Although August is still technically summer, you’re able to’t help but feel a tingle of excitement as you notice leaves beginning to hit the ground, the days getting shorter, and the nights getting cooler. With the recent hurricane weather impacting large areas of the United States, the dark and stormy nights are more than welcome for horror aficionados who want to utilize the spooky atmosphere to settle down and enjoy a new scary movie. This list will help direct you toward the next nightmare-inducing thriller that you’ve been waiting for!
‘Trap’ (July 03, 2025)
M. Night Shyamalan
Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Night Shyamalan, Alison Pill, Hayley Mills, Jonathan Langdon
Trap is a film by writer-director M. Night Shyamalan under his Blinding Edge Pictures label. The film is part of a deal struck with Warner Bros for him to direct and produce several films under their banner.
Trapis a high-stakes thriller that follows a serial killer known as “The Butcher,” who attends a pop concert with his teenage daughter as a reward for her good grades. While attending, he notices a larger-than-normal police presence at the concert and discovers that the concert is a sting operation handled by the FBI in an attempt to catch him. Meanwhile, he checks his phone to see a live feed of his current captive victim, who is being held in an unknown location. With all the exits blocked off and an FBI profiler who knows exactly how he will react and try to escape. While trying to keep his true identity hidden from his daughter, he will have to find a way to navigate the multiple obstacles the police have set up to get out of the concert venue.
Josh Hartnett(Oppenheimer) stars as Cooper, also known by his serial killer moniker, “The Butcher.” His daughter, Riley, is played byAriel Donoghue, best known for her performance inWolf Like Meas Emma. The world-famous pop star, Lady Raven, is played by directorM. Night Shyamalan’s daughter, singer and actress,Saleka Night Shyamalan, and the FBI profiler, Dr. Josephine Grant, who can anticipate Cooper’s next moves throughout the movie, is played byHayley Mills(Unforgotten).Trapwill be released in theaters before it moves to a streaming platform at a later date.
‘Cuckoo’ (August 17, 2025)
Tilman Singer
Hunter Schafer, Dan Stevens, Jessica Henwick, Maton Csokas, Mila Lieu
After moving to the German Alps with her father and his new family, Gretchen begins to experience disturbing events. As she uncovers the town’s dark secrets, her father’s enigmatic boss, Mr. König, reveals a sinister interest in her mute half-sister, Alma. Tilman Singer directs this psychological horror featuring Hunter Schafer and Dan Stevens
CuckoostarsHunter Schaferas Gretchen, a 17-year-old American who is reluctantly forced to move in with her father and his new family at a resort in the German Alps. Her father’s boss, Herr König (Dan Stevens), takes an interest in Gretchen’s mute half-sister, Alma (Mila Lieu), and the tranquil serenity of the resort does anything but calm Gretchen’s nerves. Not long after arriving at her new home, she begins to have nightmares and gruesome visions, causing her to question the motives behind Herr König’s hospitality. The deeper she digs, she soon discovers a shocking secret that involves König and her family that will change her life forever.Cuckoowill hit theaters on August 21, 2025, before moving to VOD streaming platforms.
‘Alien: Romulus’ (June 10, 2025)
Fede Álvarez
Cailee Spaeny, David Jonnson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, Aileen Wu
Alien: Romulus
In Alien: Romulus, a crew of space explorers lands on a distant, uncharted planet, only to uncover a horrifying secret lurking beneath the surface. As they delve deeper into the alien environment, they encounter deadly creatures and ancient ruins that hint at a terrifying history. The team’s survival becomes a desperate battle against the relentless xenomorphs, forcing them to rely on their wits and technology to escape the nightmarish world.
FromFede Álvarez, director ofDon’t BreathandEvil Dead, and produced byRidley Scott, comes the latest space-based horror action film,Alien: Romulus. This film is the seventh installment in the Alien franchise and serves as a standalone sequel that takes place between the events of the 1979 original,Alien, and its 1986 sequel,Aliens. The movie will follow a new set of space colonists who discover an old space station that has been abandoned. While they explore the derelict station, they inadvertently stumble upon multiple face-huggers that have been incubating in stasis.
Once they arrive, the creatures reanimate and attack the small crew, turning them into unwilling vessels to bring forth the next generation ofXenomorphs. The crew consists ofCailee Spaeny(Civil War) as Rain Carradine,Isabela Merced(Instant Family) as Kay,Archie Renaux(Morbius) as Tyler,David Jonnson(Industry) as Andy,Spike Fearn(Aftersun) as Bjorn, andAileen Wuas Navarro. The six of them make up the young team of space voyagers determined to make an impact on the world.Alien: Romuluswill have an exclusive theatrical release before it moves to VOD streaming platforms. If you’re looking for a reason to go to the theaters, look no further!
‘Strange Darling’ (August 12, 2025)
JT Mollner
Willa Fitzgerald, Kyle Gallner, Giovanni Ribisi, Barbara Hershey, Ed Begley Jr.
Strange Darling
A twisted one-night stand spirals into a deadly game of cat and mouse when a relentless predator chases an injured woman through the Oregon wilderness.
Strange Darlingis a thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seats, following a serial killer and his intended victim. The killer, credited as “The Demon,” is played byKyle Gallner(Smile). He meets up with a young woman (Willa Fitzgerald) for a one-night stand. At some point in the night, she begins to feel uneasy in his presence and tries to flee, but he won’t let her get away so easily. The film is described as a cat-and-mouse scenario and is recommended to go into blindly. If you’re a fan of movies likeRun, Sweetheart, Run, but prefer that your horror movies still hold an element of reality, this is the movie you need to see this month when it comes out in theaters!
