Spooky season is just around the corner, which means many of us are already beginning to lock down our plans for Halloween, as well as the weeks leading up to it. Thankfully, there are a lot of options both on the big screen and streaming at home in the near future to get all of us in the proper mood. We’ve collected 12 noteworthy horror and sci-fi films ranging from supernatural chillers to mystery thrillers for you to add to your calendar, each with a brand new exclusive image. Read on for our Fall Horror and Sci-Fi Preview!
(Photo by ©Warner Bros.)
Release Date: September 8
Where to Watch It: In Theaters
While 2018’s The Nun ultimately served as a prequel to the franchise-spawning The Conjuring, it’s not the last we’ll see of Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) and the haunting visage of the demon Valak (played by Bonnie Aarons). Set four years after The Nun, this sequel finds Irene at a boarding school in France, where she encounters Valak again and attempts to send him back to hell for good. Michael Chaves, who also directed the in-universe films The Curse of La Llorona and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, takes the reins here, with Jonas Bloquet returning to play Frenchie alongside newcomers Storm Reid and Anna Popplewell.
(Photo by ©Iconic)
Release Date: September 14
Where to Watch It: In Theaters
Horror geeks looking for a bit more variety in a single sitting will be happy to discover this festival darling of an anthology film with, as its title indicates, decidedly Latino flavor. Mike Mendez (Big Ass Spider!) kicks off the bookend story, which centers on the lone survivor (Efren Ramirez) of a gruesome massacre in El Paso, TX who is taken into custody by a pair of detectives. Know only as “The Traveler,” he regales the cops with a quartet of spine-tingling stories, all directed by Latin-American filmmakers with serious horror chops.
(Photo by ©Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Release Date: September 15
Where to Watch It: In Theaters
Kenneth Branagh’s third adaptation of an Agatha Christie classic (in this case, the 1969 novel Hallowe’en Party) admittedly isn’t exactly a horror film, but the mystery certainly leans into the supernatural and feels appropriate for the season. Detective extraordinaire Hercule Poirot (Branagh), now retired and living in Venice, reluctantly accepts an invitation to a séance, where a guest is murdered and he’s tasked with sussing out the truth. As expected, the film boasts an impressive ensemble cast that includes Tina Fey, Jamie Dornan, Kelly Reilly, and recent Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh, among others.
(Photo by ©20th Century Studios)
Premiere Date: September 22
Where to Watch It: Hulu
Booksmart star Kaitlyn Dever headlines this tense home-invasion thriller with an otherworldly twist. She plays Brynn, a lonely young woman isolated from her community who spends most of her time at home, until she’s visited by rather unfriendly aliens creeping around her house and it becomes a game of survival. This is the sophomore feature of writer-director Brian Duffield, who penned both 2017’s The Babysitter and 2020’s Underwater, and whose debut Spontaneous was a cheeky rom-com set against the backdrop of spontaneously exploding high school seniors. In other words, he knows what he’s doing here.
(Photo by ©Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Release Date: September 29
Where to Watch It: In Theaters
Falling on the sci-fi side of the spectrum is this futuristic — albeit timely — action thriller about mankind’s battle against artificial intelligence. John David Washington stars as an ex-special forces soldier who is tasked with leading a team to hunt down and destroy a powerful AI that threatens the end of humanity, only to discover the AI has been created in the form of a young child. Co-writer and director Gareth Edwards cut his teeth on genre films like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and 2014’s Godzilla, and the cast includes names like Gemma Chan, Ken Watanabe, Sturgill Simpson, and Allison Janney.
(Photo by ©Lionsgate)
Release Date: September 29
Where to Watch It: In Theaters
Taking a page out of other storied horror franchises that harkened back to their roots for a new installment, Saw X is a direct throughline between the original Saw and Saw II, as series villain John Kramer (Tobin Bell) seeks his grisly revenge against a group of medical scammers in Mexico who falsely promised a miracle treatment for his cancer. Shawnee Smith also returns to reprise her role as Jigsaw protégé Amanda Young, and she’s joined by Synnøve Macody Lund, Steven Brand, and Michael Beach, while Saw VI and Saw 3D director Kevin Greutert takes on directorial duties.
