Upcoming Horror Movies Releasing In 2025

2025 looks to be a great year for horror — whether a video game franchise adaptation, a horror movie starring Cillian Murphy, or a vampire period piece, the 2025 horror movie lineup has something for all tastes. Although 2024's horror movie releases brought many great scares with works by M. Night Shamalayan, Ti West, and Tim Burton, 2025 promises to be one of a kind. With the return of popular horror writers and directors, among them Insidious and Saw creator Leigh Whannell, fans of the genre will have a chance to explore some terrifying stories every month.

2025 comes hot with the continuation of Renny Harlin's The Strangers trilogy, the revival of the I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise, and Ryan Coogler stepping into the horror genre with Sinners, as well as many new titles that offer a twist to their genre and promise a thrilling theatrical experience. With upcoming movie releases from hit studios like NEON, legacy sequels to fan-favorite franchises, and long-awaited classic monster adaptations, the 2025horror movie slate is to scream for.

12 Final Destination: Bloodlines - May 16, 2025

Directed by Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein

Produced by Spider-Man: No Way Home director, Jon Watts, the next installment of Final Destination will change the rules of the franchise. Final Destination: Bloodlines started production in March 2024. It was directed by Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein and co-written by Guy Busick from Ready Or Not, Scream, and Scream VI.

Final Destination: Bloodlines is released in 2025 as the franchise’s 25th anniversary.

Final Destination 6’s cast brings back the late Tony Todd as Bludworth the mortician and puts stars Brec Bessinger, Teo Briones, and Kaitlyn Santa Juana in the lead. It has been revealed that the movie’s concept gives center focus to first responders and features EMTs, firefighters, and police officers, as these characters go against death every day. While the movie is set to be a reboot, and it will change the rules of death, the producers also said that the film will still be a Final Destination installment at heart.

11 Fear Street: Prom Queen - May 23, 2025

Directed by Matt Palmer

Netflix's Fear Street trilogy that all released in 2021 ended up turning into a major franchise for the streamer, as all three horror films based on R.L. Stine's iconic book series of the same name ended up being incredibly successful. Fear Street: Prom Queen is the fourth installment in the franchise and will be directed by Matt Palmer, following Leigh Janiak directing the initial trilogy.

While not a direct sequel (or prequel) to the trilogy, Fear Street: Prom Queen will once again be a period piece, taking place in 1988 as the "It Girls" of Shadyside High are vying to become Prom Queen, and some of them begin to vanish without a trace. One of the contestants attempts to track down the killer, following the others disappearing. The Fear Street trilogy was surprisingly brutal and Fear Street: Prom Queen looks to continue the franchise's winning streak.

10 The Ritual - June 6, 2025

Directed by David Midell

Based on a true story, The Ritual follows two priests who put aside their differences to save an allegedly possessed young woman through a series of dangerous exorcisms. Perhaps the biggest draw of The Ritual will be Al Pacino, who plays Theophilus Riesinger, one of the priests who works alongside Dan Stevens' Joseph Steiger. Exorcism films are quite common within the horror genre, but The Ritual focuses on developing its characters alongside the scares.

The film is directed by David Midell (NightLights), in what is his biggest film yet. Though it was originally scheduled for Easter Weekend in April 2025, it has now been slated to be released on June 6, 2025, the perfect slot for the summer movie season. Alongside Al Pacino and Dan Stevens, Abigail Cowen (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) will play Emma Schmidt, the possessed young woman at the center of the film.

9 28 Years Later - June 20, 2025

Directed by Danny Boyle

28 Years Later is the first of a new trilogy based on the famous post-apocalyptic horror movie 28 Days Later. Danny Boyle returns to direct the third movie in this franchise after relinquishing the director’s role in the second movie, and he has brought in new stars, including Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer, Ralph Fiennes, Jack O’Connell, and Edvin Ryding.

Boyle and Garland’s 2002 movie, 28 Days Later, has been praised as having redefined the zombie horror genre.

Fiennes told Indie Wire the film focuses on a boy trying to get his dying mother to a doctor in Britain, which zombies have overrun. 28 Years Later wrapped filming in August 2024, and will be released on June 20, 2025. The second installment has also wrapped production. There were rumors that Cillian Murphy was returning to reprise his role from the first movie, but it has since been revealed that Murphy will not be in the film, which, as the title indicates, takes place 28 years after his first appearance.

