If you’ve felt a recent chill in the air, you’re not alone. It’s officially the season of falling leaves, pumpkin-flavored everything, and oversized sweaters. Likewise, October wouldn’t truly be October without a wealth of new horror offerings — starting with Max’s new adaptation ofSalem’s Lotand quickly followed by Netflix’s twisty sci-fi/horror/comedy thriller,It’s What’s Inside. Modern horror icon Art the Clown grins his way through more eye-popping gore inTerrifier 3, whileSmile 2— the sequel toone of 2022’s surprise hits— continues to spread the Smile Curse to unsuspecting victims. ActressAnna Kendrickmakes her directorial debut withWoman of the Hour, a 1970s-set psychological thriller based on the true story of the “Dating Game Killer.”
Two other period movies dramatize real events, includingSaturday Night, the origin story ofSaturday Night Live, andThe Apprentice, starringSebastian Stanas a youngDonald Trump. For something completely different,Piece by Piecetells the story ofPharrell Williams' life through Lego animation. And speaking of things that couldn’t be more different: October brings the debut of two comic book movies led by antiheroes. In one corner, there’s the crime thriller/musicalJoker: Folie à Deux, starringJoaquin Phoenix(reprising his Oscar-winning role) andLady Gagaas Harley Quinn. In the other corner,Tom Hardywraps up his action-comedy Venom trilogywithVenom: The Last Dance. Last but not least, indie dramas with varied styles are generating buzz, including the romantic dramedyAnora, and the nail-bitingConclave.
‘Salem’s Lot’
Release Date:
June 21, 2025, on Max
Gary Dauberman
Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh, Alfre Woodard, William Sadler, Bill Camp, Pilou Asbæk, John Benjamin Hickey, Jordan Preston Carter, Spencer Treat Clark, Nicholas Crovetti, Cade Woodward, Alexander Ward
Horror, Supernatural
113 minutes
If you readStephen King’s classic bookor watched the nightmare-inducing 1979 miniseries, it’s time to get scared again. Struggling author Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman) visits his hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot, hoping the return to his roots will help his writer’s block — only to find the small town overrun by a vampiric threat.
‘House of Spoils’
June 16, 2025, on Prime Video
Bridget Savage Cole, Danielle Krudy
Ariana DeBose, Barbie Ferreira, Arian Moayed, Marton Csokas, Amara Karan
Psychological Thriller, Horror
101 minutes
Opening a new restaurant is stressful enough without a haunting.House of Spoils' head chef (Ariana DeBose) has all the usual fine dining and business owner aggravations to deal with, plus the vengeful ghost of the building’s previous owner.
‘Hold Your Breath’
July 02, 2025 on Hulu
Karrie Crouse, Will Joines
Karrie Crouse
Sarah Paulson, Amiah Miller, Annaleigh Ashford, Alona Jane Robbins, Ebon Moss-Bachrach
Horror, Thriller, Psychological
94 minutes
During the middle of adangerous Oklahoma dust storm, a 1930 single mother (Sarah Paulson) defends her children from the menacing entity that’s stalking their home.
‘Joker: Folie à Deux’
July 22, 2025 in theaters
Todd Phillips
Scott Silver, Todd Phillips
Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Zazie Beetz, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Harry Lawtey, Steve Coogan
Thriller, Musical, Comic Book
138 minutes
When Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) meets hisequally deadly matchin Harleen Quinzel (Lady Gaga), a fellow patient at Arkham Asylum, Gotham City might not survive their tumultuous romance.
‘White Bird’
Marc Forster
Mark Bomback
Ariella Glaser, Orlando Schwerdt, Bryce Gheisar, Gillian Anderson, Helen Mirren
Period Drama, Coming-of-Age
120 minutes
A sequel and prequel to 2017’sWonder,White Birdexplores former Beecher Prep bully Julian’s (Bryce Gheisar) uncertain future. Simultaneously, Julian learns about his Jewish grandmother Sara’s (Ariella Glaser) past growing up in Nazi-occupied France.
