20 Thrilling, Chilling, and Downright Horrifying Movies Coming Out This Fall

Amazon Studios
Amazon Studios

Ready or not, a ton of terrifying movies are making their way to theaters this Fall. Whether you're into spooky haunted houses, serial killers with a craving for taking out teens, or even a reboot of a beloved horror classic, Hollywood's upcoming batch of nightmarish silver screen offerings has something right up your deeply twisted alley. Check them out ahead, and then peruse the scariest movies currently streaming on Netflix.

01
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The Little Stranger

  • The scoop: Domhnall Gleeson and Ruth Wilson join forces in this haunted house thriller, that sees Gleeson's Dr. Faraday investigating the crumbling Hundreds Hall estate. As he attempts to help the home's youngest resident, secrets — and other unsavory things — begin pouring out.
  • Release date: Aug. 31
02
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Boarding School

  • The scoop: When 12-year-old Jacob becomes obsessed with the persona of his dead grandmother and his father catches him crossdressing, he's sent to a mysterious, remote boarding school for misfits run by a headmaster and his wife. It soon becomes clear that the other students at the academy aren't exactly "normal," per sé, but Jacob must band together with them to ward off a horrifying fate.
  • Release date: Aug. 31
03
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Hostile

  • The scoop: In Hostile, a woman struggles through the remains of a world destroyed by a deadly pandemic all by herself. When a trip out to forage for supplies goes wrong and she breaks her leg, she has to evade hunger, thirst, and a horde of creepy creatures that only come out at night on her way back to camp.
  • Release date: Sept. 4
04
The Nun
Warner Bros.

The Nun

  • The scoop: Even the poster for this follow-up to the Conjuring franchise is enough to send chills down our spines, so we can only imagine how terrifying the actual movie is going to be. This time around, we travel to 1950s Romania, where a nun and a Catholic priest are sent by the Vatican to investigate the mysterious suicide of another nun at a monastery. What they don't realize is that an intensely powerful demonic force is already there, waiting to claim them.
  • Release date: Sept. 7
05
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Don't Leave Home

  • The scoop: A reclusive painter at the heart of a disturbing Irish urban legend invites the American artist investigating the story to his crumbling estate under the guise of commissioning a sculpture from her. Unfortunately, that's not all he's after.
  • Release date: Sept. 14
06
Mandy
RLJE Films

Mandy

  • The scoop: Nicolas Cage and Andrea Riseborough star in this thriller set in 1983. The pair play Red Miller and Mandy Bloom, who lead a remote, peaceful existence in the Pacific Northwest until a sadistic cult destroys everything they hold dear. The invasion sparks a tale of bloody vengeance that will have you on the edge of your seat.
  • Release date: Sept. 14
07
The Predator
20th Century Studios

The Predator

  • The scoop: Alfie Allen, Olivia Munn, and more star in this sequel, which will see soldiers teaming up to battle the vicious extraterrestrial we all know and love (to have nightmares of).
  • Release date: Sept. 14
08
The House With a Clock in Its Walls
Universal Pictures

The House With a Clock in Its Walls

  • The scoop: A young boy goes to stay with his uncle in a creaky old house and soon realizes that there's much more to the home than meets the eye — get ready for thrills, chills, witches, and warlocks.
  • Release date: Sept. 21
09
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Hell Fest

  • The scoop: Remember those urban legends about haunted houses you used to hear as a kid? About murderers who would lurk in them and actually kill people, but no one realized the victim's screams were real until it was too late? Well, that's essentially the premise for Hell Fest, which follows a group of teens as they attend an amusement park's Halloween-themed night and find themselves terrorized by a masked serial killer.
  • Release date: Sept. 28
10
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Hold the Dark

  • The scoop: Jeremy Saulnier's psychological thriller stars Westworld's Jeffrey Wright as retired wolf expert Russell Core, who receives a disturbing, desperate letter from a grieving mother (Riley Keough) telling him that a pack of wolves dragged her son from their small Alaskan village. Russell goes to the village and investigate the boy's disappearance, and soon finds himself tangled up in a web far more dangerous than he ever could have expected when a masked killer begins stalking the town.
  • Release date: Sept. 28
11
Venom
Sony Pictures

Venom

  • The scoop: No, Tom Hardy's upcoming Spider-Man spinoff Venom isn't your typical "scary" movie. But after seeing the villain in all his terrifying glory, we can hopefully expect some body horror and good old fashioned gore from the antihero. Why else would he have such long teeth, hmm?
  • Release date: Oct. 5
12
Apostle
Netflix