8 M3GAN 2.0 - June 27, 2025

Directed by Gerard Johnstone

The sequel to the box office success started production in July this year and is set to release in theaters on June 27, 2025. M3GAN 2.0 looks to be an ambitious follow-up to the first film's breakout success as Megan goes up against another murderous robot named Amelia. M3GAN 2.0 looks even more action-packed than its predecessor, and is sure to feature all the murderous robot killings that fans loved before.

In November 2023, James Wan hinted that M3GAN 2.0 would explore society’s growing AI concerns in a bigger and deeper way than the first installment.

Besides the return of the original actresses, supporting characters Cole and Tess will return, played by actors Brian Jordan Alvarez and Jen Epps, respectively. New cast additions for James Wan’s production include Ivanna Sakhno (Ahsoka)in a leading role and Timm Sharp, Aristotle Athari, and Jemaine Clement in supporting roles. With Gerard Johnstone returning as the director, there are high hopes that he can recreate the magic that he brought to the first movie in the franchise.

7 I Know What You Did Last Summer - July 18, 2025

Directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson

Do Revenge’s director, Jennifer Kaytin Robison, is working with her best friend, Sarah Michelle Gellar, to revive the franchise. Although Gellar is not part of the I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel cast, she has been helping the crew and actors replicate the original’s unique charm. Building from the first two movies, the legacy sequel will pair up original actor Freddie Prinze Jr. with a brand-new cast of teens being terrorized by the fisherman.

I Know What You Did Last Summer was filmed in Australia and will be released on July 18, 2025. Jennifer Love Hewitt also signed on to join Prinze Jr. to reprise her role as Julie James, the final girl from the previous movies. Robinson doesn't have a horror movie in her past as a director, but she has directed a romantic comedy and a dark teen comedy, so this might have some dark humor in addition to the horror elements. I Know What You Did Last Summer looks to follow similar legacy sequel formulas like Halloween and Scream.

6 The Conjuring: Last Rites - September 5, 2025

Directed by Michael Chavez

The Conjuring: Last Rites

Horror

Release Date: September 5, 2025
Director: Michael Chaves
Writers: Richard Naing, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick
Producers: Peter Safran, James Wan

Cast

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Vera Farmiga
Lorraine Warren
Patrick Wilson
Ed Warren
Mia Tomlinson
Judy Warren
Ben Hardy
Tony Spera

The Conjuring: Last Rites follows paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren as they embark on their final case. Set to be released in 2025, the film confronts the duo with mysterious entities they must face, encapsulating the chilling legacy of their supernatural investigations.

The Conjuring: Last Rites features the return of actors Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as the famous paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. The fourth and last installment of The Conjuring main series will likely explore the couple’s biggest case yet, and began filming in 2024.

Every The Conjuring Universe Movie/TV Show
Title	Release Date	Director	Writer
The Conjuring	July 19, 2013	James Wan	Chad Hayes, Carey W. Hayes
Annabelle	October 3, 2014	John R. Leonetti	Gary Dauberman
The Conjuring 2	June 10, 2016	James Wan	Chad Hayes, Carey W. Hayes, James Wan
Annabelle: Creation	August 11, 2017	David F. Sandberg	Gary Dauberman
The Nun	September 7, 2018	Corin Hardy	Gary Dauberman, James Wan
Annabelle Comes Home	June 26, 2019	Gary Dauberman	Gary Dauberman, James Wan
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It	June 4, 2021	Michael Chaves	David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, James Wan, Chad Hayes
The Nun II	September 8, 2023	Michael Chaves	Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing, Akela Cooper
The Conjuring: Last Rites	September 5, 2025	Michael Chaves	Ian Goldberg, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, Richard Naing
The Conjuring TV Show	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown

Part of the highest-grossing horror franchise, the Michael Chaves-directed film is slated to be released to early fall success on September 5, 2025. Specific details surrounding The Conjuring: Last Rites’ story have been kept under wraps. However, actor Ben Hardy and actress Mia Tomlinson are part of the cast. Chavez has plenty of experience in this franchise, working on The Nun II, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, and The Curse of La Llorona.