‘It’s What’s Inside’
August 12, 2025 on Netflix
Greg Jardin
Brittany O’Grady, James Morosini, Gavin Leatherwood, Nina Bloomgarden, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Reina Hardesty, Devon Terrell, David W. Thompson, Madison Davenport
Horror, Comedy
103 minutes
Eight friendsdiscover more chaos and betrayal than they bargained for after participating in an experimental new game that psychically “uploads” and shares their minds.
‘Monster Summer’
David Henrie
Cornelius Uliano, Bryan Schulz
Mason Thames, Mel Gibson, Lorraine Bracco, Nora Zehetner, Kevin James, Abby James Witherspoon, Julian Lerner, Noah Cottrell
Adventure, Horror
97 minutes
After a strange creature harms one of their friends, a group of young students on summer break have no choice except to fight the monster and protect their home.
‘Caddo Lake’
June 18, 2025 on Max
Celine Held, Logan George
Dylan O’Brien, Eliza Scanlen, Lauren Ambrose, Eric Lange, Sam Hennings, Diana Hopper
99 minutes
Secrets never stay buried. Set in the Texas-Louisiana lake area of the same name and following the residents as they search for a vanished young girl,M. Night Shyamalanproducesthe twistyCaddo Lake.
‘Saturday Night’
August 04, 2025 in theaters
Jason Reitman
Gil Kenan, Jason Reitman
Gabriel LaBelle, Rachel Sennott, Cory Michael Smith, Ella Hunt, Dylan O’Brien, Emily Fairn, Matt Wood, Lamorne Morris, Kim Matula, Finn Wolfhard, Nicholas Braun, Cooper Hoffman, Andrew Barth Feldman, Kaia Gerber, Tommy Dewey, Willem Dafoe, Matthew Rhys, J. K. Simmons
Comedy, Biographical
109 minutes
When it premiered in 1975,Saturday Night Livewas a risk. Now a late-night staple and celebrating its 50th anniversary next year,Saturday Nightfictionalizes thereal-life lead-up to the variety series' first broadcast.
‘Piece by Piece’
Morgan Neville
Pharrell Williams, Gwen Stefani, Kendrick Lamar, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Busta Rhymes, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg
Documentary, Animation
93 minutes
Piece by Piecedocuments Pharrell Williams' career from his early days in hip-hop groups, his time as a producer, to his success as a solo artist — but with a Lego-animated twist.
‘The Apprentice’
Ali Abbasi
Gabriel Sherman
Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong, Maria Bakalova, Martin Donovan, Ben Sullivan, Charlie Carrick, Mark Rendall, Joe Pingue
Period Drama, Biographical
The Apprenticedramatizes Donald Trump’s (Sebastian Stan) early years in New York City’s real estate industry as well as his relationship with former lawyer and “fixer,” Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong).
‘Brothers’
June 27, 2025 on Prime Video
Max Barbakow
Macon Blair
Josh Brolin, Peter Dinklage, Glenn Close, Marisa Tomei, Brendan Fraser
Action, Comedy
Twin brothers and lifelong criminals (Josh BrolinandPeter Dinklage) fix their estrangement long enough to team up for one last heist — an already awkward road trip that their mother (Glenn Close) has no trouble accidentally crashing.
‘Lonely Planet’
June 26, 2025 on Netflix
Susannah Grant
Laura Dern, Liam Hemsworth, Diana Silvers, Younès Boucif, Adriano Giannini, Rachida Brakni
Love is in the air for Katherine Loewe (Laura Dern), an introverted author struggling with her next book, and Owen Brophy (Liam Hemsworth), a mild-mannered everyman. Their age difference makes them an unlikely couple, but a chance meeting at an exclusive writer’s retreat changes their lives forever.
