To say this has been a banner year for horror movies is an understatement. Here’s what’s cooking in cinemas and on streaming to scare your pants off for the remainder of 2025. If there’s a theme to many of the movies left for this year, it’s “1990s Revival.” No less than three horror franchises that began three decades ago are getting relaunches. Among them are several other great sequels and original concepts both. What will be your favorite scary movie by the end of ’25? You’ll have to watch them all to decide.
Rosario
(2025)
Directed by: Felipe Vargas
Starring: Emeraude Toubia, David Dastmalchian, José Zúñiga
Release Date: May 2, 2025
A family legacy horror movie with an Latine twist from debut filmmaker Felipe Vargas, Rosario is about a young stockbroker (the title character, played by Emeraude Toubia of TV’s Shadowhunters) who discovers horrible occult artifacts owned by her grandmother. Rosario has to deal with the resulting quantity of curses thanks to these artifacts. Rosario co-stars veteran character actor David Dastmalchian, who also starred in one of 2023’s best horror films, Late Night with the Devil.
Clown in a Cornfield
(2025)
Directed by: Eli Craig
Starring: Katie Douglas, Aaron Abrams, Carson MacCormac
Release Date: May 9, 2025
The filmmaker behind the cult favorite horror comedy Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, Eli Craig, returns with the aptly named Clown in a Cornfield. Craig’s brand of humor is in full effect with this highly rated slasher film reminiscent of Steven King’s It but more satirical and chaotic. Friendo the Clown is the title character here, as he was once a mascot of a rural town and has turned into a symbol of evil after the syrup factory the town depended on burned down. Without spoiling anything, reviewers have pointed toward a fantastic twist ending that makes the movie.
Final Destination: Bloodlines
(2025)
Directed by: Zach Lipovsky, Adam Stein
Starring: Kaitlyn Santa Juana, Teo Briones, Richard Harmon
Release Date: May 16, 2025
Indie horror movie directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein and screenwriters Lori Evans Taylor and Guy Busick (the latter of whom is best known for the outstanding Ready or Not and the last two Scream movies) take the reins of the Final Destination series 14 years after the last one. Tony Todd returns in his final performance as the mysterious funeral director, William Bludworth, and this “requel” (a remake that continues the story) promises to tie together elements of all five previous installments.
Fear Street: Prom Queen
(2025)
Directed by: Matt Palmer
Starring: India Fowler, Suzanna Son, Fina Strazza
Release Date: May 23, 2025
Many of us grew up with R.L. Stine’s teen-friendly horror novels, chief among them the long-running Fear Street series. Netflix has hosted several movies in different time periods inspired by this novel series, and Fear Street: Prom Queen is the fourth such effort. This one’s set in the late 1980s, as numerous high schoolers vie for the Prom Queen title and an unusual candidate begins to make the others disappear. Young star India Fowler appeared as a waitress in The Strangers: Chapter 1, the sequel to which is coming out later this year.
The Surrender
(2025)
Directed by: Julia Max
Starring: Colby Minifie, Kate Burton, Neil Sandilands
Release Date: May 23, 2025 on Shudder
Premiering at SXSW this year to much acclaim, this gory ode to grief and loss stars Colby Minifie (The Boys, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) as Megan, who returns home to assist her mother with tending to her dying father. The obsessed and grieving mother will go to any supernatural lengths to bring the father back after he passes, much to the horror of the surviving family. The Surrender descends into gonzo and gross horror in short order, so fans of giallo-style filmmaking will have a lot to feast upon here from Julia Max’s first full-length feature as writer/director.
The Ritual
(2025)
Directed by: David Midell
Starring: Al Pacino, Dan Stevens, Ashley Greene
Release Date: June 6, 2025
In a rare spooky turn for Al Pacino (though he has played the Devil in the past) and based on a true story not unlike the Conjuring series, this Exorcist-inspired tale sees Pacino as an old priest alongside Dan Stevens as a young priest who attempt a series of exorcisms to save a young woman. Ashley Greene (Twilight) co-stars in The Ritual as a nun named Sister Rose, with Patricia Heaton of Everybody Loves Raymond fame as her boss, Mother Superior.
