We’re nearly half way through the year but there’s still plenty of time for the upcoming horror movies headed for our screens to petrify and entertain audiences in equal measure.
Big franchise titles like 28 Years Later, I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Conjuring: Last Rites, Jurassic World Rebirth, The Strangers: Chapter 2, Predator: Badlands and Hell House LLC: Lineage are keeping their respective terror trains rolling, along with new installments from some of Blumhouse’s most popular titles with M3GAN, The Black Phone and Five Nights At Freddy’s all getting sequels this year.
Remakes and reimaginings are also still big business in horror, and we’re getting exciting new iterations of gothic classics like Frankenstein right through to more schlocky fare with Witchboard, Anaconda, and The Toxic Avenger.
Plus there’s loads of original storytelling still to come in 2025, from the Phillipou brothers’ Bring Her Back to Osgood Perkins’ Keeper, Stephen King adaptation The Long Walk, and Jordan Peele-produced sports horror Him, sharks-meet-serial killer nightmare fuel Dangerous Animals, sci-fi body horror Together, and various creepy goings on from The Ritual and Weapons.
So no shortage of exciting upcoming horror films to sink your teeth into through the second half of the year, and here’s what you need to know about all the slasher killers, ravenous monsters, vindictive spirits, murderous machines and more coming to cinemas and streaming.
Bring Her Back
Release date: May 30, 2025 (US), August 1, 2025 (UK)
Danny and Michael Philippou, the directors of 2022’s supernatural horror smash hit Talk To Me, have teamed up again with A24 for their sophomore feature, Bring Her Back, which stars The Shape of Water’s Sally Hawkins and follows a brother and sister who uncover a terrifying ritual at the secluded home of their new foster mother. The teaser trailer, which has just dropped in February, promises more of the unsettling imagery scared up by the Philippous in Talk To Me, with what looks like some supernatural and even folk horror vibes. For horror fans who have been eagerly awaiting what fresh terror the Aussie filmmakers are ready to unleash next, May can’t arrive quickly enough.
The Ritual
Release date: June 6, 2025
Director David Midell’s new exorcism movie boasts some impressive casting including Al Pacino and modern-day scream king Dan Stevens (The Guest, Abigail, Cuckoo, The Rental, Apostle). The plot, which sees two priests – one questioning his faith and one reckoning with a troubled past – who put aside their differences to save a possessed young woman through a difficult and dangerous series of exorcisms, might sound familiar, but bear in mind that it’s apparently based on a true story.
Variety has reported that the movie is “an authentic portrayal of Emma Schmidt, an American woman whose demonic possession culminated in harrowing exorcisms. Her case remains the most thoroughly documented exorcism in American history.” Pacino isn't averse to tackling Satanic horror, having starred as the Devil himself in 1997’s The Devil’s Advocate, and joining him and Stevens in The Ritual are Ashley Greene (the Twilight movies) and Abigail Cowan (The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina).
Dangerous Animals
Release date: June 6, 2025
From director Sean Byrne, the acclaimed Australian filmmaker behind The Loved Ones and The Devil’s Candy, and starring Jai Courtney (Suicide Squad, Terminator Genisys, A Good Day to Die Hard), Hassie Harrison (Yellowstone) and Josh Heuston (Dune: Prophecy), Dangerous Animals is being called a sharp, exhilarating thriller that takes you on a white-knuckle ride through the terror of human obsession and deadly creatures.
The film revolves around vagabond surfer Zephyr who has deserted her past to find solace in the surf on Australia’s east coast. After an unexpected, romantic night with another local surfer, she avoids her feelings for him by escaping to the waves - only to be abducted by a shark-obsessed killer who feeds his victims to the animals below. Forced into a terrifying showdown aboard the ship and against the ravenous sharks, Zephyr enters into a twisted dance for survival with the true monster: man. Sharks and a serial killer in one movie? Yes please!
28 Years Later
Release date: June 20, 2025
Ok so it might not have been exactly 28 years since director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland revolutionized the zombie subgenre with their film 28 Days Later, but it has been 23. Already? How?! Anyway, now Boyle and Garland are back with their much-anticipated follow-up, the third film in the franchise, coming after 28 Weeks Later in 2007.
With an all-star cast including Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass, Nocturnal Animals, Godzilla), Jodie Comer (The Last Duel, The End We Start From), Ralph Fiennes (The Menu, Red Dragon) and Jack O’Connell (Eden Lake, Starred Up), 28 Years Later currently has its plot tightly under wraps, but we can expect to catch up with the world as it stands following the chilling zombie apocalypse that terrified us all back in 2002.
M3GAN 2.0
Release date: June 27, 2025
Following the success of Blumhouse’s smash hit M3GAN in 2022, which starred Alison Williams as a robotics engineer, Violet McGraw as Cady, and, of course, the titular robotic AI M3GAN, director Gerard Johnstone is returning in summer 2025 with its sequel.