(Photo by Philippe Bosse/Paramount+)
Premiere Date: October 6
Where to Watch It: Paramount+
Speaking of storied franchises, Paramount+ takes us back to the world of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary with this prequel to the 2019 adaptation. Set in 1969 Maine, the story centers on the Jud Crandall character, played in the recent film by John Lithgow and portrayed here by Jackson White, who is forced to reckon with his own family history and the dark secret that ties him to his hometown. This Paramount+ exclusive is the feature debut of Lindsey Anderson Beer, who co-wrote the film, and features appearance from Pam Grier and David Duchovny.
(Photo by ©Shudder)
Premiere Date: October 6
Where to Watch It: Shudder
The V/H/S series has been the contemporary standard-bearer for found footage horror anthology films, and Shudder brings us another installment, this time set in the nostalgia-bathed decade of the ’80s. A made-for-TV documentary serves as the framing narrative for a chilling mix of gory thrills, with all the big hair, colorful clothing, and synthwave tunes you could ask for. The directors behind the five short films on offer include David Bruckner (The Ritual, Hellraiser), Scott Derrickson (Sinister, The Black Phone), and doing double duty between this and Satanic Hispanics, Gigi Saul Guerrero.
(Photo by ©Universal Pictures)
Release Date: October 6
Where to Watch It: In Theaters
After successfully bringing the Halloween franchise back to life with a new trilogy, David Gordon Green is hoping to do the same with The Exorcist, beginning with this new installment that is also intended to be the first of three films. Believer follows a widowed single father (Leslie Odom Jr.) whose daughter and her friend disappear in the woods one day, only to return and begin exhibiting some disturbing symptoms. Desperate for answers, he attempts to track down someone who has had similar experiences, namely Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn). Expectations are high for this one, due to Green’s previous horror credentials and Burstyn’s return to the franchise.
(Photo by ©Saban Films)
Release Date: October 13
Where to Watch It: In Theaters
Seemingly in direct competition to The Exorcist: Believer, we have this psychological thriller that pits science against religion. Amber Heard stars as a doctor who travels to a remote plantation to treat a young boy who demonstrates unusual abilities. The local priest (Eduardo Noriega), however, believes the boy is possessed and doesn’t believe conventional medicine can help him. This is the first foray into the genre for director and co-writer Conor Allyn, whose best known film to date is the 2021 neo-Western drama No Man’s Land.
(Photo by ©Lionsgate)
Release Date: October 27
Where to Watch It: In Theaters
Video game adaptation Five Nights at Freddy’s might be the most anticipated horror offering of the season, considering how long the source material’s fans have been waiting for it. In development since 2015, the project really ramped up production once Blumhouse took over, and now its release is right around the corner. The story centers on a down-on-his-luck security guard (Josh Hutcherson) who takes the night shift at an abandoned pizza parlor, where he learns the animatronic mascots come to life at night and wreak murderous havoc. This is the sophomore solo effort from director Emma Tammi, and it co-stars genre fan favorite Matthew Lillard.
(Photo by ©Shudder)
Premiere Date: October 27
Where to Watch It: Shudder
Rounding out the month is this supernatural slasher with a bit of a horror pedigree behind it. Heather Graham stars as a once-successful psychiatrist accused of murdering one of her patients who recounts her horrific fall from glory to a colleague. That colleague is played by Barbara Crampton, the star of such cult hits as Chopping Mall and Re-Animator, the latter of which was also penned by this film’s writer, Dennis Paoli. This Shudder exclusive by Joe Lynch (Mayhem) has already impressed critics on the festival circuit, so it could be a sleeper hit for Halloween.
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