Six months of horror releases down, six to go! With our 2024 Horror Preview, we’re looking ahead at some of the other horror movies we can’t wait to check out this year. For now, we’re only including movies that have a known release date, so films like the remakes/reboots of The Toxic Avenger and Witchboard are currently absent because they don’t have a release date yet, even though they’re likely to show up at some point in 2024. Here we go:
MAXXXINE – Theatrical, July 5
Writer/director Ti West and star Mia Goth blew horror fans away with their collaboration X (which was set in 1979) and its prequel Pearl (set in 1918), and now they’re turning the series into a trilogy with the 1985-set MaXXXine, in which Goth reprises the role of Maxine Minx from X. Maxine is in Hollywood now, pursuing her dream of being a mainstream actress, while the Night Stalker terrorizes L.A. Joining Goth in the cast are singer Halsey, Kevin Bacon (Tremors), Elizabeth Debicki (Tenet), singer Moses Sumney, Michelle Monaghan (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), Bobby Cannavale (Netflix’s The Watcher), Lily Collins (Emily in Paris), and Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad).
LONGLEGS – Theatrical, July 12
The marketing for Longlegs, a psychological horror thriller from director Osgood Perkins – who, yes, is the son of actor Anthony Perkins – has been so awesome and creepy, the actual film might struggle to live up to it. Still, it sounds very promising, with genre regular Maika Monroe taking on the role of an FBI agent who is tracking an elusive serial killer played by Nicolas Cage. Cage has described his character as being like “a possessed Geppetto.”
TRAP – Theatrical, August 2
Two months after his daughter Ishana’s film The Watchers reached theatres, we’ll be getting another thriller directed by M. Night Shyamalan – and this one stars another of his three daughters, Saleka. Trap shows us what happens when a father and teen daughter attend a pop concert, where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event. Saleka, who is an R&B singer/songwriter, plays the popstar on stage. Josh Hartnett, fresh off playing a role in Oppenheimer, plays the father who takes his child to the concert… and is secretly a serial killer. Shyamalan has had hits and misses, and it’s always interesting to see how his latest film is going to turn out.
CUCKOO – Theatrical, August 9
Hunter Schafer (Euphoria), Dan Stevens (The Guest), Jessica Henwick (Love and Monsters), Marton Csókás (Freelance), Greta Fernández (Santo), and Jan Bluthardt (Tatort) star in the new horror film from writer/director Tilman Singer (Luz). The story follows a 17-year-old American girl who reluctantly moves with her father to a resort in the German Alps… but there’s something strange going in at this resort, leading to an encounter with “a bird-like monster.”
ALIEN: ROMULUS – Theatrical, August 16
Evil Dead (2013) and Don’t Breathe director Fede Alvarez has set the story of Alien: Romulus between the events of the original Alien and Aliens. It involves a group of young people – played by the likes of Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla), David Jonsson (Industry), Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone), Spike Fearn (The Batman), Aileen Wu (Away from Home), and Isabela Merced (Rosaline) – who find themselves in a fight for their lives with the titular alien on a distant colony. All we really needed to know to be sold on this one was “Fede Alvarez directing an Alien movie”.
STREAM – Theatrical, August 21
Directed by Terrifier cast member Michael Leavy and featuring special FX by Terrifier and Terrifier 2 director Damien Leone, Stream tells the story of a family being stalked by deranged murderers at a quaint hotel, and the movie is packed with genre icons. Here’s a sample of the Stream cast list: Tony Todd (the original Candyman himself), Jeffrey Combs (Re-Animator), Danielle Harris (Halloween 4), Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp), Dee Wallace (The Howling), Mark Holton (Leprechaun), Daniel Roebuck (Final Destination), Dave Sheridan (The Devil’s Rejects), Terry Alexander (Day of the Dead), David Howard Thornton (Terrifier), Tim Reid (Stephen King’s It), Charles Edwin Powell (Exorcist III), Bob Adrian (The Conjuring 2), Sydney Malakeh (Cheer Camp Killer), Wesley Holloway (Terrifier 2), and Linden Porco (Leprechaun Returns).
