Is 'Saw XI' Canceled? What To Know & 10 Horror Movies Still Coming Out in 2025
The Saw franchise is back in pop culture discourse for a disappointing reason. Lionsgate has officially cut Saw XI from its 2025 release calendar, replacing its September 26 release date with The Strangers: Chapter 2. It’s a surprising turn of events, considering Saw X raked in positive reviews while also returning Tobin Bell’s John Kramer to the big screen.
The good news is Saw XI isn’t canceled for good if Billy the Puppet is to be believed. On March 24, Lionsgate released a statement from the franchise’s ventriloquist dummy: “I’ve seen the rumors. They say it’s Game Over. You all should know me better than that. The game is never over.” While Saw XI writer Patrick Melton attests that the movie “may or may not be made,” there’s no confirmation that the project has been scrapped for good.
2025 has already been a big year for horror, with films like Hearts Eyes and The Monkey collecting approval from critics and fans alike. With Saw XI taking the backseat for now, here are 10 of the biggest horror movies still coming out in 2025 and where you can watch them.
Until Dawn may have fallen under the radar for those unfamiliar with Supermassive’s game of the same name. First released in 2015, Until Dawn earned critical acclaim for its twisty supernatural story that changed based on the player’s decisions. While the game features a group of young adults fighting for their lives against several threats on Blackwood Mountain, the movie goes in an entirely different direction. In the film, a new cast of characters find themselves in an endless time loop each time they die. Although Until Dawn is said to expand on the game’s mythology, it sounds like a twist on the well-loved Happy Death Day.
While Final Destination 5 involved a man saving strangers from a bridge collapse, Final Destination: Bloodlines follows a college student’s quest to save her family after recurring nightmares predict their untimely demise. The latest installment plants Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein in the director’s chair while Lori Evans Taylor and Guy Busick man the script. Busick’s work on Ready or Not, Scream, and Abigail suggests the highly anticipated six installments in the Final Destination franchise will meet fan expectations. Not only is there a lot riding on the sequel, but it also marks the final performance from icon horror actor and franchise mainstay Tony Todd, who passed away in November 2024.
Danny Boyle and Alex Garland left a big and terrifying impression in the zombie subgenre with their 2002 film 28 Days Later. Now, the directing and writing team is back with 28 Years Later, the third installment in the 28 Days Later franchise. As teased in the title, the story picks up 28 years after the Rage virus laboratory disaster. Now, survivors have found some semblance of peace on a small island until a father and son discover dark secrets on the mainland. Although Cillian Murphy won’t be reprising his role to the disappointment of many, he will be sitting nice and comfy in the producer’s chair. Instead, the sequel will include other big names like Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Ralph Fiennes.
Gerard Johnstone’s M3GAN was the surprise horror hit of 2022, delivering a timely story about the dangers of AI with an undertone of dark humor. In the highly-anticipated sequel, M3GAN creator Gemma (Allison Williams) reactivates an upgraded version of the killer doll to take out a dangerous military-grade weapon created with her stolen technology. With Johnstone and writer Akela Cooper returning in M3GAN 2.0, you can expect more camp, dark comedy, and societal commentary in the sequel. Whether the Internet explodes with another dance meme is yet to be seen, but one can certainly hope.
The ever-growing The Conjuring Universe gets another entry in 2025. The Conjuring: Last Rites sees the return of controversial paranormal investigators Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga). The sequel marks the fourth mainline The Conjuring movie, but it’s the tenth film in the larger The Conjuring Universe. With a limited plot synopsis, it’s still unclear what real-life Warren investigation The Conjuring: Last Rites will pull from, but some fans hypothesize that the title hints at the Snedeker haunting, which involved a Connecticut family’s ghostly experiences while living in a former funeral home.
The Jordan Peele-produced Him follows a young football player (Tyriq Withers). With his goal to become even better, he ships off to an isolated compound to train under a legend (Marlon Wayans). Although it’s still early, Him has the potential to be a groundbreaking genre film. Sports horror movies are few and far between, and using football, which is frequently under fire for its brutality and safety concerns, has loads of potential. While director Justin Tipping is best known for his work in television, Kicks proves he has the potential to create a big-screen hit.
In 2021’s The Black Phone, Scott Derrickson introduced audiences to Ethan Hawke’s creepy child serial killer, The Grabber. Although inspired by a short story from author Joe Hill, the plot additions split critics and audiences. Still, the film earned enough attention to warrant a sequel, with Derrickson returning to direct and write alongside C. Robert Cargill once more in The Black Phone 2. According to Comicbook.com, Hill provided a sequel concept that Derrickson ran with. Details are still under wraps, but Hawke’s Grabber will return in some form, and so will protagonists Finney (Mason Thames) and Gwen (Madeleine McGraw).
Guillermo del Toro’s long-awaited Frankenstein adaptation finally hits Netflix in late 2025. The movie, of course, stems from Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel, which details Victor Frankenstein’s complicated relationship with the Monster he brings to life. In del Toro’s reimagining, Oscar Isaac stars as Victor alongside Jacob Elordi’s Monster and Mia Goth’s Elizabeth. The inclusion of Christoph Waltz’s Dr. Pretorious, a character originating in Bride of Frankenstein, hints that the film may also pull from Universal’s sequel and deliver a bride for the misunderstood Monster, or, at least, foreshadow that for a future sequel.
Apparently, 2025 is the year for sequels and reimaginings. Closing out the fourth quarter is Anaconda, a reinterpretation of 1997’s Anaconda. In the midst of a mid-life crisis, four friends find themselves in a real-life survival situation after deciding to remake their favorite childhood movie. This time around, Anaconda looks to be going full comedy horror, and it makes sense. Despite its intriguing creature feature premise, the original film has no shortage of campy moments and over-the-top action sequences. It quickly became a cult classic that hasn’t seen a franchise entry since 2015. Much like the original, 2025’s Anaconda has a star-studded cast, with Jack Black and Paul Rudd leading the pack.
The I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise finally returns after nearly two decades of silence. Serving as a direct sequel to 1998’s I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) sees a new group of friends stalked by a dangerous person who knows about their deadly car accident and ensuing pact. When they realize this has happened before, the friends seek out the help of 1997’s Southport Massacre survivors. At the time of writing, only Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. are set to reprise their roles as Julie and Ray, respectively.