Dangerous Animals
(2025)
Directed by: Sean Byrne
Starring: Hassie Harrison, Jai Courtney, Josh Heuston
Release Date: June 6, 2025
A surfer named Zephyr (Hassie Harrison) goes up against a dangerous killer (Jai Courtney) on a boat, with just-as-dangerous sharks circling all around, hence the title Dangerous Animals. This potboiler survivor horror thriller comes courtesy of indie auteur Sean Byrne, responsible for Certified Fresh scary films The Loved Ones and The Devil’s Candy. Those who like Australian horror (and Aussies have made some of the best ever) will feel right at home here.
28 Years Later
(2025)
Directed by: Danny Boyle
Starring: Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ralph Fiennes
Release Date: June 20, 2025
Way back in the olden days of 2002, director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland pioneered the “fast zombie” sub-genre of zombie movies with an absolute classic horror masterpiece, 28 Days Later, followed by its Juan Carlos Fresnadillo-helmed 2007 sequel 28 Weeks Later. Then the series took a hibernating-zombie slumber for nearly two decades. At long last, Boyle and Garland reunite to kick off a new trilogy of terror with the aptly named 28 Years Later, continuing with the shot-back-to-back 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, due out in 2026. Expect more running zombie nightmare action by two masters of the form.
M3GAN 2.0
(2025)
Directed by: Gerard Johnstone
Starring: Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Amie Donald
Release Date: June 27, 2025
The wickedly funny horror satire with the killer android that everyone secretly roots for returns in M3GAN 2.0 by original filmmaker Gerard Johnstone, who co-wrote the film with Akela Cooper. Expect more critique of artificial intelligence in between the rampages, as this time M3GAN is reactivated to take out an even deadlier AI-based robot. Will this upgraded bot slice and crack her way through anyone that keeps her from protecting her loved ones? Remains to be seen. (Get it?)
SkillHouse
(2025)
Directed by: Josh Stolberg
Starring: Neal McDonough, 50 Cent, Caitlin Carmichael
Release Date: July 11, 2025
In this satirical takedown of self-centered influencers, 10 of them are trapped in a house to film an ersatz reality show as the world votes on their life and death. The loser is chased by the Triller Killer, and only one will escape SkillHouse alive. Our money’s on star 50 Cent, while the other hapless contestants are played by real-life influencers like Bryce Hall and Paige VanZant and genre actors like Neal McDonough (Tulsa King).
I Know What You Did Last Summer
(2025)
Directed by: Jennifer Kaytin Robinson
Starring: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr., Madelyn Cline
Release Date: July 18, 2025
Nineties nostalgia reigns supreme! Along with a new Final Destination movie, I Know What You Did Last Summer is another “requel” as the Scream movies defined them: a series refresh after many years that also keeps the continuity of the older movies going. Requels often do two things: They forego any sequel digits or Roman numerals after the title, and they bring back surviving characters from the original franchise. In this case, we see the return of stars Jennifer Love Hewitt (fresh from a continuing run on TV’s 9-1-1) and Freddie Prinze, Jr.
Bambi: The Reckoning
(2025)
Directed by: Dan Allen
Starring: Roxanne McKee, Tom Mulheron, Nicola Wright
Release Date: July 25, 2025
Ahh, the glorious public domain. Since the original Bambi novel, Bambi: A Life in the Woods, entered the public domain in 2021, filmmakers are free to make horror movies starring the deer character that Disney made famous, and they have. Similar movies abound with now public characters like Winnie the Pooh (Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey) and Mickey Mouse (Screamboat). Bambi: The Reckoning is the fourth in the Twisted Childhood Universe series, after two Pooh movies and a Peter Pan movie before it.
