Human (2026) Super Review: A Gross-Out Midnight Movie With a Brilliant Lead

It starts with a phone screen. A young woman, alone on a closed film set in the small hours, scrolls, flirts, swaps messages and makes half-plans for the night. Then something bangs on the door, and Matt Stuertz’s Human begins to mutate.

This is a horror film in three distinct moods: a near-silent study of late-night unease, a riotous practical-effects bloodbath, and a slower, more reflective coda. Not every transition is smooth, but it is rarely less than bold, and Jackie Kelly’s central performance holds the whole wild thing together.

Human begins as a text conversation and ends somewhere far stranger, with a lead performance that never blinks.

Movie at a Glance

• US release: 23 October 2026, in select cinemas and on demand
• UK release: No UK cinema or streaming date has been announced yet
• Distributor: Dark Sky Films
• Writer and director: Matt Stuertz
• Starring: Jackie Kelly, Jeffrey Decker, Cecily Dowd and Jazmin Ortiz
• Runtime: 107 minutes
• Genre: Supernatural horror with dark comedy

A Night Shift From Hell

Dani works in film production and is spending the night inside the studio where she is working, miles from anywhere. The first half-hour lives largely on her phone: a flirtation with a former flame who is supposedly on a flight, chat with her best friend about whether to go out. It is a gamble to spend so long on a screen, and it pays off. Stuertz captures the eerie stillness of being awake when the world is asleep, and every notification becomes a small jolt.

When the knocking starts, the film tightens into a superbly controlled cat-and-mouse sequence, built on sound, darkness and what we cannot see. It is the most purely frightening stretch of the film.

Jackie Kelly Holds the Line

Kelly is on screen almost constantly and frequently alone, and she is terrific. She has to play silent reaction to a text thread, mounting dread, scrappy resourcefulness, disgust, black comedy and, finally, something more contemplative. She makes every shift feel like the same person enduring the worst night of her life, and there is more than a little of Bruce Campbell’s battered heroism in her performance.

Jeffrey Decker and Cecily Dowd make the most of roles often mediated through screens, and the decision to keep Dani isolated sharpens the film’s focus rather than limiting it.

Blood, Guts and Synths

When Human goes big, it goes very big. The middle section is a carnival of practical gore, inventive, revolting and frequently very funny, the kind of sequence designed to provoke groans and cheers in equal measure. The effects work is genuinely impressive, and the cinematography and lighting keep even the messiest moments looking deliberate. Joseph Holiday’s pulsing synth score is a real asset, a steady heartbeat that keeps the audience on the film’s wavelength through every swerve.

Not all the comedy lands. Some of the bodily-function humour feels juvenile rather than clever, and a few jokes puncture tension that has been carefully built.

The Long Way Home

The biggest issue is momentum. At 107 minutes, the film overstays its welcome a little. The final act deliberately slows things down for a more philosophical reckoning, and while it makes thematic sense, following the frenzy with something so quiet produces real whiplash. Some will find it a fitting coda; others will feel the film is limping towards the finish line.

Even so, this is an ambitious, original horror film that swings hard and lands more often than it misses. Its misfires are more interesting than plenty of safer genre fare.

Watch the Official Trailer

Brace yourself for the knock at the door in the official trailer.

How much gore is too much for you in a horror film? Share your spoiler-free reaction to Human.