13 New Horror Movies To Add To Your Summer Watchlist

Stop me if you've heard this one before… Al Pacino and Dan Stevens take on a demon. Are you sold? The Ritual is based on the real-life case of Anna Ecklund aka Emma Schmidt, an American possession said to have inspired William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist. If that’s not enough for ya, nothing will be! But here’s the synopsis just for fun:

The Ritual follows two priests — one questioning his faith (Stevens) and one reckoning with a troubled past (Pacino) — who must put aside their differences to save a possessed young woman through a difficult and dangerous series of exorcisms. The film is an authentic portrayal of Emma Schmidt, an American woman whose demonic possession culminated in harrowing exorcisms. Her case remains the most thoroughly documented exorcism in American history.

Also starring Twilight alum Ashley Greene, Ashley Cowan (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), and Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond). Pacino plays the role of Father Theophilus Riesinger, a friar and priest who performed exorcisms across the United States in the 1900s.

Do you like your shark movies with a side of serial killer horror? Well, have we got the movie for you! After premiering at Cannes, Dangerous Animals is swimming into your local cinema. 

Dangerous Animals follows Zephyr (Hassie Harrison), a rebellious surfer who finds herself caught in the clutches of Jai Courtney’s shark-obsessed killer. As she's held captive on his boat, she must determine how to escape before she becomes a part of his ritualistic feeding to the sharks below.

Byrne’s feature, however, takes the focus off the deadly instincts of sharks and proves once again – man is the most dangerous animal (and biggest monster) of all.  The aquatic creature feature is Byrne’s third horror film after The Loved Ones and The Devil’s Candy, and his first film in a decade.

Produced by Final Destination creator Jeffrey Reddick and directed by Paul Etheredge (Hellbent), supernatural horror The Other stars Olivia Macklin, Dylan McTee, Avangeline Friedlander, Lily D. Moore, and Saw legend Shawnee Smith.

The Other was born from a nightmare Etheredge had while on his honeymoon that raised the question: What happens when parent/child bonding utterly fails, and the relationship becomes dangerous? Etheredge recently stopped in for an impromptu chat during a recent FANGORIA Town Hall meeting. The monthly chats are part of a private group open to all Fango magazine subscribers and often feature surprise guest drop-ins.

The Other is streaming June 13.

The wait is almost over for Danny Boyle's long-awaited 28 Years Later, currently the most anticipated film of 2025 on Letterboxd. Written by original 28 Days Later scribe and Ex Machina director Alex Garland, the follow-up to both 2002's 28 Days Later and 2007‘s 28 Weeks Later is set to kickstart a brand new trilogy, with Nia DaCosta (Candyman) directing the second movie into the trilogy titled 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.

Starring Ralph Fiennes, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer, Jack O'Connell and Erin Kellyman, 28 Years Later follows the fallout of a rage virus which destroyed Britain almost three decades prior:

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.

When one of the group leaves the island on a mission into the dark heart of the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders and horrors that have mutated not only the infected but other survivors as well.

Find more 28 Years Later goodness in FANGORIA #28.

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Executive produced by Ready or Not and Scream‘s Radio Silence, this new horror mockumentary is directed by Max Tzannes and co-written by Tzannes and David San Miguel. Inspired by the likes of This is Spinal Tap and found footage classics like The Blair Witch Project,  The Making of the Patterson Project tells the story of a crew of acclaimed documentarians as they chronicle a young filmmaker’s quest to create the world’s greatest found footage horror film.

Brennan Keel Cook (The Pale Blue Eye), Chen Tang (Warrior), Erika Vetter (Somebody I Used to Know) and Dean Cameron (Straight Outta Compton, Summer School) star in the film, set for limited theatrical release June 20 and available on demand beginning June 24 in North America and June 30 in the UK. 

Killer robot doll M3GAN has gone viral with her dance moves, modeled for a Deftones x Marc by Marc Jacobs collaboration, and this time around she’s even got her own M3GAN popcorn bucket. Is there anything she can’t do? We doubt it. Find out when M3GAN 2.0 dances into theaters on June 27. 

Two years after M3GAN, a marvel of artificial intelligence, went rogue and embarked on a murderous (and impeccably choreographed) rampage and was subsequently destroyed, M3GAN’s creator Gemma has become a high-profile author and advocate for government oversight of A.I. Meanwhile, Gemma’s niece Cady, now 14, has become a teenager, rebelling against Gemma’s overprotective rules.

Unbeknownst to them, the underlying tech has been stolen and misused by a powerful defense contractor to create a military-grade weapon known as Amelia (Sakhno), the ultimate killer infiltration spy.