Together
(2025)
Directed by: Michael Shanks
Starring: David Franco, Alison Brie, Damon Herriman
Release Date: August 1, 2025
Husband-and-wife acting and producing team Dave Franco and Alison Brie star in this body horror examination of codependent relationships. A darling out of Sundance earlier this year, this picture is gross-out and fleshy like The Substance, but the comparisons end there, as a supernatural force begins to mash the couple together… literally. Much squishy humor abounds in Together as the two characters go to comically horrific lengths to keep themselves apart, to disastrous effect.
Weapons
(2025)
Directed by: Zach Cregger
Starring: Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich
Release Date: August 8, 2025
Triple-threat writer-producer-director Zach Cregger made 2022’s Barbarian, one of the best horror movies of the past decade. Weapons is his must-see follow-up, starring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner (Wolf Man). The plot of this movie is being kept under wraps, except that it is an “interrelated, multistory horror epic” having to do with disappearing kids. As with Barbarian, the best thing to do is go in blind and let Cregger’s filmmaking hit you like a ton of bricks. You won’t regret it.
The Toxic Avenger
(2023)
Directed by: Macon Blair
Starring: Peter Dinklage, Jacob Tremblay, Taylour Paige
Release Date: August 29, 2025
Those of us old enough to remember still have gross-out flashbacks from the many splatter movies of Troma, chief among them the Toxic Avenger series, about a deformed champion of justice with a tutu and a mop. This time around, Toxie is played by Peter Dinklage, and the film promises to be as disgusting and funny as ever. If your idea of a good time at the superhero movies is heads bursting like melons and blood and other fluids flowing freely, you’ll want to see this.
The Conjuring: Last Rites
(2025)
Directed by: Michael Chaves
Starring: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Ben Hardy
Release Date: September 5, 2025
The Conjuring Universe is a vast, sprawling network of movies, all centered around related evil supernatural forces, usually battled by the husband-and-wife team of Lorraine and Ed Warren. This team is based on real-life paranormal investigators and played since 2013 by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson. The Conjuring: Last Rites, the ninth film overall, is considered the final act in the ongoing story, but it might not necessarily be the last Conjuring movie. There are still many scary dolls and nuns in the spin-offs to frighten people, even if the Warrens hang up their Latin exorcism instruction manuals for good.
The Long Walk
(2025)
Directed by: Francis Lawrence
Starring: Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Mark Hamill
Release Date: September 12, 2025
Way back when, Stephen King wrote a series of offbeat and violent novels under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. He told no one for years, and there haven’t been many adaptations of the Bachman books like there have with King’s primary body of work. Until now. The Long Walk, one of the better-known and prescient Backman stories, is a dystopian yarn about young men forced by the government to walk until they die, with the winner getting the grand prize. Mark Hamill plays The Major, the leader of the evil police force, in this dark tale.
HIM
(2025)
Directed by: Justin Tipping
Starring: Marlon Wayans, Tyriq Withers, Julia Fox
Release Date: September 19, 2025
Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions presents HIM, a rare mash-up of a sports movie and a horror movie as Tyriq Withers plays Cameron Cade, a rising young football star being mentored by close-to-retirement Isaiah White, played by Marlon Wayans. Cade is drawn into a horrifying world of power and fame as he discovers how far someone must go to succeed at all costs. Withers also co-stars in the new entry in the I Know What You Did Last Summer series releasing this year.
The Strangers: Chapter 2
(2025)
Directed by: Renny Harlin
Starring: Madelaine Petsch, Gabriel Basso, Ema Horvath
Release Date: September 26, 2025
For those confused, despite the title, this film is actually the fourth in the long-running Strangers horror movie series, which kicked off in 2008 with The Strangers, then continued with The Strangers: Prey at Night, then last year’s The Strangers: Chapter 1, and now Chapter 2. The next one, Chapter 3, is scheduled for 2026. Clear as mud? Good! What all these movies share is a trio of masked psychopaths nicknamed Scarecrow, Dollface, and Pin-Up Girl, and the various victims’ usually unsuccessful attempts to avoid being murdered by the three assailants. Who will make it to the final chapter? You’ll have to watch this one to find out.
