2024 was a solid year for horror movie fans. Smaller films like Late Night With the Devil and In a Violent Nature brought new approaches to classic horror sub-genres. Art the Clown continued his upward trajectory as a horror icon with Terrifier 3 while director Fede Álvarez brought Alien back to the big screen, leaning into the horror of the sci-fi franchise. The year even went out with a bang for horror fans, as Robert Eggers’ highly anticipated Nosferatu hit screens Christmas day.
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These are just a few of the horror films that graced the silver screen in 2024, and 2025 is looking to be another solid year for horror fans. From fan favorite franchises returning to cinemas to original horror films from beloved filmmakers like Ryan Coogler, 2025 looks bright for the scary movies, creature features, and thrillers.
Fan Favorite Franchises Return To Theaters
Perhaps one of the most anticipated movies of 2025 is 28 Years Later, the third film in the 28 Days Later franchise. The trailer for 28 Years Later is the second most watched horror trailer ever, and that’s no surprise. The film looks phenomenal while bringing something different to the franchise. Plus, Director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland, the team behind the first film return, as does 28 Days Later lead Cillian Murphy; although, Aaron Taylor-Johnson appears to be the leading man in this new film, which is set to release June 20, 2025.
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28 Days Later is not the only beloved franchise getting a new installment. M3GAN gets a sequel a little over two years since the first films premiere, and that first film took the world by storm with the titular killer robot, shattering box office expectations. Expectations are high for the sequel as well, set to release one week after 28 Years Later.
Blumhouse, the studio behind M3GAN, has a plenty of other scares up its sleeve. Black Phone 2 is set to release October 17, 2025, and the video game turned film Five Night’s at Freddy’s will get its next film December 5, 2025. Other franchises set to return to the big screen include a sequel to I Know What You Did Last Summer in July 2025. The Conjuring Last Rites also has release date of September 5, 2025. Final Destination will also make its highly anticipated return to theaters May 16, 2025.
Hollywood Continues To Turn To Classic Movie Monsters
Beyond these franchises, some classic movie monsters are set to return to the big screen in 2025. Kicking off the year will be Wolf Man from Universal Pictures. Pulling away from the connected universe of Universal’s Dark Universe, the studio instead has focused on stand alone films featuring new iterations of The Universal Monsters. This direction began with The Invisible Man in 2020, directed and written by Leigh Whannell. Come January 17, 2025, Whannell is back at with Universal with Wolf Man.
Universal is not the only studio turning to the classics for new films. For some time, there have been rumors about a film focused on the Bride of Frankenstein with Maggie Gyllenhall. Come March 12, 2024, Warner Bros. confirmed it was moving forward with The Bride, which is set to receive an October 3, 2025, just in time for the Halloween Season.
Meanwhile Frankenstein’s monster is set to get another film of his own in 2025, this time from Netflix. Director Guillermo Del Toro tackles Mary Shelley’s classic novel, Frankenstein, with actors Mia Goth, Christoph Waltz, Jacob Elordi, and Oscar Isaac, and Del Toro confirmed there will be a theatrical release along with the Netflix release in 2025.
Original Horror Movies Promise To Deliver Something New in 2025
2025 is not just gonna be a rehash of the classics. A number of original horror films are set to release 2025, and some of them are by all-star directors, like Ryan Coogler. He is the director behind Fruitvale Station, Creed, Black Panther, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Now, Coogler steps into the horror genre with his frequent collaborator, actor Michael B. Jordan, for Sinners, a demonic thriller set to release March 7, 2025. Prior to that, Companion is set to release in theaters January 2025. Advertised as being from the creators of Barbarian, one of the biggest horror surprises of 2022, this is set to be a love story unlike any other with actors Sophie Thatcher, Harvey Guillén, and Jack Quaid.
These are just a handful of thew horror movies on the horizon for 2025. Whether it is classic monsters, a beloved franchise, or something new, the horror genre is set to deliver once more in 2025.
