We are over halfway through the year now and we have seen some incredible scary films already that have been drawing big crowds and terrifying audiences around the world, but the upcoming horror movies still to come have so much more in store for fans.
There is a tantalising buffet of fresh horror fare on its way to deliver original storytelling into our wide eyes, including Tilman Singer’s mysterious shocker Cuckoo starring Hunter Schafer and Dan Stevens, M. Night Shyamalan’s high-concept serial killer film Trap with Josh Hartnett, deranged slasher movie Stream featuring an impressive host of horror legends, creepy Yorkshire-based folk horror Starve Acre, Marielle Heller’s adaptation of Rachel Yoder’s novel Nightbitch, Blumhouse’s new artificial Intelligence horror AfrAId, celebrity body-horror satire The Substance starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, Alexander Aja’s latest Never Let Go with Halle Berry, Damian McCarthy’s second fear-fest Oddity, and Hugh-Grant-as-a-really-bad-guy vehicle Heretic.
Along with all of this glorious originality, we are also being treated to various prequels, sequels, and remakes from Alien: Romulus to The Crow, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice to Speak No Evil, Salem’s Lot to Smile 2, Terrifier 3 to Nosferatu and Apartment 7A.
As ever, the horror genre keeps on serving up the most exciting and thrilling cinema we could hope for, and below is what you need to know about the upcoming horror movies that should be on your weird watchlist.
Read more: Best Horror movies | Best Netflix horror movies | Movie release dates | Upcoming movies | New TV shows
Cuckoo
Release date: August 9, 2024
Many horror fans have had Cuckoo in their sights since it was first announced in 2021, and now it’s finally coming to our cinema screens following appearances at the Berlin Film Festival and SXSW. Written and directed by Tilman Singer, who brought us the demonic horror Luz in 2018, and starring Hunter Schafer (Euphoria, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes) and Dan Stevens (The Guest, Colossal, The Rental), this has some exciting talent involved. The film follows Gretchen (Shafer), a 17-year-old forced to move with her family to a German mountain resort where things are not what they seem. Cuckoo is shaping up to be a mysterious and eerie look at adolescence and family secrets - the trailer promises a film that’s tense and weird, with some blood-soaked body horror and genuine shocks on the cards too. This one’s a big deal on the horror calendar.
Trap
Release date: August 9
M. Night Shyamalan, visionary director of such horror big hitters as The Sixth Sense, The Village, The Visit, Split, and Old, is back on our big screens this summer following 2023’s Knock at the Cabin, and with his first movie back with Warner Bros. Pictures since 2006’s The Lady in the Water. His new horror feature Trap stars Josh Hartnett (30 Days of Night, The Faculty, Halloween H2O), Alison Pill (American Horror Story: Delicate, Them), Ariel Donoghue (Wolf Like Me), and British acting legend Hayley Mills, and follows a father and his teen daughter as they attend a concert for her favorite pop star - played by the director’s eldest daughter Saleka Shyamalan. But when the dad learns that law enforcement have set up the event as a trap for a serial killer they’re calling The Butcher, he needs to find a way to escape. In an interview with IndieWire earlier this year, Hartnett said about Trap: “It’s very bizarre, very dark, and it’s wild.” Sounds good to us!
Alien: Romulus
Release date: August 16, 2024
Sci-horror fans are in for a treat this summer with a brand new film in the Alien franchise directed by prolific genre creator Fede Álvarez (Evil Dead, Don’t Breathe). This will be the first entry into the enduring Xenomorph canon since 2017’s Alien: Covenant and the action will reportedly be a stand-alone story taking place directly after the events of Ridley Scott’s 1979 original and before James Cameron’s sequel Aliens (1986). Excitingly, the effects team behind the terrifying extraterrestrials in Cameron’s space action masterpiece is returning to create the aliens in Romulus so there’s potential for the practical here. The cast features some interesting stars not necessarily previously known for their genre work, including Priscilla’s Cailee Spaeny, Isabella Merced (Dora and the Lost City of Gold), and David Jonsson (Rye Lane), and although the film was originally slated as a Hulu exclusive it’s now looking like it will get a cinema release in mid-August.
