[Review] NEVER AFTER DARK (2026): A Highly Satisfying Ghost Story That’s About More Than A Haunting

A young woman driving through a snowy landscape appears to be having a conversation with her sister in the back seat; when she arrives at her destination, the hotel owner who has hired this woman to deal with some paranormal activity says, “But I thought there were two you.” There are, but no one can see Airi’s sister Miku except for Airi… because Miku is dead, her ghost communicating with her psychic sister via mirrors.

We’ve seen this trope before: the ghostbuster who receives help from the friendly ghosts only they can hear and see. But the strength and pleasure of writer-director Dave Boyle’s Never After Dark is how he quickly both honors and inverts the trope, creating a taut, well-made spooky thriller. Airi (Moeka Hoshi) just wants to help whatever weird spirit is haunting this secluded hotel to move on—that’s how she makes her living, and with the help of a ritual candle and spinning mirror device, her spirt is able to move into the realm where Miku (Kurumi Inagaki) abides, dispensing advice and warnings. It looks like it’s simply a matter of finding out what the man in the jumpsuit, his lower face horribly mangled, wants or needs to move on to his final destination, but it soon becomes clear (especially to the well-seasoned horror fan) that this will not be a simple case for Airi… nor for her sister.

Never After Dark takes this well-worn horror set-up and gives it a very intriguing twist, one that I wasn’t expecting, a twist that turns Mutsuo Yoshioka’s ghost into a far more frightening monster than a mysterious revenant. A serial killer is on the loose, not just in the past but in the present, and Miku must convince her sister, who simply wants to leave, to stop him. The whole production is well-written, well-cast, and very well-edited, with nary a dead spot in the storytelling; it also avoids overselling the emotional connection between the sisters, deftly revealing their backstory in well-judged strokes. It’s a highly satisfying ghost story that’s about more than a haunting—or, rather, explores the ways in which a haunting doesn’t need a dead person to menace the living.

Never After Dark receives a theatrical release on 9/25/26.

(Magnolia Pictures, Signal 181 Productions, in association with XYZ Films, in association with Toho Next present Never After Dark, a film created by the co-creator/star Kento Kaku and showrunner/director Dave Boyle of the 2024 Netflix series House of Ninjas.)