Along with the director, Williams and McGraw also return, as do stars Brian Jordan Alvarez and Amie Donald, and writer Akela Cooper, with Jemaine Clement (What We Do In the Shadows) joining the fray. Johnstone has said that the new M3GAN movie is very ambitious and increases the scale and scope of the original.
Jurassic World Rebirth
Release date: July 2, 2025
Gareth Edwards has more than proven himself as a director to deliver solid sci-fi, rolicking action and big toothy beasts with Monsters (2010), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) and Godzilla (2014) all firmly under his belt, so now that he’s helming the latest Jurassic World movie it looks like a positive move for a franchise some hoped might go extinct.
The new movie is set five years after the events of Jurassic World Dominion, as an expedition braves isolated equatorial regions to extract DNA from three massive prehistoric creatures for a groundbreaking medical breakthrough. Facing the dinosaurs, Scarlett Johansson makes the jump from the MCU to the Jurassic Park universe and is joined by Rupert Friend (Asteroid City, Companion), Jonathan Bailey (Bridgerton, Wicked), Mahershala Ali (The Hunger Games, Leave the World Behind) and Ed Skrein (Rebel Moon).
I Know What You Did Last Summer
Release date: July 18, 2025
In the midst of the '90s slasher boom, a little film called I Know What You Did Last Summer hit our screens, lighting them up like 4th July fireworks and solidifying Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr., and Ryan Phillippe as teen horror icons. The movie follows four young friends who, bound by a tragic accident, are reunited when they’re stalked by a hook-wielding maniac in their small seaside town.
The following year, its sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer brought Hewitt and Prinze Jr. back to continue their ordeal, pairing them up with Brandy Norwood and Mekhi Phifer in the Bahamas. And now, 27 years later, they’re returning with a fresh look at the franchise, directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Do Revenge, Someone Great). It would seem whoever ‘knows’ hasn’t forgotten, as buried secrets once again resurface. Madelyn Cline (Glass Onion) and Billy Campbell (Bram Stoker’s Dracula) will also star.
Together
Release date: August 1, 2025
Written and directed by Michael Shanks in his feature debut, and starring IRL couple Alison Brie (GLOW, Horse Girl, The Rental) and Dave Franco (Nerve, Love Lies Bleeding), Together recently premiered as part of the Sundance Midnight selection at January’s film festival. According to Variety, the film kept the packed audience hooting and hollering at many of its gory, surprising set pieces, and in an interview for IMDb, Franco described the film as "very scary".
The psychological sci-fi body horror follows a codependent couple's move to the countryside which triggers a supernatural incident that exacerbates their existing issues and drastically alters their relationship… and their physical form.
Weapons
Release date: August 8, 2025
Following his hugely popular break-out horror movie Barbarian in 2022, in which he subverted the home invasion subgenre and audience expectations in one fell ‘WTF’ swoop, director Zach Cregger is now back with his much anticipated sophomore feature. Described as a “horror epic” and with a stellar cast including Josh Brolin (Sicario, Planet Terror, No Country for Old Men), Julia Garner (Wolf Man, Apartment 7A) and Benedict Wong (Annihilation, the MCU), Weapons is a chilling mystery that tells interrelated stories about the disappearance of high school students in a small town. We cannot wait to see what Cregger has up his creepy sleeves with this one.
Witchboard
Release date: August 15, 2025
In the late eighties, director Chuck Russell treated horror fans to two much-loved favourites: A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors in ‘87 and a brilliant remake of The Blob in ‘88, but then he moved away from the genre. Well he’s finally back, with a reimagining of the 1986 cult classic Witchboard and, since Russell has stated “I wanted to top my other two horror films”, we are excited about it!
Starring Madison Iseman (Annabelle Comes Home, I Know What You Did Last Summer series), Aaron Dominguez (Only Murders in the Building), Mel Jarnson (Mortal Kombat) and Charlie Tahan (The Pale Blue Eye, Ozark), Witchboard follows a group of friends who discover a mysterious artifact as they prepare to open a cafe in New Orleans. Cue darkness, obsession, summoned spirits, mysterious occult experts and a sumptuous masked ball, all under Chuck Russell’s well-trained eye.
The Toxic Avenger
Release date: August 29, 2025
The reboot of the 1984 Troma Entertainment comedy-horror cult classic got its world premier at Fantastic Fest in September 2023 and then disappeared into the distribution void but now, thanks to Cineverse having picked it up, we finally have a release date. Macon Blair, best known as the director of 2017’s indy favourite I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore and his acting turns in a whole host of genre fair including Blue Ruin, Green Room and The Hunt, feels like a safe pair of hands for this retelling of the tale of The Toxic Avenger – a mutated anti-hero who wields a deadly mop. Peter Dinklage is in the title role, alongside Kevin Bacon, Jacob Tremblay and Elijah Wood, and this should be one on the radar for anyone with a penchant for schlocky gore, quirky comedy and practical effects.