Stream
Release date: August 21, 2024
Directed by Michael Leavy – known for his involvement in the Terrifier movie series, both appearing in the original 2016 installment and producing the 2022 sleeper hit Terrifier 2 – Stream is coming our way this summer, bringing with it a whole host of crazy killers and an impressive line-up of horror stalwarts that’ll no doubt be an instant draw for fans of the genre. Stream boasts a hugely exciting cast of familiar faces from the world of horror including Jeffrey Combs, Danielle Harris, Tony Todd, Dee Wallace, Felissa Rose, Daniel Roebuck, Mark Holton, Damian Maffei, and Terrifier’s Art the Clown himself, David Howard Thornton. The film follows the Keenan family, whose simple weekend getaway turns into a vacation from hell as four deranged murderers playing a sadistic game lock down their hotel and compete for the most creative kills of the guests.
The Crow
Release date: August 23, 2024
Rupert Sanders (Ghost in the Shell, Snow White and the Huntsman) is in the director’s seat for this upcoming reboot of The Crow, with Bill Skarsgard (IT, Barbarian) and FKA Twigs both starring. The 1994 movie adaptation of the same name, directed by Alex Proyas and starring Brandon Lee, Ernie Hudson and Michael Wincott has become a cult classic, beloved of goths and genre fans alike, and told the story of a murdered man who comes back to life as the undead avenger of his and his fiancée's violent deaths. The original has also gone down in Hollywood history due to the tragic death of Lee, following an accidental on-set shooting from a special effects stunt gone wrong. This new film will be a modern re-imagining of the iconic character Eric (Skarsgard), based on the source comic books by James O'Barr.
AfrAId
Release date: August 30, 2024
From fruitful horror production house Blumhouse, and director Chris Weitz (The Twilight Saga: New Moon), comes a new AI horror starring John Cho (Searching, The Grudge), David Dastmalchian (Late Night with the Devil, The Boogeyman) and Katherine Waterston (Alien: Covenant). Cho plays Curtis, whose family is selected to test a new home device: a digital assistant called AIA, which learns the family's behaviours and begins to anticipate their needs. But like Blumhouse’s other AI property, M3GAN, and as this is a horror film, the movie taps into increasing societal anxiety about the powers of artificial intelligence as it takes a dark turn when AIA ensures nothing - and no one - gets in her family's way.
Starve Acre
Release date: September 6, 2024
Based on Andrew Michael Hurley’s award-winning novel of the same name, and following its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival in 2023, Starve Acre will have its anticipated cinema release this September. The film is an unsettling British folk horror written and directed by BAFTA nominee Daniel Kokotajlo (Apostasy) and starring Matt Smith (Last Night in Soho, His House) and Morfydd Clark (Saint Maud). In 1970s rural Yorkshire, a couple’s seemingly idyllic life is thrown into turmoil when their young son starts acting out of character and a sudden, tragic event drives a wedge between them. While Juliette (Clark) turns to the local community to find some kind of peace, Richard (Smith) obsessively buries himself in exploring a folkloric myth about an ancient oak tree that once stood on their land, and they soon discover dark and sinister forces in their remote home of Starve Acre that may offer a disturbing possibility of reconnection. Kokotajlo has said that his film “taps into a timeless fear that feels more relevant than ever: the idea that returning home, to nature, and regressing into childhood, is a big mistake.” That sounds like classic folk horror goodness to us!
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Release date: September 6, 2024
Get ready to don your finest black and white stripes and practice your best Harry Belafonte, as Tim Burton is set to bring one of his most iconic characters back to the big screen, with a sequel to his 1988 horror comedy Beetlejuice. The stacked cast includes Michael Keaton who is returning to the title role as the grotesque and hilarious ‘bio-exorcist’, with Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara also reprising their parts from the original film, plus Jenna Ortega, Willem Dafoe, Monica Bellucci, and Justin Theroux. Not a whole lot is known yet about the specific story of the follow-up but audiences should expect distinctive Burton aesthetics, camp and kooky antics from offbeat characters, and hopefully at least one bizarre toe-tapping musical number. This should be a fun and creepy legacy sequel to help get us in the mood in the run-up to the spooky season.