But as Amelia’s self-awareness increases, she becomes decidedly less interested in taking orders from humans. Or in keeping them around. With the future of human existence on the line, Gemma realizes that the only option is to resurrect M3GAN (Amie Donald, voiced by Jenna Davis) and give her a few upgrades, making her faster, stronger, and more lethal. As their paths collide, the original A.I bitch is about to meet her match.

Original 1997 I Know What You Did Last Summer stars Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. return to play Julie James and Ray Bronson, respectively, with Jonah Hauer-King, Madelyn Cline, Alexander Chavez, Lola Tung, Tyriq Withers, and Chase Sui Wonders also starring.

Jennifer Kaytin Robinson's I Know What You Did Last Summer reboot follows ​​five friends who inadvertently cause a deadly car accident.

They cover up their involvement and make a pact to keep it a secret rather than face the consequences. A year later, their past comes back to haunt them and they’re forced to confront a horrifying truth: someone knows what they did last summer…and is hell-bent on revenge.

As one by one the friends are stalked by a killer, they discover this has happened before, and they turn to two survivors of the legendary Southport Massacre of 1997 for help.

In the immortal words of one Ms. Shirley Bassey, it sounds like a little bit of history repeating. We have theories. We have questions. Luckily, we don’t have to wait much longer for answers.

The Twisted Child Universe continues with Bambi: The Reckoning, galloping into theaters this July. Directed by Dan Allen and written by Rhys Warrington, Bambi: The Reckoning was produced by Scott Chambers and Rhys-Frake Waterfield (Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey,Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare) through their Jagged Edge Productions banner.

Executive producers are Stuart Alson (Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood and Honey 1 & 2) and Nicole Holland (Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood and Honey 1 & 2).

The creature feature stars Roxanne Mckee (Game of Thrones, Hercules), Tom Mulheron, Nicola Wright (Sexy Beast), Samira Mighty and Alex Cooke. Loosely based on the character from Disney's 1942 cartoon Bambi (itself based on Felix Staten's 1923 novel Bambi, a Life in the Woods).

After a mother and son get in a car wreck, they soon become hunted by Bambi, a mutated grief-stricken deer on a deadly rampage seeking revenge for the death of his mother.

The Purge director James DeMonaco brings us a new horror thriller starring Saturday Night Live and Bodies Bodies Bodies‘ Pete Davidson. The Home follows a rebellious twentysomething who is sentenced to community service at a quiet retirement home. The residents on the fourth floor are strictly off-limits, said to require “special care.” As his suspicions grow and he digs deeper, he uncovers a chilling secret that puts both the residents’ lives and his own in grave danger.

Starring alongside Davidson are John Glover (Gremlins 2: The New Batch) and Bruce Altman (Girl, Interrupted).

We caught this one at Fantastic Fest, and it’s an emo pop punk dream. The soundtrack rips, and things get real goopy. For fans of the likes of The Faculty, you’re in for a treat.

This movie was specifically made for 13-year-old girls and 45-year-old dads to watch together, but the appeal extends well beyond that niche focus. We so rarely get a proper cosmic creature feature these days, let alone one with a banger of a soundtrack, targeting both teenagers and elder millennials. We’ve been eagerly awaiting a release date announcement for this one. Fandango has it listed as opening July 27, we’re keeping our fingers crossed. More info on that as it comes in.

The science fiction horror comedy is directed by Joseph Kahn and stars Brandon Routh, Malina Weissman, Harrison Cone, Jeff Fahey, and Mena Suvari.

Neon’s cosmic body horror, Together stars real-life couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie and serves as the feature debut of writer/director Michael Shanks. 

Years into their relationship, Tim and Millie find themselves at a crossroads as they move to the country, abandoning all that is familiar in their lives except each other. With tensions already flaring, a nightmarish encounter with a mysterious, unnatural foe threatens to corrupt their lives, their love, and their flesh.

Also starring are Damon Herriman (The Bondsman), Sunny S. Walia (Shantaram), Jack Kenny (Fires), and Mia Morrissey (Totally Completely Fine).

Barbarian director Zach Cregger is back with Weapons. starring Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Benedict Wong, Austin Abrams, Amy Madigan, and June Diane Raphael, with “a couple missing names” still to be revealed.

In the mysterious multi-story horror epic, a group of kids from Mrs Gandy's (Garner) class mysteriously disappear overnight at exactly 2:17am. If we know anything about Cregger, it’s that he doesn’t give it all away up front so we’re curious to see what he has in store for us this time around!

Finally! We caught this one at Fantastic Fest back in 2023 before it fell into a distribution hole, but Macon Blair’s reimagining of The Toxic Avenger is nearly here (and on the subscriber cover of FANGORIA #28). Fans of the original have irreverent humor, clever kills, and copious amounts of gore to look forward to. If you imagine The Toxic Avenger with a bigger budget, Macon essentially nails it, staying true to the tone and humor with an impressive cast clearly up to the task, and a killer finale.