2025 looks to be a great year forhorror— whether a video game franchise adaptation, a horror movie starring Cillian Murphy, or a vampire period piece, the2025 horror movielineup has something for all tastes. Although2024’s horror movie releasesbrought 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 themInsidiousandSawcreator 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’sThe Strangerstrilogy, the revival of theI Know What You Did Last Summerfranchise, andRyan Coogler stepping into the horror genre withSinners, as well as many new titles that offer a twist to their genre and promise a thrilling theatrical experience. Withupcoming 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.
Final Destination Bloodlines
Cast
Final Destination Bloodlines follows college student Stefanie, who is tormented by a violent recurring nightmare. She returns home to seek out the individual who might disrupt the cycle and prevent her family from facing their ominous fate.
Produced bySpider-Man: No Way Homedirector, Jon Watts,the next installment ofFinal Destinationwill change the rules of the franchise.Final Destination: Bloodlinesstarted production in March 2024. It was directed by Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein and co-written by Guy Busick fromReady Or Not,Scream, andScream VI.
Final Destination: Bloodlinesis released in 2025 as the franchise’s 25th anniversary.
Final Destination 6’s castbrings 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 aFinal Destinationinstallment at heart.
Netflix’sFear Streettrilogy 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 Queenis 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 Queenwill 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. TheFear Streettrilogy was surprisingly brutal andFear Street: Prom Queenlooks to continue the franchise’s winning streak.
The Ritual
The Ritual, directed by David Midell, follows two priests who must put aside their differences to save a possessed young woman through a challenging and perilous series of exorcisms.
Based on a true story,The Ritualfollows two priests who put aside their differences to save an allegedly possessed young woman through a series of dangerous exorcisms.Perhaps the biggest draw ofThe Ritualwill 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, butThe Ritualfocuses 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 July 22, 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.
28 Years Later is the first of a new trilogy based on the famous post-apocalyptic horror movie28 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 toldIndie Wirethe film focuses on a boy trying to get his dying mother to a doctor in Britain, which zombies have overrun.28 Years Laterwrapped filmingin August 2024, and will be released on June 14, 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.
M3GAN 2.0
M3GAN 2.0 is a 2025 sci-fi thriller that follows Gemma, the creator of M3GAN, as she resurrects and upgrades the AI companion. This time, M3GAN must thwart a powerful defense contractor’s misuse of her technology, which they have transformed into a military-grade weapon named Amelia.
The sequel to the box office success started production in July this year and is set to release in theaters on June 14, 2025.M3GAN 2.0looks to be an ambitious follow-up to the first film’s breakout success as Megan goes up against another murderous robot named Amelia.M3GAN 2.0looks 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 thatM3GAN 2.0would 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.
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 theI Know What You Did Last Summersequel 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 Summerwas filmed in Australia and will be released on August 10, 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 Summerlooks to follow similar legacy sequel formulas likeHalloweenandScream.
The Conjuring: Last Rites
The Conjuring: Last Rites follows paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren as they embark on their final case.
The Conjuring: Last Ritesfeatures the return of actors Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as the famous paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren.The fourth and last installment ofThe Conjuringmain series will likely explore the couple’s biggest case yet, and began filming in 2024.
Unknown
Part of the highest-grossing horror franchise, the Michael Chaves-directed film is slated to be released to early fall success on June 24, 2025. Specific details surroundingThe Conjuring: Last Rites’ storyhave 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 onThe Nun II, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It,andThe Curse of La Llorona.
Monkeypaw Productions,the Jordan Peele company that made horror hitsNope,UsandGet Out, is producingHim, an anti-sports psychological horror. The movie is directed by award-winning Justin Tipping (Kicks), and is set for release on June 07, 2025. With the talent linked toHim, it could be a major surprise for the horror genre in 2025.
Jordan Peele’sHimwas previously titledGOAT.
Peele’s horror movie has Marlon Wayansas 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.Himwill 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.
The Strangers: Chapter 2
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.
The first chapter of Lionsgate’sThe Strangerstrilogy sequel received mixed reviews for being a close remake to Bertino’s horror classic. However, directorRenny Harlin hyped the coming chapters by revealing that they will go further and deeper into exploring the masked killers’ originsin 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 2casthave 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.
Black Phone 2
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 2is slated for release on August 04, 2025. Returning cast members includeEthan 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 ofBlack Phone 2created the story. For those unaware, Hill is Stephen King’s son, and he wrote the books that were made into movies likeHornsand TV shows likeNOS4A2,Locke & Key, andIn the Tall Grass. The secondBlack Phonemovie continues King’s success on the big and small screens.
