Image via Disney/Sarah Shatz
The year 2026 has already produced several modern critically acclaimed shows such as Widow’s Bay and Off Campus emerging as cultural phenomenons. Both shows are “Certified Fresh” with near-perfect scores on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. But now, a modern show has debuted on Hulu with a perfect 100% score. The series follows an FBI agent on the hunt for a female serial killer, and is inspired by the 1987 film Black Widow, starring Debra Winger and Theresa Russell. Directed by New Hollywood legend Bob Rafelson, Black Widow was a box-office hit with a $25 million gross despite mixed reviews. The movie now holds a 58% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The modern show, which premiered with three episodes on July 27, was created by Elizabeth Meriwether, who remains best known for her work on the similarly acclaimed Hulu titles Dying for Sex and The Dropout. Meriwether’s modern show stars Emmy Rossum as the investigator and Lola Petticrew as the serial killer. Rossum, of course, became a household name thanks to a leading role in the Showtime series Shameless, which ran for a decade. Petticrew, on the other hand, headlined the well-received FX series Say Nothing; she was recently seen alongside Gillian Anderson in the narrow series Trespasses. Incidentally, both Say Nothing and Trespasses are set in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.
Collider Exclusive · Horror Survival Quiz
Which Horror Villain Do You Have the Best Chance of Surviving?
Jason Voorhees · Michael Myers · Freddy Krueger · Pennywise · Chucky
Five killers. Five completely different ways to die — if you’re not shrewd enough, rapid enough, or self-aware enough to avoid it. Only one of them is the villain your particular set of instincts gives you a fighting chance against. Eight questions will figure out which one.
Jason
Michael
Freddy
Pennywise
Chucky
TEST YOUR SURVIVAL →
01
Something feels wrong. You can’t explain it — you just know. What do you do?
First instincts are the difference between the survivor and the first act casualty.
ALeave immediately. I don’t need to understand a threat to respect it.
BStay silent and observe. If I can see it, I can understand it. If I can understand it, I can avoid it.
CStay awake. Whatever this is, I am not going to sleep until I feel protected again.
DConfront it directly. Fear grows in the gloomy — I’d rather know what I’m dealing with.
ECheck everything, trust nothing. The threat might be closer than I think — and smaller.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
Where are you most likely to find yourself when things go wrong?
Setting is everything in horror. Where you are determines which rules apply.
ASomewhere remote — a cabin, a campsite, off the grid and away from people.
BA silent suburban neighbourhood where nothing ever happens. Except tonight.
CIn my own head — the most perilous place of all, depending on what’s already in there.
DWherever children are — because something about this place attracts the worst things.
ESomewhere ordinary — a house, a toy store, a place where the last thing you’d expect is a threat.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
What is your most reliable survival asset?
Every survivor has a quality the villain didn’t account for. What’s yours?
APhysical fitness — I can run, I can swim, I can outlast something that relies on brute persistence.
BSpatial awareness — I always know the exits, the hiding spots, the fastest route out.
CPsychological resilience — I’ve faced my worst fears before. They don’t have the same power over me.
DEmotional steadiness — I don’t panic. Panic is what gets you caught.
EScepticism — I don’t underestimate threats because of how they look. Size is irrelevant.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
What kind of fear is hardest for you to fight through?
Knowing your weakness is the first step to not dying because of it.
AThe unstoppable — something that will not stop, cannot be reasoned with, and is always getting closer.
BThe undetectable — a threat I can feel but can’t locate, watching from somewhere I can’t see.
CThe psychological — something that uses my own mind and memories against me.
DThe unknowable — something historic, shapeless, that feeds on the fear itself.
EThe mundane — a threat so ordinary-looking that no one will believe me until it’s too overdue.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
You’re with a group when things start going wrong. What’s your role?
Horror movies are brutally clear about who survives group situations and who doesn’t.
AThe one who says “we need to leave” first — and means it, even when no one listens.
BThe one who stays silent, watches the others, and figures out the pattern before anyone else does.
CThe one who holds the group together when panic sets in — because someone has to.
DThe one who asks the questions nobody wants to ask — because ignoring them gets people killed.
EThe one who takes the threat seriously when everyone else is laughing it off.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
What’s the horror movie mistake you’re most likely to make?
Honest self-assessment is a survival skill. Denial is not.
AGoing back for someone — I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t leave them behind.
BAssuming I’m protected once I’ve found a hiding spot. That’s when it finds me.
CFalling asleep when I absolutely cannot afford to. Exhaustion is its own enemy.
DLetting my curiosity override my instincts — I always need to understand what I’m dealing with.
EDismissing the threat because of how it looks. That’s exactly what it wants.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
What’s your best weapon against something that can’t be stopped by conventional means?
Every horror villain has a weakness. The survivors are always the ones who find it.
