Fall is almost here, and horror is ready to take over the season. While the first official day of fall is September 22, we’re starting this preview a few days early with Resident Evil, Zach Cregger’s new take on the iconic survival horror franchise, which arrives in theatres September 18 and is just the beginning of what’s shaping up to be a busy fall for horror fans.
The next three months are bringing plenty of horror with them. So, as the leaves begin to change color and the nights get longer, let’s take a look at the horror movies coming our way this season.
Zach Cregger, writer/director of Barbarian and Weapons, is directing the new Resident Evil movie for Sony and also wrote the screenplay with Shay Hatten (Army of the Dead). The story apparently harkens back to the original Capcom game’s horror roots. Here’s the synopsis: In an all-new story, Resident Evil follows Bryan, a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in an action-packed, non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos. Weapons cast member Austin Abrams has the lead role and is joined in the cast by Paul Walter Hauser (Cobra Kai), Zach Cherry (Severance), Kali Reis (True Detective: Night Country), and Johnno Wilson (I Love That for You).
Cregger took the approach of telling an original story with original characters that’s set within the world of the Resident Evil video game franchise because he feels that the stories of the video game characters are already being perfectly told in the games.
Dave Boyle (Big Dreams Little Tokyo, Man from Reno) writes and directs Never After Dark, a supernatural horror movie about a psychic medium who encounters a terrifying entity while investigating an isolated house. The film has already received some major endorsements from horror legends, with Stephen King calling it “amazing and haunting” and The Black Phone and Sinister director Scott Derrickson describing it as “intelligent, unpredictable and bone-chilling” and “one of the best of the year.”
Here’s the synopsis: Never After Dark follows Airi (Moeka Hoshi), a wandering medium who spends her life guiding restless spirits out of the world of the living, accompanied by her constant companion: her dead sister Miku (Kurumi Inagaki). Summoned to exorcize a spirit from an isolated country house by the new owner, Teiko (Tae Kimura), she comes face to face with a grotesque apparition with powers that defy Airi’s experience. Faced with skepticism from Teiko’s son, Gunji (Kento Kaku), she digs deeper into the house’s past until a secret comes to light — and Airi finds herself hunted by a far more unpredictable force. For the first time, her greatest adversary is not the supernatural, but the living.
Jason Lei Howden returns to write and direct Deathgasm II: Goremageddon, the long-awaited sequel to his 2015 heavy metal horror cult favorite Deathgasm. Raven Banner Releasing will bring the movie to select Alamo Drafthouse theatres across the United States for a one-night theatrical event on September 29 as part of the Fantastic Fest Presents program, followed by a digital release in the U.S., Canada, and U.K. on October 13.
Here’s the synopsis: Years after thwarting a demon apocalypse, Brodie finds himself unemployed, single, and without ambition. When he learns that a NoizeQuest battle-of-the-bands competition is coming to town, he decides to reform his heavy metal band DEATHGASM in an attempt to find redemption and win back his ex-girlfriend Medina. There’s just one problem: his drummer Giles is missing an arm, and the rest of his band is dead. Thankfully, Brodie still has the pages of The Black Hymn, so raising his bandmates from beyond the grave is as easy as playing a little tune. Milo Cawthorne returns as Brodie, with Kimberley Crossman reprising her role as Medina. James Blake, Sam Berkley, and Daniel Cresswell also return from the first film, while new cast members include Kieran Charnock, Harrison Keefe, Maggie Robertson, and WWE star Adam Scherr.
Mike P. Nelson, director of Wrong Turn (2021) and Silent Night, Deadly Night (2025), brings a giant Amazonian snake to the big screen with Beware Boiúna. Previously announced under the titles Boiúna: Legend of the Amazon and Titan, the creature feature stars Kiana Madeira (Fear Street), Jessica Rothe (Happy Death Day), and Logan Marshall-Green (The Invitation). The screenplay comes from Alan McElroy, who wrote Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers as well as the original and 2021 versions of Wrong Turn, from a story by McElroy and Tony Giglio.
Here’s the synopsis: Deep in the Amazon, a medical mission spirals into a fight for survival when Boiúna, a colossal ancient predator, awakens to reclaim her domain. In the jungle where nature holds absolute power, she decides who lives and who dies.
Chris Marrs Piliero writes and directs Appofeniacs, a horror thriller about deepfakes, paranoia, and the consequences of living in a world where seeing and hearing something no longer means you can trust that it actually happened. The film stars Sean Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy), Michael Abbott Jr. (The Death of Dick Long), Aaron Holliday (The Terminal List), Jermaine Fowler (Sorry to Bother You), Will Brandt, Paige Searcy, Simran Jehani, and Harley Bronwyn.
Here’s the synopsis: Amused by exploiting our instinct to believe what we see and hear, Duke (Aaron Holliday) treats deepfakes like a contagious party trick. Not because he has something to prove, but simply because he can. Soon blood starts to spill, but Duke isn’t the one who has to clean it up. Intersecting storylines catch the fallout of Duke’s petty pastime: Poppy (Simran Jehani), heading into the desert for a weekend of cosplay and foreplay; Clinto Binto (Sean Gunn), a legend in the scene with a reputation too expensive to fake; and Lazzy (Paige Searcy), a stranger who picks the wrong line, the wrong coffee shop, and the wrong day to argue.
