Horror movies have proven themselves big business year ’round, and so it makes sense that 2025 is kicking off with a bang. The first big horror movie to kick off the year in scars is Leigh Whannell’s Wolf Man, dropping on January 17. It’s the start of what looks like one of the best and most incentives years in horror, with big horror franchises dropping new installments, reinventions of classic Universal monster movies, a few Stephen King adaptations, wacky A24 dark horror comedies, a Ryan Coogler-Michael B. Jordan joint, and more.
Below are just a few of the most exciting horror movies hitting theaters in 2025, but we’ll be updating this list throughout the year.
Wolf Man – Release Date: Friday, January 17
Director: Leigh Whannell
Cast: Julia Garner, Christopher Abbott, Sam Jaeger, Matilda Firth, Benedict Hardie, Ben Prendergast, Milo Cawthorne, Beatriz Romilly, Zac Chandler
Synopsis: A man must protect himself and his family when they are being stalked, terrorized, and haunted by a deadly werewolf at night during a full moon.
Heart Eyes – Release Date: Friday, February 7
Director: Josh Ruben
Cast: Devon Sawa, Jordana Brewster, Olivia Holt, Gigi Zumbado, Mason Gooding, Chris Parker, Latham Gaines
Synopsis: Two co-workers are mistaken for a couple by a murderer in Seattle on Valentine’s Day. Forced to evade the killer, they navigate the city’s romantic landscape while working together to survive.
The Monkey – Release Date: Friday, February 21
Director: Osgood Perkins
Cast: Osgood Perkins, Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Christian Convery, Elijah Wood, Laura Mennell, Sarah Levy, Rohan Campbell, Colin O’Brien, Corin Clark
Synopsis: Based on the terrifying Stephen King short story, when twin brothers Bill and Hal find their father’s old monkey toy in the attic, a series of gruesome deaths start. The siblings decide to throw the toy away and move on with their lives, growing apart over the years.
Death of a Unicorn – Release Date: Friday, March 28
Director: Alex Scharfman
Cast: Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Will Poulter, Téa Leoni, Jessica Hynes, Richard E. Grant, Anthony Carrigan, Sunita Mani, Steve Park
Synopsis: Father-daughter duo Elliot and Riley accidentally hit a unicorn with their car and bring it to the wilderness retreat of a mega-wealthy pharmaceutical CEO.
Sinners – Release Date: Friday, April 18
Director: Ryan Coogler
Cast: Michael B. Jordan, Jack O’Connell, Delroy Lindo, Jayme Lawson, Wunmi Mosaku, Hailee Steinfeld, Omar Benson Miller
Synopsis: Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.
28 Years Later – Release Date: Friday, June 20
Director: Danny Boyle
Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ralph Fiennes, Jodie Comer, Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, Erin Kellyman, Chi Lewis-Parry, Edvin Ryding, Nathan Hall
Synopsis: It’s been almost three decades since the rage virus escaped a biological weapons laboratory, and now, still in a ruthlessly enforced quarantine, some have found ways to exist amidst the infected. One such group of survivors lives on a small island connected to the mainland by a single, heavily-defended causeway.
M3GAN 2.0 – Release Date: Friday, June 27
Director: Gerard Johnstone
Cast: Allison Williams, Jermaine Clement, Violet McGraw, Jenna Davis, Amie Donald, Brian Jordan Alvarez, Ivanna Sakhno

Plot under wraps.
The Conjuring: Last Rites – Friday, September 5
Director: Michael Chaves
Cast: Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga

Synopsis: Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren take on one last terrifying case involving mysterious entities they must confront.
The Bride! – Release Date: Friday, September 26
Director: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Cast: Christian Bale, Jessie Buckley, Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening, Penélope Cruz, Julianne Hough, John Magaro, Jeannie Berlin

Synopsis: In 1930s Chicago, Frankenstein asks Dr. Euphronius to help create a companion. They give life to a murdered woman as the Bride, sparking romance, police interest, and radical social change.
The Black Phone 2 – Release Date: Friday, October 17
Director: Scott Derrickson
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Jeremy Davies, Miguel Cazarez Mora

Plot under wraps.
Predator: Badlands – Release Date: Friday, November 7
Director: Dan Trachtenberg
Cast: Elle Fanning

Plot under wraps.
Frankenstein – Release Date: TBD, Likely 2025
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Cast: Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Ralph Ineson, Mia Goth, Christoph Waltz, Charles Dance, David Bradley, Burn Gorman, Lars Mikkelsen

Synopsis: Dr. Pretorius tracks down Frankenstein’s monster, who is believed to have died in a fire forty years before, in order to continue the experiments of Dr. Victor Frankenstein.
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