The Conjuring: Last Rites
Release date: September 5, 2025
And now the end is near, and so we face the final Conjuring. For over a decade now, Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga have been battling the forces of supernatural evil as paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, and now they’re ready to hang up their holy water, big collars and guitars in the fourth and final installment, The Conjuring: Last Rites.
James Wan’s Conjuring Universe is a box office juggernaut that has grossed around $2.2 billion over eight mixed but largely enjoyable movies to date, making it the most successful horror franchise ever and rehabilitating the controversial real-life Warrens as modern-day genre faves. Michael Chaves is back on directing duty for Last Rites after helming other franchise entries, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, The Nun II, and The Curse of La Llorona, and the new film will see Ed and Lorraine taking on one last terrifying case.
The Long Walk
Release date: September 12, 2025
There’s a new Stephen King adaptation on the horizon and the straight-up talent involved in The Long Walk is hugely exciting. Directed by Francis Lawrence (Constantine, I Am Legend, the Hunger Games movies), with a screenplay by JT Mollner (Strange Darling) and starring Mark Hamill (Star Wars, The Fall of the House of Usher), Judy Greer (Halloween, Halloween Kills) and Garrett Wareing (God is a Bullet), that’s a lot of impressive names, especially when paired with one of King’s most ambitious novels (written under the pseudonym Richard Bachman).
The dystopian horror revolves around a group of teenage boys who sign up for an annual contest known as The Long Walk, where they must maintain a certain walking speed or get shot. It shares some themes with The Hunger Games and Battle Royale, but the brutal, heart-stopping horror is mixed with that small town sepia Americana that King does so well. We can’t wait.
Him
Release date: September 19, 2025
Sports and horror might not be two themes that are often explored together in cinema, but the new movie from director Justin Tipping (Kicks) and Jordan Peele's Monkeypaw Productions (the studio behind Peele's Get Out, Us and Nope, and 2021's Candyman) is about to change all that. Him stars Tyriq Withers (Atlanta) as a promising young football player who joins an isolated compound to train under a dynasty team's aging quarterback, played by Marlon Wayans (Requiem for a Dream, Scary Movie). Alongside Withers and Wayans, the cast also includes Julia Fox (Uncut Gems, Presence) and Tim Heidecker (Us, Y2K).
The Strangers: Chapter 2
Release date: September 26, 2025
The second installment of Renny Harlin’s The Strangers trilogy is headed to theaters this September, continuing the story from 2024’s Chapter 1 in which Madelaine Petsch’s Maya found herself at the mercy of the now-iconic masked psychopaths: The Man in Mask, Dollface and Pin-Up girl, first introduced in Bryan Bertino’s original 2008 home invasion horror. The Strangers: Chapter 2 is clocking up a run-time of well over two and a half hours so, following the lukewarm critical response to last year’s franchise entry, there should be plenty of room for the horror to stretch its legs and hopefully deliver some compelling storytelling and visceral scares to gear up to Chapter 3’s forthcoming conclusion.
Keeper
Release date: October 3, 2025
Exciting news, Osgood Perkins fans! Not content with releasing one of the best and biggest horror films of 2024 with Longlegs, and then treating us hot on its heels to the highly entertaining gorefest that was The Monkey in February, the director is gearing up to deliver yet another descent into darkness before the year is out.
Tatiana Maslani and Tess Degenstein - who both worked with Perkins on The Monkey - will star alongside Rossif Sutherland (Orphan: First Kill, Possessor) in Keeper, set to hit cinemas in October. Sutherland and Maslani play a couple - Malcolm and Liz - who set out on a romantic anniversary retreat, but when Malcolm unexpectedly leaves for the city, Liz is left alone to be confronted by a sinister presence within their remote cabin. You keep making them Oz, and we’ll keep watching them.
The Black Phone 2
Release date: October 17, 2024
We love a horror sequel that audiences are actually excited about and Scott Derrickson’s follow-up to his 2021 supernatural/child abduction hit The Black Phone is shaping up to be one such movie. There’s very little known about The Black Phone 2 currently, but it has been confirmed that original cast members Ethan Hawke, Jeremy Davies, Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw are all returning.
The first movie and its characters were based on a short story written by Joe son-of-Stephen-King Hill, and while he won’t back for the sequel screenplay, Derrickson has teamed up again with C. Robert Cargill who also worked on The Black Phone and the Sinister films. Here’s hoping for more fearful fun from this team that just seems to love the horror genre.