Speak No Evil
Release date: September 13, 2024
This American remake of the acclaimed 2022 Danish shocker is coming to cinemas in August from Universal and Blumhouse, and has recently received a rating of ‘R’ from the Motion Picture Association (MPA), hopefully promising the Stateside version will not be pulling any punches, just like the original most certainly did not. The film will be a retelling of the terrifying story of a family invited to spend a weekend in an idyllic country house, going from a dream vacation to a psychological nightmare. James Watkins (Eden Lake, The Woman in Black) is in the director’s chair, and James McAvoy (Split) and Mackenzie Davis (Terminator: Dark Fate, The Turning) will star. Hollywood remakes of recent smash hit horrors can be touch and go, but with Christian and Mads Tafdrup – the director and writer of the original, respectively – on writing duties alongside Watkins, this could prove to be a worthwhile stab at bringing the tale of socially-awkward scares to a wider audience.
The Substance
Release date: September 20, 2024
Director Coralie Fargeat announced her stunning cinematic arrival in 2017 with the blood-soaked rape-revenge flick Revenge, and now she’s back with her much-anticipated sophomore effort The Substance. Starring Demi Moore (Ghost, Disclosure), Margaret Qualley (Poor Things, Sanctuary) and Dennis Quaid (The Day After Tomorrow, The Intruder), The Substance follows a fading celebrity who decides to use a black market cell-replicating drug that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself. The film won the Best Screenplay Award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, and is a dark, wild, and stylish movie. It’s looking to be one of the best and most successful genre movies of 2024. Don’t miss this one.
Apartment 7A
Release date: September 27, 2024
This prequel to the 1968 occult horror classic Rosemary’s Baby is set in mid-'60s York City, where a struggling young dancer suffers a devastating injury and finds herself drawn in by dark forces through a peculiar, well-connected, older couple who promise her a shot at fame. Directed by Natalie Erika James, who made her feature debut in 2020 with the excellent supernatural chiller Relic, and starring Julia Garner (The Assistant), Dianne Wiest (The Lost Boys, Edward Scissorhands), and Jim Sturgess (The Other Me), Apartment 7A explores what happened in the apartment before Rosemary moved in.
Never Let Go
Release date: September 27, 2024
Alexander Aja, one of the enfant terrible of French horror cinema, known for movies like Switchblade Romance, Horns, Crawl, and the remake of The Hills Have Eyes, is back with his new movie, Never Let Go, which follows a family that has been haunted by an evil spirit for years. Oscar-winner Halle Berry stars as the mother taking care of her two young sons after the world has ended, until their safety and their surroundings come into question when one of the boys begins to doubt whether the evil is real. Reminiscent of films like Bird Box and the recent Arcadian, the title ‘Never Let Go’ refers to the family’s mantra, as they stay attached to the ropes that tether them to their remote cabin whenever they venture forth from its relative safety. The marketing suggests various sources for the family’s peril, including scary visions, their natural surroundings, and potentially some large scaly monsters. All will be revealed this September.
Oddity
Release date: October 3, 2024
For anyone who’s seen Damian McCarthy’s previous horror film Caveat, and subsequently never slept soundly again, the prospect of another haunting feature from the director is both a thrilling and terrifying one. McCarthy’s sophomore movie, another Shudder original, follows Carolyn Bracken (You Are Not My Mother) as Darcy, a woman who hopes to uncover the truth behind her sister's death with the ‘help’ of a wooden mannequin. With the tagline ‘every murder lives on’, Oddity is very much a mystery to be solved, and if you are familiar with Caveat, you might even recognise a familiar long-eared face. This will definitely be one to watch in the dark.