AThe environment itself — I apply the terrain, the water, the geography against it.
BPatience — I wait, I watch, and I strike at the one moment it doesn’t expect.
CLucidity — if I can stay in control of my own mind, it loses its primary weapon.
DCourage — facing it directly, refusing to run, taking away the fear it feeds on.
EImprovisation — I apply whatever’s at hand, however unconventional. Creativity over brute force.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
It’s the final scene. You’re the last one standing. How did you make it?
The final survivor always has a reason. What’s yours?
AI kept moving. I never stopped, never hid for too long, never let it corner me.
BI figured out the pattern before anyone else did — and I used it against the thing following it.
CI stayed awake, stayed lucid, and refused to give it the one thing it needed most.
DI stopped being afraid of it. And the moment I did, everything changed.
EI took it seriously from the start — and I never once made the mistake of underestimating it.
REVEAL MY VILLAIN →
Your Survival Odds Have Been Calculated
Your Best Chance Is Against…
Your instincts, your strengths, and your particular way of thinking under pressure point to one villain you actually have a fighting chance against. Everyone else — good luck.
Jason Voorhees
Jason is relentless, but he is also predictable — and that is the gap you would exploit.
- He moves in straight lines toward his target. He doesn’t strategise, doesn’t adapt, doesn’t outsmart. He simply pursues.
- Your ability to keep moving, apply the environment, and resist the panic that freezes most victims gives you a genuine edge.
- The Crystal Lake survivors were always the ones who stopped running in circles and started thinking about terrain, water, and distance.
- You think like that. Which means Jason, for all his indestructibility, would face someone who simply refused to be where he expected.
Michael Myers
Michael watches before he moves. He is patient, methodical, and almost impossible to detect — until it’s too overdue for anyone who isn’t paying close enough attention.
- But you are paying attention. You notice the shape in the window, the car parked slightly wrong, the silence where there should be sound.
- Michael’s power lies in the invisibility of ordinary suburbia — the fact that nothing ever looks wrong until it already is.
- Your spatial awareness and instinct to map every room, every exit, and every shadow before you need them is precisely the quality Laurie Strode had.
- You are not a victim waiting to happen. You are someone who already suspects something is wrong — and acts on it.
Freddy Krueger
Freddy wins by getting inside your head — using your own fears, your own memories, your own subconscious as weapons against you. That strategy requires a target who can be destabilised.
- You are harder to destabilise than most. You’ve faced uncomfortable truths about yourself and you haven’t looked away.
- The survivors on Elm Street were always the ones who understood what was happening and chose to face it rather than flee from it.
- Freddy’s greatest weakness is that his power evaporates in the presence of someone who refuses to give him the fear he feeds on.
- Your psychological resilience — the ability to stay grounded when reality itself becomes unreliable — is exactly the quality that keeps you alive here.
Pennywise
Pennywise is historic, shapeshifting, and feeds on terror — but it has one critical vulnerability: it cannot function against someone who genuinely stops being afraid of it.
- The Losers Club didn’t survive because they were braver than everyone else. They survived because they faced their fears together, and faced them honestly.
- You ask the questions others avoid. You look directly at what frightens you rather than turning away.
- That directness — the refusal to let fear fester in the gloomy — is Pennywise’s worst nightmare.
- It chose the wrong target when it chose you. You are exactly the kind of person whose fear tastes like nothing at all.
Chucky
Chucky’s greatest advantage is that nobody takes him seriously until it’s already too overdue. He exploits the gap between how something looks and what it actually is.
- You don’t have that gap. You take threats seriously regardless of how they present — and you never make the mistake of underestimating something because of its size or appearance.
- Chucky relies on surprise, on the delay between recognition and response. You close that delay faster than almost anyone.
- Your instinct to treat every unfamiliar thing with appropriate scepticism — rather than dismissing it because it seems absurd — is the exact quality that keeps you breathing.
- Against Chucky, not laughing is already winning. You are very good at not laughing.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ
Here’s Your New Crime Obsession
Petticrew and Rossum’s modern hit is titled Furious. The Rotten Tomatoes consensus for the show reads, “A tense thrill ride spearheaded by a blazing Emmy Rossum, this striking crime drama serves its stars and audiences Furious justice.” Collider’s Carly Lane called it an “unflinchingly raw” crime thriller in her review. In addition to having received unanimous acclaim, the show has also proven to be a viewership hit. According to FlixPatrol, Furious emerged as one of the most-watched shows on Disney+ following its premiere, when the leaderboard was topped by a modern Mickey Mouse Clubhouse special and a vertical series in the Descendants franchise. Needless to say, it was the number-one title on the Hulu charts, outperforming General Hospital and Love Island UK. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
Release Date
July 27, 2026
Network
Hulu
Directors
Brian Kirk
