'Carrie,' 'Verity,' and More Thrilling Book-to-Screen Adaptations Perfect for Fall 2026

A thrilling and chilling fall season is here with plenty of book-to-screen adaptations to enjoy. Whether plunged in the dark of a theater to watch Victorian Psycho or lit by the TV glow while tuning into Carrie, the offerings on this list skew toward the unhinged and the uncomfortable. 

Some titles like Klara and the Sun hold a mirror up to the world to make us question the track we’re on and the future we could one day see. Others negotiate power, like Dune: Part Three, or question what it means to be under the government’s boot, like Sunrise on the Reaping. 

Be it witches, superheroes, or a closet monster, each of these adaptations does more than entertain. They also express points of view that will leave you thinking about them long after your watch. If you’re looking for something that’s worth the cost of going to the movies or the time it takes to binge a series, check out the following adaptations.

1. Practical Magic 2
2. Victorian Psycho
3. Verity
4. Carrie
5. Other Mommy
6. Klara and the Sun
7. The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping
8. Dune: Part Three
9. Avengers: Doomsday

Practical Magic 2

Adapted from: The Practical Magic franchise by Alice Hoffman

In theaters: Friday, September 11

In Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic, the women in the Owens family have long carried the blame for everything that could possibly go wrong in their town. Refusing to carry the same burden, sisters Gillian and Sally escaped from the oppressive nature of that fate—only to find themselves forced to return home.

The 1995 book inspired a film adaptation that hit theaters three years later. While the movie starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as the Owens sisters didn’t perform well at the box office, it went on to become a cult classic. Now, 28 years after Practical Magic first hit theaters, the sequel is coming to the big screen.

Bullock and Kidman are reprising their roles in the update, which sees the sisters traveling to the UK to track down Sally’s daughter, Kylie (Joey King). Devastated by the possible loss of the man she loves due to a family curse, Kylie disappears while attempting to break it using dark magic. 

The sisters—along with their aunts Frances (Stockard Channing) and Jet (Dianne Wiest), Sally’s younger daughter Antonia (Maisie Williams), and magic historian Ian Wright (Lee Pace)—must band together to get Kylie home safely while combatting the curse that’s plagued the Owens family for generations.

Victorian Psycho

Adapted from: Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito

In theaters: Friday, September 25

Based on the 2025 novel of the same name and with a screenplay by Virginia Feito, Victorian Psycho is a rare book-to-screen adaptation that hits theaters just a year after the source material was first released. 

The horror film is set in 1858, a time when women would often enter affluent households as governesses to help rear and educate the children. In Winifred Notty’s (Maika Monroe) case, she’s at Ensor House for more than the instruction of young minds. Winifred is out for revenge, and she intends to enact it on the Pounds family with psychotic glee.

Verity

Adapted from: Verity by Colleen Hoover

In theaters: Friday, October 2

Verity is the fourth film to be adapted from one of Colleen Hoover’s books in two years, and the first that isn’t a romantic drama. While the author often delves into heavy subject matter in her love stories, the 2018 novel Verity was a departure in form as it’s a psychological romantic thriller.

The movie stars Anne Hathaway as Verity Crawford, a best-selling author whose mysterious accident leaves her unable to complete her book series. Enter Lowen Ashleigh (Dakota Johnson), a struggling writer who’s hired by Verity’s husband Jeremy (Josh Hartnett) to finish the author’s work for her. 

What should be a clear-cut job becomes an unsettling experience for Lowen once she comes across a manuscript of Verity’s that makes the writer question the woman’s sanity and certain elements in her books.

Carrie

Adapted from: Carrie by Stephen King

On Prime Video: Wednesday, October 7 

Stephen King’s iconic horror novel about the eponymous teenage girl was published in 1974 and has been adapted multiple times over the decades. But Mike Flanagan’s will be the first television series adaptation of the well-known story about bullying, telekinesis, and what it means to push someone past the edge of what they’re willing to tolerate.

Notably, the eight-episode series is an update to the tale meant to fit this day and age, particularly how teens interact with one another in person and online. Flanagan’s Carrie also takes liberties with the text, putting the teen in school after the death of her father. 