Salem’s Lot
Release date: October 11, 2024
Just when you didn’t think there could be any more Stephen King adaptations, another tome is added to the ‘time for a remake’ shelf. And this time, it’s a heavy hitter. For those of a certain age, one of the most terrifying horror moments lurks in Tobe Hooper’s Salem’s Lot TV series from 1979 as a vampire child arrives at a window asking to be let in… This means no pressure for Conjuring Universe staple Gary Dauberman on both directing and screenplay duties. The good news is that given that he is also responsible for the screenplay of both parts of IT, Dauberman already has keen King conversion chops. The similar ‘terror in a small town’ theme of Salem’s Lot as a vampire holes up in the old house on the hill could mean very good things. The movie was initially meant to release in 2022 but, after a 2023 date was cruelly snatched away, we're now excited to be looking at October this year.
Smile 2
Release date: October 18, 2024
After Smile made an impressive $217m worldwide in 2022, it was always likely that Paramount Pictures and Temple Hill Entertainment would opt for a sequel, and after a fair amount of secrecy and teases, it has now been confirmed to be hitting our screens just in time for Halloween. Director Parker Finn is back, and the sequel is taking the chilling phenomenon from the first movie to a new level as global pop sensation Skye Riley begins experiencing increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events. Performer Naomi Scott (Power Rangers, Charlie’s Angels) stars as Skye, and a viral marketing campaign for the film has also seen a single titled ‘Blood on White Satin’ released by the actress/fictional pop star at the center of the movie. Rosemarie DeWitt (The Staircase), Kyle Gallner (Jennifer’s Body, Scream, The Passenger), and Lukas Gage (Assassination Nation, How to Blow Up a Pipeline) also star.
Watch the Smile 2 trailer here.
Terrifier 3
Release date: October 25, 2024
If you’re a horror fan, you might have had long lost friends get in touch at one point last year just to ask you if you had managed to catch a certain murderous clown movie. Art the Clown, the sadistic villain of Terrifier 2, apparently had cinemagoers requiring (helpfully branded) sick bags. The hype, not to put too fine a point on it, was real. And it’s impossible to argue with the figures. Terrifier 2 - a fun, gory, if overly long throwback slasher movie - cost only $250,0000 to make but grim reaped a cool $15 million at the global box office. Hence Terrifier 3, which will debut exclusively on US horror streaming service Screambox.
As reported by Bloody Disgusting, director Damien Leone is excited to bring even more extremity to the series for this threequel. “Aside from a yearning for new and exciting horror villains like Art the Clown, a large part of Terrifier 2’s success was based on its unprecedented theatrical release and its uncompromising nature. It’s pretty clear that we’re now entering a slasher genre renaissance; perhaps the biggest one since the '90s. Filmmakers like myself are gonna have to keep pushing the envelope so it’s encouraging when a company respects a director’s vision and understands what makes a certain type of film successful.”
Heretic
Release date: November 15, 2024
Hugh Grant may not be the first person to spring to mind when you think of horror movie baddies, with his history of period dramas, romantic comedies, and kids films, but as Mr Reed in Brian Woods and Scott Beck’s upcoming film Heretic, he looks to be delivering a particularly menacing turn. The movie also stars Sophie Thatcher (The Boogeyman, Yellowjackets) and Chloe East (The Wolf of Snow Hollow) as two young religious women going door-to-door, who find themselves drawn into a game of cat and mouse when they enter Mr Reed’s home. Woods and Beck return as directing partners following previous genre outings together with Haunt (2019) and 65 (2023), and Heretic is produced by A24, so we’re excited to see the toe-curling results coming out from this impressive team of collaborators.
Nightbitch
Release date: December 6, 2024
Based on Rachel Yoder’s novel of the same name, and with a screenplay penned by Yoder and director Marielle Heller (A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood, Can You Ever Forgive Me?), Nightbitch is the new darkly comedic horror movie starring Amy Adams (Arrival, Nocturnal Animals) as a woman who pauses her career to be a stay-at-home mother, only to find that her domesticity soon takes a surreal turn. The story was adapted with Adams in mind, (she also produces), and co-stars Scoot NcNairy (Gone Girl, Destroyer), Mary Holland (Self Reliance), and the iconic Jessica Harper (Suspiria, Phantom of the Paradise, Bones and All).