Apostle

  • The scoop: Occult horror-thriller Apostle stars Beauty and the Beast's Dan Stevens as Thomas Richardson, who returns home to London in 1905 only to discover that his sister has been captured by a cult led by the dangerously charismatic Prophet Malcolm (Michael Sheen) and is being held for ransom. Thomas sets out to rescue his sister, infiltrating the cult's island community and eventually uncovering an evil secret.
  • Release date: Oct. 12
13
Bad Times at the El Royale
20th Century Studios

Bad Times at the El Royale

  • The scoop: Did God herself cast Bad Times at the El Royale? Because this thriller is seriously stacked with talent. Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Dakota Johnson, Cailee Spaeny, Lewis Pullman, and Nick Offerman play a group of strangers who find themselves clashing at the titular creepy hotel, owned by Jon Hamm. According to the film's description, "Over the course of one fateful night, secrets are unearthed, and everyone will have a last shot at redemption before everything goes to hell." Apparently "hell" is code for "Chris Hemsworth shirtless."
  • Release date: Oct. 12
14
Halloween
Universal Pictures

Halloween

  • The scoop: A David Gordon Green-directed reboot of the terrifying franchise sees Jamie Lee Curtis reprising her role as Laurie Strode from the 1978 original. Now older (but perhaps not altogether wiser), Laurie has spent years praying that her attempted murderer, Michael Myers, would escape from his psychiatric ward so that she can get revenge for the trauma he put her through by killing him herself. Well, thanks to a bus crash, she gets her wish, and the unstoppable homicidal maniac is let loose on the world once again.
  • Release date: Oct. 19
15
Suspiria
Amazon Studios

Suspiria

  • The scoop: As a follow-up to award season darling Call Me by Your Name, director Luca Guadagnino has dramatically changed courses by remaking one of the scariest horror movies from the 1970s: Suspiria. It follows Dakota Johnson's ambitious young dancer, Susie, arriving at a world-renowned dance company led by a mysterious artistic director (Tilda Swinton), who will send Susie on a journey filled with darkness (translation: satanic rituals, witches, curses, murder, etc.). Mia Goth, Lutz Ebersdorf, Jessica Harper, and Chloë Grace Moretz also star.
  • Release date: Oct. 26
16
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Overlord

  • The scoop: The zombie trend is far from over, you guys! In the J.J. Abrams-produced Overlord, a group of World War II soldiers (Wyatt Russell, Jovan Adepo, among others) discover that the Nazis are using supernatural forces to fight their battles, as well as engaging in some seriously gruesome experiments.
  • Release date: Nov. 9
17
The Girl in the Spider's Web
Columbia Pictures

The Girl in the Spider's Web

  • The scoop: In the first book since David Lagercrantz took over the Millennium trilogy from the late Stieg Larsson, Lisbeth Salander (Claire Foy, taking over for Rooney Mara) investigates an organization called the Spider Society. In the first trailer for the highly anticipated follow-up to 2011's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Foy looks unrecognizable as she terrorizes men who have harmed other women and confronts her dark, mysterious past. Obviously don't expect outright horror from a film like this, but do expect not to sleep for a few nights afterwards while you toss and turn pouring over Lisbeth's righteous brutality.
  • Release date: Nov. 9
18
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Anna and the Apocalypse

  • The scoop: Are you ready for zombies? And dark comedy? And maybe a few Christmas carols? Because that's what Anna and the Apocalypse has in store for you. The film tracks Anna and her group of friends as they slice and dice their way through a sleepy town overrun with zombies in hopes of reaching their loved ones just in time for the holidays. Doesn't that premise fill you with cheer?
  • Release date: Nov. 30
19
Piercing
Getty | Jason Merritt

Piercing

  • The scoop: Reed (Christopher Abbott) kisses his wife goodbye, telling her that he's headed out of town for a business trip. In actuality, he's off to hire and murder an unsuspecting prostitute, Jackie (Mia Wasikowska), in an effort to alleviate the urges he has to kill his own newborn baby. Little does he know, Jackie has more skills up her sleeve than he realizes, making for one bloody face-off.
  • Release date: Dec. 7
20
Bird Box
Getty | Anthony Harvey

Bird Box

  • The scoop: Josh Malerman's horrifying novel is coming to Netflix with a whole lot of star power. Sandra Bullock is set to play a mother struggling to keep her two children alive in the midst of an apocalypse that turns people into violent monsters, and finds herself faced with navigating them down a dangerous river while blindfolded in search of salvation. Academy Award winner Susanne Bier is in the director's chair, and the film also stars Trevante Rhodes, Sarah Paulson, and John Malkovich.
  • Release date: Dec. 21