Carrie (Summer H. Howell) has only truly known the inside of her home with her mother, Margaret (Samantha Sloyan). School is meant to be her opportunity to learn and grow with people her age. But she soon finds that they’re addicted to their social media feeds and seeking attention through likes, comments, and follows, even if it means being casually cruel to get what they want. 

As she deals with a cyberbullying scandal, an experience that has become frighteningly commonplace for modern-day children, Carrie will also realize that she has a powerful gift she and her peers are in no way prepared to deal with.

Other Mommy

Adapted from: Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman

In theaters: Friday, October 9

Josh Malerman’s 2024 novel Incidents Around the House has a terrifying premise that blends the trope of a child’s imaginary friend with a dark entity that lives in the closet. 

In the film, just like in the book, Bela (Arabella Olivia Clark) is visited by “Other Mommy,” who looks exactly like her mother Ursula (Jessica Chastain). But this figure isn’t only visible to her. Her father Russ (Jay Duplass) sees her, too, and the shock of her appearance leads him to get the authorities involved.

Bela assures Ursula that “Other Mommy” is nice. However, there is an aspect of the being that is more horrifying than its ability to pose as Ursula or contort its body in grotesque ways. It wants to be let inside Bela’s heart and return to when they were once one person, which is the reason it left the closet where it promised to stay.

Klara and the Sun

Adapted from: Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

In theaters: Friday, October 23

A film adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun is rather poignant at this moment in time, as the story explores isolation and classism worsened by the digital divide in a future where artificial friends (AFs) replace relationships between humans. 

Klara (Jenna Ortega), an old-gen AF with the sensibilities of a curious child, is brought home by Chrissie (Amy Adams) after her daughter Josie (Mia Tharia) spots Klara in a shop window. Bought to be a companion, the AF is supposed to help Josie feel less alone and help her learn. The girl is sick and has no one to socialize with besides her family.

The more time Klara spends with Josie, Chrissie, and the rest of the household, the more the AF realizes that her duty to them goes deeper than what she’s designed for. With the assistance of her beloved Sun, Klara is determined to be exactly what they need no matter her own limitations.

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping

Adapted from: Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

In theaters: Friday, November 20

Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games series took both the book and film world by storm. The juggernaut franchise closed out Katniss Everdeen’s story in 2015 and moved on to prequels centered on characters who had a heavy hand in influencing her and the Panem that she grew up in. Sunrise on the Reaping tells her mentor Haymitch Abernathy’s story.

It takes place 24 years before Katniss volunteers for the Games to keep her sister Prim safe. Like her, Haymitch was 16 years old when he was thrust into the Capitol’s sick tournament, which is produced for entertainment and to keep the districts in line.

For the 50th anniversary, the Capitol chose to do something special. Instead of two tributes to represent each district, there would be four. After all, a Quarter Quell has to up the ante and, for Haymitch, that means being the last one standing in a reaping of 48.

Dune: Part Three

Adapted from: Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert

In theaters: Friday, December 18

Director Denis Villeneuve’s final film for the Dune series brings Frank Herbert’s second novel in the epic saga to life and follows Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) as he nears the end of two decades as emperor. The ruthless ruler is contending with new threats and possible betrayal as he sorts through the consequences of his reign.

While Paul does have old allies he can rely on, it’s Chani (Zendaya) and the threat of his empire’s collapse that haunt his every step. Her reappearance coincides with a conspiracy that draws the emperor in and forces him to reckon with the cost of his rise to power and what it means for the people he loves.

Avengers: Doomsday

Adapted from: The Avengers by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Roy Thomas, Don Heck, John Buscema, and Sal Buscema (Marvel)

In theaters: Friday, December 18

Inspired by The Avengers comics that cemented Marvel characters into the halls of history, Avengers: Doomsday promises to be a cinematic event as universes collide in the effort to stop Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.). 

The movie, which features the OG Avengers, the new Avengers, the Fantastic Four, Wakandans, and 20th Century Fox’s X-Men, builds off a story that’s been coming together across multiple films and television series for an interconnected plot years in the making. It will also see the return of Chris Evans as Steve Rogers.