Our list of the most exciting upcoming horror movies in 2025 includes some unmissable titles, from Osgood Perkins's new movie Keeper to The Black Phone's sequel. As we leave summer behind, the spooky season has officially started, with Halloween just around the corner and a list of new scary movies waiting for us in cinemas.
With Ryan Coogler's critically-acclaimed Sinners, Zach Cregger's surprising Weapons, and the record-breaking The Conjuring: Last Rites, 2025 has already been an incredible year for horror movies, and it's still not over. A spooky smorgasbord of dark delights, dystopian stories, haunted houses and so much more, all the upcoming horror movies this year are bringing their A-game to have viewers screaming, laughing, cheering and maybe even puking.
Below, we've put together the ultimate horror-movie list, including some highly anticipated sequels like Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 and small gems to watch out for like Good Boy. Are you brave enough to take a deep dive into this guide of horrors? Here are the scary movies that will make you jump in the cinema in the next few months.
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.
Bone Lake
Release date: October 3, 2025
The new erotic psychological horror film from director Mercedes Bryce Morgan, who in 2022 made the very solid Spoonful of Sugar for Shudder, sees a couple's vacation at a secluded estate upended when they're forced to share the mansion with a mysterious couple.
With the tagline 'What's your body count?', Bone Lake had its world premiere at last year's Fantastic Fest, and will arrive on our screens just before Halloween. It's a darkly hilarious and seductive horror story in which a dream getaway spirals into a nightmarish maze of sex, lies and manipulation, bringing terrifying secrets to light and triggering a bloody battle for survival.
Good Boy
Release date: October 3, 2025
It's pooch vs poltergeist in this upcoming horror movie, and we can't wait to see it. Good Boy from writer-director Ben Leonberg offers a different take on the haunted house story, and it currently holds a 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The film centers on Indy, a caramel-colored canine who faces off against a sinister, supernatural entity in order to save his bestie, Shane Jensen's Todd. Larry Fessenden (the co-writer of hit PlayStation game Until Dawn), Arielle Friedman, Anya Krawcheck and Stuart Rudin round out the (human) cast.
V/H/S/Halloween
Release date: October 3, 2025 (Shudder)
The V/H/S franchise has very much embraced October as its domain in recent years, making each new installment a staple of Spooky Season for horror fans, and this year it’s leaning in hard. The eighth entry in the cult horror anthology franchise, which started back in 2012, promises a seasonal twist, with segments themed around traditional Halloween horrors.
V/H/S/Halloween will hit the Shudder streaming service on October 3rd and, as always, boasts an impressive roster of directors, from Bryan M. Ferguson, Casper Kelly, Micheline Pitt-Norman and R.H. Norman to Alex Ross Perry (Your Smell), Anna Zlokovic (Appendage) and Paco Plaza (the REC movies, La Abuela, Veronica and Sister Death).
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.
Frankenstein
Release date: October 17, 2025 (cinemas) / November 7, 2025 (Netflix)
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) is arriving in limited cinemas in October, and on streaming in November.
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!
Predator: Badlands
Release date: November 7, 2025
The plot of Predator: Badlands takes viewers to a "future on a remote planet" where "a young Predator, outcast from his clan, finds an unlikely ally in synthetic Thia and embarks on a treacherous journey in search of the ultimate adversary."
The upcoming film is a new entry in the juggernaut franchise that has been pulling in audiences since 1987. The first trailer made us very excited, and not only because of those Alien connections. The film is directed by Dan Trachtenberg, who is back with the franchise after he stunned in 2022 with his Comanche Nation-set Predator movie Prey, and it stars Elle Fanning (The Neon Demon, The Beguiled).
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.
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
Release date: January 16, 2026
Following the release of 28 Years Later in June 2025, the sequel 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple will continue the adventures of Spike (played by Alfie Williams) only a few months later, and it promises to be even more brutal than its predecessor. The first trailer for the sequel teased more bonkers action from Jimmy Crystal's (Jack O'Connell) cult and a closer look at the mysterious Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes).
Directed by Nia DaCosta and written by Alex Garland, The Bone Temple will follow the events of the previous movie, with the teen protagonist leaving his isolated community to see the infected world for himself. Cillian Murphy is set to reprise his role as Jim from the original 28 Days Later in this second movie, which will be followed by a third and last installment.
Return to Silent Hill
Release date: January 23, 2026
The upcoming live-action film adaptation of Silent Hill 2 is one to watch next year, even if fans weren't thrilled by the first official images. Return to Silent Hill will be helmed by Christophe Gans, who directed 2006's Silent Hill adaptation, and will star Jeremy Irvine as James, Hannah Emily Anderson as Maria, and Evie Templeton as Laura.
As far as we know, the sequel will follow the events of Silent Hill 2, which sees James head to the mysterious, foggy town of Silent Hill in search for his dead wife after receiving a mysterious letter from her.
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 film.
For more, check out our guides to all the movie release dates this year and new TV shows.
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