Godmother (2026): Release Date, Trailer and Where to Watch the Jacksepticeye-Backed Horror Film

Godmother has no release date, because it has no distributor. Fangoria reported after the premiere that it was still looking for one, and Inverse said the same on September 30. As of October 9, 2026, no company has been announced.

It has screened at two festivals. The world premiere was in the Horror Competition at Fantastic Fest, at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar in Austin, on Friday, September 18, 2026, with a second showing on September 21. The Australian premiere was at Monster Fest, at Cinema Nova in Melbourne, on Saturday, October 3, with Pearce listed as the guest for an introduction and Q&A.

As of October 9, 2026, the only upcoming screenings we could find are Monster Fest's sessions in other Australian cities: Perth on Saturday, October 31, and Brisbane, Sydney and Adelaide on Sunday, November 1. Monster Fest lists it as classified MA15+.

As of October 9, 2026, it is not on Netflix, Shudder, Prime Video or any other service, and it is not available to rent or buy. Any site claiming to stream it is not a legitimate source. We will update this page and the film page when a release is announced.

No full trailer has been released as of October 9, 2026. Three short teasers premiered on Bloody Disgusting on September 14, 2026, four days before the Fantastic Fest premiere.

The official poster went up on the film's Instagram on August 17, 2026, with the tagline "The miracle has already begun." TheWrap published an exclusive first look of stills the same day. On December 31, 2025, Alanah Pearce posted a behind-the-scenes vlog on her Alanah IRL channel about making the film in thirteen days.

The Fantastic Fest programme describes the setup. Colby (Cameron Cuffe) plans a couples' weekend for his girlfriend, Theo (Paige Evans), at a rented Pueblo Revival-style house in the New Mexico high desert. Theo brings her sister, Katie (Riley Dandy), who has just been through a breakup. The house belongs to an older couple, the Martinsons, played by Bruce Davison and Dee Wallace.

TheWrap reported that Veron's idea came from how unsettling it can be to stay in an Airbnb. Fangoria reported that he wrote his first draft in 2016 and that the script went through 21 drafts.

Pearce told TheWrap that when she and Veron first approached studios and financiers, "Most of them required us to attach A-list actors." She said "one company even specified that we cast J.K. Simmons in Bruce Davison's role."

They financed it independently instead. Pearce asked McLoughlin and the producer Mali Elfman whether they wanted to invest. Both read the script and agreed. McLoughlin personally paid for principal photography, and Helmstreet Productions paid for post-production. "I really liked the script," McLoughlin told TheWrap. He told Tubefilter, "I really love being able to help people make the things they want."

Filming began on December 2, 2025, in Las Cruces, New Mexico, according to Collider and the New Mexico Film Office. Fangoria reported thirteen days of principal photography and three more of pickups and reshoots.

John Veron directed it and co-wrote it with Alanah Pearce. It is his first feature.

Alanah Pearce is an Australian former games journalist and video game writer who worked at Santa Monica Studio, the developer of God of War, from 2020 to 2024. Fangoria reported that she first auditioned for the lead role, then joined as co-writer and creative producer. She is also credited as a producer, and in March 2026 she launched Charred Pictures, her production company, which is credited on the film. Her own YouTube channel had about 683,000 subscribers on October 9, 2026.

Seán McLoughlin has 31.2 million subscribers on his Jacksepticeye YouTube channel as of October 9, 2026. TheWrap noted that he is also producing the upcoming Bloodborne film.

The other producers include Craig Sherwood and Eri Hawkins. Mali Elfman is an executive producer.

Paige Evans played Amy in the horror comedy Sorry About the Demon (2022). Cameron Cuffe led the Syfy series Krypton as Seg-El. Riley Dandy starred in Christmas Bloody Christmas (2022) and Things Will Be Different (2024).

Dee Wallace starred in The Hills Have Eyes (1977), The Howling (1981), Cujo (1983) and Critters (1986), and played the mother in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). Bruce Davison played the title role in Willard (1971) and Senator Kelly in X-Men (2000) and X2 (2003), and was nominated for an Academy Award for Longtime Companion. Wallace and Davison were both in Rob Zombie's The Lords of Salem (2012).

We have not seen it, so it has no Watch Darkly scores yet. Its Fear, Gore, Atmosphere, Intensity and Overall scores will go on the film page after we watch it.

On October 9, 2026, it had a 93% score on Rotten Tomatoes from 15 critics' reviews, 14 positive and 1 negative. Dread Central gave it 4 out of 5. Film Threat gave it 7 out of 10 and called it a promising feature debut. Inverse listed it among the pleasant surprises of Fantastic Fest. B-Sides & Badlands called it funny and gory. The negative review, from RogerEbert.com, found it inconsistent and named Riley Dandy its best performer. On Letterboxd, 262 members had marked it as watched.

It has no MPA rating yet. Monster Fest lists it as MA15+ in Australia.

Several other films have the same or a similar title. Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktakular (2003) is a Canadian animated Halloween film based on Jill Thompson's books. Godmothered (2020) is a Disney Christmas comedy with Jillian Bell and Isla Fisher. Godmother (1999) is an Indian Hindi drama directed by Vinay Shukla.