Nosferatu
Release date: December 25, 2024
We’ve been teased with Robert Eggers’ adaptation of Nosferatu for a while now. First it was happening, then it wasn’t, then it was, and now we’ve finally gotten a first look! Following the 1922 classic directed by F.W. Murnau and the 1979 remake from Werner Herzog, Eggers (The Witch, The Lighthouse, The Northman) is officially bringing his version of one of the most genuinely chilling vampire tales to the big screen - and it’s gearing up to continue the tradition of Count Orlok being a truly terrifying monster. The chameleonic Bill Skarsgard (IT, Barbarian) will embody Orlok this time around, alongside another impressive Eggers' ensemble including Lily-Rose Depp, Willem Dafoe, Nicholas Hoult, Ralph Ineson, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. We can’t wait to sink our teeth into this one!
Watch the first Nosferatu trailer now.
The Toxic Avenger
Release date: TBC
The reboot of the 1984 Troma Entertainment comedy-horror cult classic got its world premier at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas in September 2023 and although we don’t yet have a confirmed release date, this should be one on the radar for anyone with a penchant for schlocky gore, quirky comedy, and practical effects. Macon Blair, best known as the director of 2017’s indie 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, starring alongside Kevin Bacon, Jacob Tremblay, and Elijah Wood, with the teaser trailer seemingly promising that this new version will lose none of the humor and chaos of the original. Here’s hoping we get to revel in all its frenetic, jaw-ripping action sooner rather than later.
The LaLaurie Mansion Series
Release date: TBC
Whether it’s a good thing or not, we now live in a world where entire franchises are announced before even the first movie has been released. The writers of the first two The Conjuring movies, Chad and Carey Hayes, have teamed up again and revealed an entire series of horror movies revolving around the infamous LaLaurie Mansion in New Orleans. Once home to none other than Nic Cage, who allegedly only lasted one night of horrific screams and bumps in the night, this grim abode is said to be one of the most haunted locations in the world. The good news is that if you’ve done your horror homework and watched American Horror Story Coven, you’ll already know its most villainous resident.
Played by Kathy Bates in AHS, Madame LaLaurie was both a New Orleans socialite and horrific 19th century serial killer, responsible for the horrific torture, mutilation and murder of a number of Black slaves. Her secret was only revealed when a fire broke out at her mansion and firefighters discovered some of her barely alive victims in diabolical states.
Not content with just one movie, the Hayes brothers are going to tell multiple stories of the mansion throughout history, from its horrific beginnings, all the way to modern day. Plus, they’re considering writing some of it from inside the house. “We love writing films in which we get to tell true stories – incorporating moments that people can look up and discover did in fact happen,” they announced in a press release. “With the LaLaurie House we get to do exactly that… there is a wealth of documentation of a very dark and frightening past of true events. Not to mention that after spending some time there, what we personally experienced was truly unnerving. We haven’t been this excited about a project since The Conjuring!”
Azrael
Release date: UK: TBC
A new action-packed post-apocalyptic movie starring horror darling Samara Weaving (Mayhem, The Babysitter, Ready or Not, Scream VI) and directed by E.L. Katz (Cheap Thrills) is getting its world premiere at SXSW on March 9 before a cinema release a couple of days later. Many years following the apocalypse, a devout cult of mute zealots hunts down a young woman, Azrael, who has escaped her imprisonment. Recaptured by its ruthless leaders, Azrael is to be sacrificed to pacify an ancient evil that resides deep within the surrounding wilderness – but she’ll stop at nothing to ensure her own survival. In what follows, Azrael makes a savage bid for freedom as her escape accelerates towards a vicious, revenge-fueled showdown. The film also features an impressive genre-leaning supporting cast including Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (Femme, Candyman), Vic Carmen Sonne (Holiday) and Katariina Unt (November).