5 Him - September 19, 2025

Directed by Justin Tipping

Him

Horror

Release Date: September 18, 2025
Director: Justin Tipping
Writers: Justin Tipping, Zack Akers, Skip Bronkie
Producers: Jordan Peele, David Kern, Win Rosenfeld

Cast

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Tyriq Withers
Benny Mathis
Marlon Wayans
Connor Dane
Julia Fox
Tim Heidecker

Main Genre: Horror

Monkeypaw Productions, the Jordan Peele company that made horror hits Nope, Us and Get Out, is producing Him, an anti-sports psychological horror. The movie is directed by award-winning Justin Tipping (Kicks), and is set for release on September 19, 2025. With the talent linked to Him, it could be a major surprise for the horror genre in 2025.

Jordan Peele’s Him was previously titled GOAT.

Peele’s horror movie has Marlon Wayans as the lead and follows a rising young athlete with high ambitions who is given the opportunity to train with an old sports star who is about to retire. Him will take its protagonist (Tyriq Withers) on “a blood-chilling journey into the inner sanctum of fame, power and pursuit of excellence at any cost.” While the synopsis makes the horror aspects questionable, the trailer looked like a surreal nightmare of a film.

4 The Strangers: Chapter 2 – September 26, 2025

Directed by Renny Harlin

The Strangers: Chapter 2

Horror

Thriller

Release Date: September 26, 2025
Runtime: 96 Minutes
Director: Renny Harlin
Writers: Alan Freedland, Alan R. Cohen, Amber Loutfi
Producers: Courtney Solomon

Cast

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Madelaine Petsch
Maya
Richard Brake
Sheriff Rotter
Rachel Shenton
Debbie
Brooke Lena Johnson
Nurse Danica

The nightmare deepens in The Strangers: Chapter 2, as Maya awakens in a hospital, only to discover that the masked assailants who terrorized her are still at large.

Franchise(s): The Strangers
Main Genre: Horror
Distributor(s): Lionsgate Films

The first chapter of Lionsgate’s The Strangers trilogy sequel received mixed reviews for being a close remake to Bertino’s horror classic. However, director Renny Harlin hyped the coming chapters by revealing that they will go further and deeper into exploring the masked killers’ origins in the town of Venus. The movie follows up on Maya, played by actress Madelaine Petsch, recovering from the attack in the first installment.

Petsch is the only cast member listed as returning and starring in the new movie. The Strangers: Chapter 2 cast have made key additions to the trilogy and hinted at them to be the faces behind the masks, strongly determined to terrorize the final girl. This means the movie might keep the rest of the cast close to its chest until the film is released to make their identities a surprise.

3 Black Phone 2 - October 17, 2025

Directed by Scott Derrickson

Black Phone 2

Horror

Thriller

Release Date: October 17, 2025
Director: Scott Derrickson
Writers: C. Robert Cargill, Scott Derrickson, Joe Hill
Producers: Jason Blum, C. Robert Cargill
Prequel(s): The Black Phone

Cast

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Ethan Hawke
The Grabber
Mason Thames
Finney Blake
Madeleine McGraw
Gwen Blake
Demián Bichir
Supervisor of Alpine Lake

Black Phone 2: In this sequel, Finn navigates the aftermath of his captivity at 17, while his sister experiences nightmarish calls from the black phone. She envisions three boys being pursued at Alpine Lake, a winter camp, in a series of haunting episodes that blur the lines between reality and terror.

Four years after Scott Derrickson’s adaptation of the Joe Hill novella became a box office success, Black Phone 2 is slated for release on October 17, 2025. Returning cast members include Ethan Hawke as the infamous Grabber, and the pair of siblings, Mason Thames as Finney and Madeleine McGraw as Gwen. Actors Jeremy Davies and Miguel Mora are also returning, setting the sequel as a direct follow-up to the first.

Actor Demián Bichir is the latest addition to the cast, although his role remains unknown. Although a synopsis has yet to be released, Joe Hill, the author of Black Phone 2 created the story. For those unaware, Hill is Stephen King's son, and he wrote the books that were made into movies like Horns and TV shows like NOS4A2, Locke & Key, and In the Tall Grass. The second Black Phone movie continues King's success on the big and small screens.

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