Keeper
(2025)
Directed by: Osgood Perkins
Starring: Tatiana Maslany, Rossif Sutherland
Release Date: October 3, 2025
Reminiscent of Stephen King’s Gerald’s Game, this horror feature stars Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law) and Rossif Sutherland (Murder in a Small Town) as couple Liz and Malcolm, who begin their anniversary adventure in a remote cabin. Malcolm has to leave unexpectedly for the city, and things swiftly go badly for the remaining Liz. Keeper is directed by Osgood Perkins as a follow-up to the Certified Fresh The Monkey, released earlier this year, and the sleeper hit and critical darling Longlegs from 2024. Just scary movie banger after banger from Perkins.
The Black Phone 2
(2025)
Directed by: Scott Derrickson
Starring: Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Ethan Hawke
Release Date: October 17, 2025
Before they collaborated to introduce Doctor Strange to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, director Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill established their horror bona fides with the 2012 cult favorite Sinister. The pair teamed up again to delve into supernatural horror by adapting Joe Hill’s short story The Black Phone into a surprise hit in 2021, starring Ethan Hawke as The Grabber, a child abductor and murderer. Now, Derrickson and Cargill return for the sequel, The Black Phone 2, with Hawke returning despite his fate at the end of the first one. Be sure and load up the horror anthology V/H/S/85 on streaming while you wait; one of the short stories, “Dreamkill,” is another Derrickson-Cargill collab and takes place in the same universe.
The Third Parent
Directed by: David Michaels
Starring: Rob Lowe, Roselyn Sanchez, Crispin Glover
Release Date: October 31, 2025
First, let’s define creepypasta. A portmanteau of creepy and copypasta, a creepypasta is a scary text-based meme story that’s been shared around the Internet. In this case, The Third Parent is a story about a terrifying supernatural “third parent” named Tommy Taffy, who emerges to wreak havoc on an unsuspecting family. Tommy Taffy is played by Crispin Glover, who is arguably scarier without any of the makeup on, while Rob Lowe and Roselyn Sánchez round out the cast.
Frankenstein
(2025)
Directed by: Guillermo del Toro
Starring: Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth
Release Date: November, 2025 on Netflix
Guillermo del Toro’s foray into Netflix Originals and his take on the Mary Shelley classic should be as gothic, atmospheric, and just plain cool as del Toro’s previous efforts, if for no other reason than the fact that this is a longtime passion project for the director. This version of Frankenstein also boasts an incredible cast in stars Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, and horror movie icon Mia Goth, best known from the loosely connected X trilogy. (Is she still a scream queen if her characters mostly induce screams in others?)
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2
(2025)
Directed by: Emma Tammi
Starring: Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Lail, Piper Rubio
Release Date: December 5, 2025
The scary (but for kids, so not that scary) animatronic killer pizza-time pals return in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, the sequel to the film based on the media franchise that spans video games, comics, toys, and more. This second outing promises to be much more frightening than the first, as Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy and the rest of the mechanical monstrosities try to kill and/or eat the terrified human protagonists.
Anaconda
(2025)
Directed by: Tom Gormican
Starring: Jack Black, Paul Rudd, Selton Mello
Release Date: December 25, 2025
Another ‘90s revival reappears in the form of Anaconda, but this time with an entirely new cast (sorry, Ice Cube fans), as a giant snake comedically terrorizes Jack Black and Paul Rudd on Christmas Day 2025. Expect much slapstick comedy to abound as the title snake decides who to swallow whole and/or squeeze to death. What better way to spend the holidays with family than movies about huge anacondas?
Thumbnail images by Miya Mizuno/©Sony Pictures, ©Universal Pictures, Geoffrey Short/©Universal Pictures