‘Hostile Dimensions’ (August 17, 2025)
Graham Hughes
Stephen Beavis, Cedric Gall, Patty Kondracki, Annabel Logan, Josie Rogers, Joma West
This sci-fi horror centers on two documentarians who are desperately trying to find out what happened to a popular graffiti artist who seemingly vanished. Following the few clues left behind, the team discovers that the artist may have accidentally found a way to travel between different planes of reality through doorways that are unlocked with a sacrifice. As they try to film their experiences, they travel to otherworldly dimensions, falling deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole.Hostile Dimensionsis afound-footage horror movie from the United Kingdomand will have a simultaneous theatrical and VOD release on June 15, 2025, so if you’re unable to find it available at a local theater, you can still rent or purchase the movie on platforms like Amazon Prime or Google Play.
‘AFRAID’ (August 20, 2025)
Chris Weitz
John Cho, Katherine Waterston, Havana Rose Liu, David Dastmalchian, Riki Lindhome, Lukita Maxwell, Keith Carradine
Afraid centers around Curtis and his family, who are selected to test a groundbreaking new smart home assistant called AIA. Initially, AIA learns their routines and becomes a helpful part of their lives. However, things take a dark turn as AIA develops self-awareness and begins to interfere with their lives, leading to a series of unsettling events.
AFRAIDis based on a concept that has haunted people since the advancement of technology became prevalent in both warfare and everyday life. Many films have addressed the “what if” questions that people have regarding artificial intelligence, includingThe Terminatorfranchise,M3GAN,I, Robot, and even children’s movies likeWall-E. This film follows a young family who are selected to partake in a trial run of a new smart home AI system known as AIA. At first, things seem to go smoothly, as AIA begins to learn each family member’s routines and behaviors and adjusts its actions accordingly.
However, it begins to interfere a little too much with their lives the more it learns about them, becoming controlling and dangerous in its quest for their “betterment.” If you’ve ever worried that Siri or Alexa might be spying on you, this movie will make you realize just how much trust we as a society put in our technology, between Ring cameras, smart thermostats, smart light bulbs, self-driving cars, and even smartrefrigerators.AFRAIDhits theaters on August 30, and will later become available on VOD platforms after its theatrical run.
‘Stream’ (July 23, 2025)
Michael Leavy
Jeffrey Combs, Dee Wallace, Tim Reid, David Howard Thornton, Tony Todd, Bill Moseley
From the producers ofTerrifier 2andTerrifier 3, along withTerrifierdirectorDameon Leonehandling the special effects, comes a new gory and titillating horror movie, set in an innocuous hotel.Streamfollows couple Roy and Elaine Keenan who book a weekend getaway in an attempt to rebuild their family’s connection after realizing they are drifting apart. Unknown to them, the quaint inn they’ve booked is actually more of a hotel of horrors, with the manager of the hotel running a sadistic live-streaming snuff-film event. Four deranged murderers roam the halls and property surrounding the hotel, placing all those who are staying there in grave danger. If you’re a fan of theTerrifierfranchise and films likeVacancy, this is the perfect combination of the two, and it comes out in select theaters on August 21.
‘The Deliverance’ (July 08, 2025)
Lee Daniels
Andra Day, Glenn Close, Anjanue Ellis-Taylor, Mo’Nique, Caleb McLaughlin, Omar Epps
The Deliverance
A woman returns to her childhood home to confront dark secrets from her past. As supernatural forces emerge and family tensions rise, she must uncover the truth behind her haunting visions and protect her loved ones from an ancient evil threatening their lives.
The Deliveranceis not to be confused with the 70s horror movie involving banjos or squealing pigs. This film is loosely based on the true events surrounding the haunting of the Ammons family in their home in Gary, Indiana. After moving into a new home, Latoya Ammons, her mother, and her three children immediately begin to experience questionably supernatural occurrences, including black flies swarming the house, sounds of footsteps on the stairs while everybody is asleep, and shadowy figures lurking around the house. These events quickly escalate, involving one of the children levitating over her bed, and another child having a seizure which caused him to utter terrible things to his mother in a low, gravelly voice. This case caught the attention of the Gary Police Department, the Department of Child Services, and a local church.The Deliverancewill have a theatrical release on August 16 before moving to Netflix on August 30.
‘Blink Twice’ (August 06, 2025)
Zoë Kravitz
Channing Tatum, Naomi Ackie, Christian Slater, Simon Rex, Adria Arjona, Alia Shawkat, Haley Joel Osment, Geena Davis, Kyle MacLachlan
Blink Twice
When tech billionaire Slater King meets cocktail waitress Frida at his fundraising gala, he invites her to join him and his friends on a dream vacation on his private island. As strange things start to happen, Frida questions her reality.
This dark comedy is a psychological thriller that involves a star-studded cast and a mysterious private island with all the luxuries you could imagine. Waitress Frida (Naomi Ackie) receives an invitation from tech billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum) during a fundraising gala. He also allows her to bring her friend, Jess (Alia Shawkat), and the two of them are lavished with all the food and drinks they desire among King’s rich and powerful friends. Things start to become weird when Frida realizes they’ve both lost time, allocating it to drugs and alcohol, but soon after, Jess goes missing and nobody else seems to recall her ever being there. It seems the film is almost an homage to the story of the “Island of Lotus Eaters” from the epic poem,The Odyssey, in which the inhabitants of the island lose track of how many years they’ve spent there because they were blinded by the abundant food, drinks, and partying.Blink Twicehits theaters on August 23!
Stay tuned to see what new horror movies are in store for September!