Hell House LLC: Lineage
Release date: October 2025
Are you ready to return to the haunt? The Hell House LLC franchise is coming back with its fifth – and possibly final – installment, further exploring the backstories of the series’ characters and introducing some new ones to the mix. Unlike the four previous movies, starting with Hell House LLC in 2015, Lineage won’t be a found footage horror and will present its terrors in more of a traditional cinematic narrative. But fans shouldn’t worry – Elizabeth Vermilyea, Cayla Berejikian, Victoria Andrunik, Gideon Berger, Bridget Rose Perrotta, Destiny Brown and James Liddell all return, as does the franchise’s genuinely terrifying clown. Hell House LLC: Lineage will hit Shudder just in time for Halloween.
Predator: Badlands
Release date: November 7, 2025
The plot of Predator: Badlands, the upcoming new entry in the juggernaut franchise that has been pulling in audiences since 1987, is currently under wraps, but we do know a few details. Firstly, it’s directed by Dan Trachtenberg, who is back with the franchise after he stunned in 2022 with his Comanche Nation-set Predator movie Prey, and secondly, it stars Elle Fanning (The Neon Demon, The Beguiled).
However, it’s perhaps the protagonist of the new movie that has had people most excited, after Trachtenberg revealed that it’s the Predator itself that will be taking center stage. Filming has wrapped in New Zealand, whose dramatic landscapes will stand in for the alien planet where the story’s action takes place.
Frankenstein
Release date: November 2025
The long-awaited adaptation of Mary Shelley's seminal sci-fi horror story Frankenstein by celebrated genre director Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, The Devil’s Backbone, Hellboy, Crimson Peak, The Shape of Water) now has a release month of November, when it will hit audiences' homes on Netflix. Del Toro’s narrative (he’s co-credited as writer with Shelley) revolves around Christoph Waltz’s Dr. Pretorius who tracks down the iconic Monster (Jacob Elordi) – believed to have died in a fire decades before – in order to continue the experiments of Dr. Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac). The all-star cast also includes Mia Goth, Ralph Ineson and Charles Dance. Electrifying!
Five Nights At Freddy's 2
Release date: December 5, 2025
In 2023, Five Nights at Freddy’s became Blumhouse’s highest-grossing movie of all time, and the cast and crew behind the popular video game-based smash hit is coming back with its sequel at the end of 2025. The first film followed Josh Hutcherson’s Mike, a troubled security guard who gets a job at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza only to find himself battling killer animatronics.
Director Emma Tammi, her co-writers Scott Cawthon and Seth Cuddeback, and stars Hutcherson, Matthew Lillard, Elizabeth Lail, and Piper Rubio are all returning for Five Nights At Freddy’s 2, which, with the tagline ‘Anyone can survive five nights. This time, there will be no second chances', and will no doubt take the classic follow-up approach of upping the stakes, the action, and - hopefully - the horror. This is also one of our most anticipated upcoming video game movies of 2025!
Anaconda
Release date: December 25, 2025
There’s a big new creature feature on the horizon and, while this might not have been on anyone’s 2025 horror bingo card, it’s a reboot of 1997’s Anaconda being brought to us by Jack Black and Paul Rudd on Christmas Day. Although at first glance this might feel like an unusual project pairing, Black has some monster movie pedigree from Peter Jackson’s King Kong and Rudd is no stranger to blockbuster action, having played Ant-Man across multiple installments of the MCU.
From what we currently know from the synopsis, the new Anaconda movie could well be a meta affair, as a group of friends going through midlife crises decide to remake a favorite movie from their youth but encounter unexpected events (and, we assume, one very big snake) when they enter the jungle. Joining Black and Rudd on the cast are Steve Zahn (Joyride) and Thandiwe Newton (Westworld). Tom Gormican (The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent) will direct.
The Bride
Release date: March 6, 2026
More rebooted Universal Monster action is on its way, this time revolving around one of horror’s most iconic female characters, and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal – following her hugely successful feature debut The Lost Daughter in 2021 – who's adapting the stunning black and white classic from 1935, James Whale’s Bride of Frankenstein. The new movie takes place in '30s Chicago, where Frankenstein asks Dr. Euphronius for help creating a companion, and when they bring a murdered woman back to life as the Bride (played by Men’s Jessie Buckley), they spark romance, police interest, and radical social change.
Along with its significant heritage, an impressive ensemble cast including Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko, Life, Velvet Buzzsaw), Christian Bale (American Psycho, The Pale Blue Eye), Penelope Cruz (Vanilla Sky, Murder on the Orient Express), Peter Sarsgaard (The Skeleton Key, Orphan) and Annette Bening (Mars Attacks!) makes this another hugely anticipated horror for 2025.
For more, check out our guides to all the movie release dates this year and new TV shows.
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