Anne Hathaway (The Devil Wears Prada) stars as the title character in Verity, an adaptation of the thriller novel by Colleen Hoover, author of It Ends with Us. The film also stars Dakota Johnson (Fifty Shades of Grey), Josh Hartnett (Trap), Ismael Cruz Cordóva (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power), Brady Wagner (Merrily We Roll Along), Irina Dvorovenko (And Just Like That…), K.K. Moggie (The Good Wife), and Michael Abbott Jr. (The Drama).
Hathaway plays Verity Crawford, a famous author who is left badly injured and incapacitated after a car accident, preventing her from finishing the latest book in her thriller series. Her husband, Jeremy Crawford, offers struggling writer Lowen Ashleigh a huge sum of money to complete the remaining books. Lowen accepts the job, but while going through Verity’s unfinished manuscript, she discovers disturbing secrets and chilling admissions about Verity and her family’s past, leaving her to question whether Verity is a brilliant fiction writer or a deranged psychopath. Johnson plays Lowen, with Hartnett as Jeremy. The Verity novel has been described as a “gothic, psychosexual thriller in the vein of Rebecca and Gone Girl.” The film adaptation comes from director Michael Showalter, who previously worked with Hathaway on The Idea of You. Nick Antosca (Cape Fear, Hannibal, Channel Zero, Brand New Cherry Flavor, Antlers, Candy) wrote the latest version of the screenplay, with earlier drafts by Hillary Seitz, Angela LaManna, Will Honley, and April Maguire.
Rob Savage, director of The Boogeyman, is moving on from a Stephen King adaptation to a Josh Malerman adaptation with Other Mommy, based on the Bird Box author’s novel Incidents Around the House. Savage is directing from a screenplay by Succession writer Nathan Elston, with Jessica Chastain (It Chapter Two) in a lead role. The cast also includes Jay Duplass (Transparent), Dichen Lachman (Severance), eight-year-old Arabella Olivia Clark (Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere) and Karen Allen (Raiders of the Lost Ark).
The Blumhouse Atomic Monster production shows what happens to Bela, an eight-year-old girl whose home life is already strained by her parents’ troubled marriage, when a sinister presence she calls “Other Mommy” begins emerging from her closet each night. The entity repeatedly asks a single question: “Can I go inside your heart?” As Bela continues refusing, the supernatural visitor grows increasingly aggressive, placing her entire family in danger and forcing the young girl to confront an evil that seems determined to break the bonds holding her family together.
Brian Duffield, writer/director of No One Will Save You and writer of The Babysitter, is bringing Daniel Kraus’s “swallowed by a whale” thriller novel Whalefall to the big screen. Here’s the synopsis: Jay Gardiner has given himself a fool’s errand – to find the remains of his deceased father in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Monastery Beach. He knows it’s a long shot, but Jay feels it’s the only way for him to lift the weight of guilt he has carried since his dad’s death by suicide the previous year. The dive begins well enough, but the sudden appearance of a giant squid puts Jay in very real jeopardy, made infinitely worse by the arrival of a sperm whale looking to feed. Suddenly, Jay is caught in the squid’s tentacles and drawn into the whale’s mouth where he is pulled into the first of its four stomachs. He quickly realizes he has only one hour before his oxygen tanks run out – one hour to defeat his demons and escape the belly of a whale.
The film stars Austin Abrams (Weapons) as Jay, with Elisabeth Shue (The Karate Kid), Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men), John Ortiz (The Madness), Jane Levy (Evil Dead), and Emily Rudd (Fear Street Part Two: 1978) rounding out the cast.
Ken Russell’s controversial 1971 classic The Devils is coming back to North American theatres in a new 4K restoration, and this time audiences will have the chance to see the film in its uncensored NC-17 glory. The Devils will open in North American theatres on October 16 for an exclusive one-week engagement, with select 35mm screenings also planned. The restoration screened at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year and will also play at the Toronto International Film Festival before receiving a UK release on October 30.
Set in 17th-century France, The Devils follows Father Grandier (Oliver Reed, Gladiator), a priest whose unorthodox views on sex and religion inspire a passionate following among the nuns in his parish, including the sexually obsessed Sister Jeanne (Vanessa Redgrave, Camelot). When the power-hungry Cardinal Richelieu (Christopher Logue, The Affair of the Necklace) decides Grandier must be eliminated so he can gain control of France, Richelieu portrays the priest as a Satanist and spearheads a public outcry designed to destroy the reputation of the once-beloved Grandier.
Director Ángel Gómez Hernández brings us Crawlers, a spider-filled horror movie from a screenplay by Jayson Rothwell (Polar, Silent Night). The film stars Matilda Lutz (Revenge, Red Sonja) as Serena, the overworked and underappreciated manager of the Paradiso Palms apartment complex, who has to deal with an infestation of venomous spiders.
