film reaches its third act and a major twist is revealed, the story begins to unravel. In Onibaba, the identity of a masked Samurai whom the older woman kills remains a mystery; it is a storytelling device to allow the older woman to get her hands on his Hannya mask. In The Dreadful, there is a similar concept, but with it comes a twist. Although this twist is effective and one that you can probably see coming if you're paying attention, the film doesn't know what to do with the reveal after it's presented. There's not enough time given to the supernatural elements of the film, which so much of the movie is hinged on, and by the time we get to the end, Anne's story wraps up quite abruptly. It robs the film of the momentum it's been building and undermines the growth that we've been waiting to see in Anne's character.
'The Dreadful' Cast Struggles With Accents, but Wins With Performance
What definitely works in The Dreadful is Turner and Harington's chemistry on-screen. They've already spent plenty of time in front of a camera together as the Stark siblings in Game of Thrones, but this new turn as lovers doesn't feel as odd as you might think if you're a long-time fan of the HBO fantasy series. The main hurdle they have to overcome is the awkward old English accent that none of the cast members can fully grasp 100% of the time. Turner's is barely present, which has the unintentional side effect of making her the most comprehensible character. But Harden and Harington both turn the accent up to the max, and the result makes the dialogue distracting and difficult to understand at times.
In the little moments when Turner and Harington's characters are kissing or reconnecting non-verbally, the scenes are highly convincing. It's the first time we've seen Anne smile properly in the movie, and she looks younger and happier with Jago. But Harington's grating accent becomes a speed bump for his character in an otherwise decent performance. Jago isn't given much to do, so a lot of Harington's scenes rely on his natural commanding presence.
The strongest showing comes from Harden, who plays Morwen through a range of emotions. One moment, she's a mourning mother, an old crone bordering on an invalid, and the next moment, she's a bloodthirsty and greedy woman who will do anything and everything she needs to not only survive but thrive. Harden perfectly embodies the complexities of the character, and her sharp performance anchors the film even in its most shaky moments.
'The Dreadful' Can't Be Called a Complete Success, but It's Not a Failure
Image via LionsgateUltimately, Kermani's film is not strong enough to be called a complete success. Its lackluster ending and uneven characters weigh it down from potentially becoming a cult hit. Anne, who serves as our protagonist, lacks the kind of development you'd want in a Gothic heroine. We very rarely get moments with her purely alone, so we never truly know who she is outside Morwen and Jago's influence. It's disappointing because Turner has shown that she's capable of a wider range, but her performance feels cut short here. However, The Dreadful isn't irredeemable. Its use of dark and religious themes, of the ominous landscape and society, of the tones of despair and guilt, all slot perfectly into the category of Gothic horror. As a subgenre that has captivated viewers and readers for centuries, there's never enough Gothic horror, and in that respect, The Dreadful works quite well. Its embrace of the themes and aesthetic of the genre colors the tone of the film, and while it's not perfect, the moments when the scares mesh with the oppressive atmosphere create a spark of magic that can't be denied.
The Dreadful is now in theaters, on demand, and on digital.
Release Date February 20, 2026
Runtime 94 Minutes
Director Natasha Kermani
Writers Natasha Kermani
Cast
Pros & Cons
- A perfect example of the Gothic atmosphere and setting that really nails all the hallmarks of the subgenre.
- There are moments of brilliance when the horror elements and the dramatic ones mesh together perfectly.
- The third act falls apart after the main plot twist, the film feels like it's lost its balance.
- The accents are highly inconsistent, which also affects the delivery of the performance.
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