THE CROW – Theatrical, August 23
The first images of Bill Skarsgard in the titular role in director Rupert Sanders’ reimagining of The Crow didn’t go over very well (and Alex Proyas, the director of the original film, let it be known that he wasn’t a fan). However, the folks behind the movie say this is NOT a remake and that it’s a fresh reimagining of the character James O’Barr came up with when he created the Crow comic book series. So, there’s a good a chance the new movie could still work even for viewers who think the new version of the character looks ridiculous.
THEY LISTEN – Theatrical, August 30
Originally scheduled to receive a theatrical release in August of 2023, director Chris Weitz’s horror film They Listen was delayed an entire year by Sony – but we still don’t know anything about this Blumhouse production. The cast includes Katherine Waterston, John Cho, Havana Rose Liu, Lukita Maxwell, Riki Lindhome, Keith Carradine, Ben Youcef, and Wyatt Linder, but details on what sort of horror they’ll be dealing with have never been revealed.
BEETLEJUICE 2 – Theatrical, September 6
Thirty-six years after the classic Beetlejuice was released, we’re finally getting a sequel. Director Tim Burton is back at the helm, Michael Keaton is reprising the role of the title character, and Winona Ryder is back as Lydia Deetz, with Catherine O’Hara returning as her stepmother Delia. Joining the party are Monica Bellucci as Beetlejuice’s wife, Willem Dafoe as a law enforcement officer in the afterlife, Justin Theroux in an unspecified role, and Burton’s Wednesday star Jenna Ortega as Lydia’s daughter. Depending on whether or not Burton and his cast were able to recapture some of the original magic, Beetlejuice 2 could be a blast.
SPEAK NO EVIL – Theatrical, September 13
Director James Watkins and Blumhouse have teamed up to bring us a remake of the 2022 Danish film Gæsterne, a.k.a. Speak No Evil – and if this is as intense as the original film was, it sounds like it’s going to be a real endurance challenge for a lot of viewers. The story centers on “a family who takes a dream holiday to an idyllic country house, only to have the vacation turn into a psychological nightmare,” and the cast includes James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis, Scott McNairy, Aisling Franciosi, and Alix West Lefler.
TERRIFIER 3 – Theatrical, October 11
Terrifier 3 may be reaching theatres in time for Halloween, but unlike its predecessors this one is not set on Halloween. Instead, the setting is moving a couple months, over to Christmastime. Writer/director Damien Leone had a budget of around $55,000 to work with on the first Terrifier movie, and a budget of “a little over” $250,000 for Terrifier 2 – which was so successful, a “couple million” is going into the budget of Terrifier 3. Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) will be spilling more blood and facing off against heroine Sienna (Lauren LaVera) again, and Leone said he’s aiming to make this one shorter and less mystical than the second film.
SMILE 2 – Theatrical, October 18
Writer/director Parker Finn’s sequel to his 2022 horror film Smile is another project we don’t know much about yet, but Finn has said that if he were to make a Smile 2 he would want to make sure it’s “new, exciting, fresh” rather than just a retread of its predecessor. The freshness begins with the casting of Naomi Scott – who was not in Smile – as the lead character in Smile 2. The release date and the involvement of Finn and Scott are the only pieces of information that have been provided so far.
NIGHTBITCH – Theatrical, December 6
Amy Adams stars in this darkly comic “neo-horror” movie, written and directed by Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) and based on a novel by Rachel Yoder. The lead character is a stay-at-home suburban mom who begins to suspect that she might be turning into a dog… and that’s about all we know about this one so far. Scott McNairy plays Adams’ “oft-traveling husband,” while Mary Holland takes on an unspecified role.
NOSFERATU – Theatrical, December 25
Nine years have gone by since it was first announced that The Witch director Robert Eggers was going to be writing and directing a remake of F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent classic Nosferatu. At the end of this year, we’re finally going to be able to see what Eggers – who made The Lighthouse and The Northman in the interim – has done with the concept. Bill Skarsgard (It) plays the title character and is joined in the cast by Lily-Rose Depp (The Idol), Nicholas Hoult (Renfield), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Bullet Train), Emma Corrin (The Crown), Ralph Ineson (The Witch), Simon McBurney (The Conjuring 2), and the legendary Willem Dafoe, who plays a crazy vampire hunter. Focus Features wanted to give this film “a prime holiday season release”, so they clearly believe Eggers has turned in something special.