Here’s the synopsis: In Crawlers, a catastrophic infestation of venomous and deadly spiders sends an apartment building into lockdown. Trapped inside by a police-mandated quarantine, Serena and the residents battle to survive as the creatures multiply by the second. Armed with her intimate knowledge of the complex, Serena may be the only person who can keep everyone alive—if she can confront her deepest fear.
James Watkins, director of Eden Lake and Speak No Evil, is directing Clayface for DC Studios from a screenplay by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini, with a story by Flanagan. Here’s the synopsis: In Clayface, Matt Hagen’s meteoric rise from Gotham street kid to Hollywood leading man is tragically cut short when a local crime boss’s actions leave him horribly disfigured. Abandoned by his team and with nothing left, Matt seeks out a cutting edge treatment that miraculously returns him to his former self… but also unexpectedly affects his grip on reality, spiraling him down a destructive path of all-consuming revenge. Tom Rhys Harries stars in the title role, with Naomi Ackie, David Dencik, Max Minghella, Eddie Marsan, Nancy Carroll, and Joshua James leading the cast.
Clayface is based on the DC character of the same name and is expected to take a horror-driven approach to the Batman villain, centering on Matt Hagen’s transformation and descent into madness.
Eli Roth’s The Horror Section is bringing a new sexy slasher to theatres just in time for Halloween with Stiletto. Directed by Samuel Gonzalez Jr. (The Plastic Men, The Retaliators) and based on a story by Gigi Gustin (Brute 1976), the film stars Gustin alongside Charlotte McKinney (Fantasy Island), Colleen Camp (American Hustle), Meghan Carrasquillo (Hider in My House), Stephen Blackehart (Guardians of the Galaxy), and Hannah Hueston (The Anacondas).
Here’s the synopsis: Set on the one-year anniversary of the brutal murder of her older sister, Stiletto follows Lyric as she seeks retribution while working to protect the dancer community from the masked killer responsible for a wave of strip club slayings. The film promises a neon-soaked, sexy slasher that introduces a new masked killer and a potential new final girl with the power to become a series-defining horror icon. Gustin, who has a background as an exotic dancer, independently financed the project and drew on her own experiences while bringing the story to the screen. Gonzalez Jr. has described the movie as a “seductive neon fever dream” soaked in blood, obsession, and atmosphere. The Horror Section previously handled the theatrical releases of Jimmy and Stiggs, Dream Eater, and Ice Cream Man.
Takashi Yamazaki, director of Godzilla Minus One, returns to the world of giant monsters with Godzilla Minus Zero, the highly anticipated sequel to his Academy Award-winning 2023 film. Yamazaki once again writes and directs, and is also overseeing the visual effects. The film stars Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Yuki Yamada, Kuranosuke Sasaki, Sakura Ando, Mio Tanaka, and newcomer Min Tanaka.
Here’s the synopsis: War reduced Japan to zero, and Godzilla plunged it into minus. Two years have passed since then, and the country has faced agonizing struggles to achieve recovery and finally reclaim its daily life. Just as humanity managed to cling to a hard-won peace, a new threat strikes, crushing hope in an instant. There is no third time. Everything ends here. Godzilla Minus Zero was the first Japanese production to be filmed for IMAX, with its imagery and sound optimized for the format. The film will open in Japan on November 3, which is also Godzilla Day, before arriving in North American theatres on November 6.
Zachary Wigon, director of Sanctuary, brings Virginia Feito’s novel Victorian Psycho to the screen in this gothic horror satire starring Maika Monroe (Longlegs) as a psychopathic governess. Set in 1858, the film follows Winifred Notty, an eccentric young governess who arrives at the remote gothic manor known as Ensor House to educate the family’s children while secretly concealing her violent tendencies. When members of the household begin disappearing, the owners start to suspect something is terribly wrong with their newest employee.
Monroe is joined by Thomasin McKenzie (Last Night in Soho), Jason Isaacs, Ruth Wilson, Jacobi Jupe, and Evie Templeton (Wednesday). Feito, who wrote the novel, also penned the screenplay. Filming took place in Ireland. Victorian Psycho has already earned strong reviews, including an 8/10 from JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray, who praised Wigon’s direction, Monroe’s performance, Ariel Marx’s score, and the film’s production design. Bumbray described the movie as more of a satire than a straight horror film and called it an “extremely well done” gothic thriller, adding that “If Merchant/Ivory had made a serial killer movie, it might have looked something like this.”
And that’s just a taste of the horror headed our way this fall. From major franchise movies like Resident Evil and Godzilla Minus Zero to literary adaptations, creature features, slashers, supernatural scares, and even a restored classic, there should be something for just about every kind of horror fan. With Halloween season right around the corner, the next few months are shaping up to be a very busy time at the movies. We’ll keep this preview updated as more titles are announced and release dates change, so be sure to check back for the latest additions.