‘The Silent Hour’
June 10, 2025 on VOD
Brad Anderson
Joel Kinnaman, Sandra Mae Frank, Mekhi Phifer, Mark Strong
Crime Thriller
An injury sustained during the line of duty permanently affects Detective Frank Shaw’s (Joel Kinnaman) hearing. As he adjusts to his new reality,he intervenes to protectAva’s (Sandra Mae Frank) life, a woman who witnessed a crime and who is deaf.
‘Terrifier 3’
Damien Leone
David Howard Thornton, Lauren LaVera, Elliott Fullam, Samantha Scaffidi, Chris Jericho, Daniel Roebuck, Tom Savini, Jason Patric, Antonella Rose, Margaret Anne Florence, Bryce Johnson, Krsy Fox, Alexa Blair Robertson, Mason Mecartea, Stephen Cofield Jr., Clint Howard, Annie Lederman, Jon Abrahams
125 minutes
For histhird reign of terror, Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) has his sights set on Sienna (Lauren LaVera), the woman who triumphed over him inTerrifier 2. And this time, Art isn’t alone;he has a partnerin Victoria (Samantha Scaffidi), the Final Girl from the originalTerrifier.
August 14, 2025 in theaters
Parker Finn
Naomi Scott, Rosemarie DeWitt, Kyle Gallner, Lukas Gage, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Peter Jacobson, Raúl Castillo, Dylan Gelula, Ray Nicholson, Drew Barrymore
Horror, Psychological, Supernatural
127 minutes
In this sequel to the originalSmile, pop singer Skye (Naomi Scott) finds herself pursued by the Smile entity and racing against time to break the seemingly inescapable curse.
Sean Baker
Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelshteyn, Yura Borisov, Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan
Drama, Comedy
139 minutes
The budding romance between American exotic dancer Anora (Mikey Madison) and Russian-born Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn) becomes an impulsive elopement to help the latter escape his father’s clutches.
‘Goodrich’
Hallie Meyers-Shyer
Michael Keaton, Mila Kunis, Andie MacDowell, Carmen Ejogo, Kevin Pollak, Michael Urie, Laura Benanti, Danny Deferrari, Jackie Sandler, Poorna Jagannathan, Vivien Lyra Blair
Comedy, Drama
After his wife unexpectedly starts a 90-day rehabilitation program, art gallery owner Andy Goodrich (Michael Keaton) must become a truly committed father to his nine-year-old twins as well as to Grace (Mila Kunis), his estranged daughter from his first marriage.
‘Woman of the Hour’
July 18, 2025, on Netflix
Anna Kendrick
Ian McDonald
Anna Kendrick, Daniel Zovatto, Nicolette Robinson, Tony Hale, Kathryn Gallagher, Kelley Jakle, Autumn Best, Jessie Fraser, Taylor Hastings, Jedidiah Goodacre, Darcy Laurie
Woman of the Yearfictionalizes the 1970strue crime case of Rodney Alcala(Daniel Zovatto), an active serial killer who competed as a contestant onThe Dating Gameseries. In addition to directing, Anna Kendrick co-stars as Cheryl Bradshaw, the woman with whom Alcala won a date.
‘The Line’
Ethan Berger
Ethan Berger, Alex Russek
Alex Wolff, Lewis Pullman, Halle Bailey, Austin Abrams, Angus Cloud, Bo Mitchell, Denise Richards, Cheri Oteri, Scoot McNairy, John Malkovich
100 minutes
Tom (Alex Wolff) successfully joins his college’s elite, high-society fraternity. But enduring the group’s increasingly cruel hazing tactics, prompted by Tom’s growing romance with fellow student Annabelle (Halle Bailey), forces the young man to decide what matters more: social clout or human decency.
‘Canary Black’
August 18, 2025 on Prime Video
Pierre Morel
Matthew Kennedy
Kate Beckinsale, Rupert Friend, Ray Stevenson, Saffron Burrows, Ben Miles, Goran Kostić, Michael Brandon, Charles Nishikawa
Action, Thriller
In order to save her innocent civilian husband from an unknown threat, Avery (Kate Beckinsale), the CIA’s top agent, disobeys the organization to which she’s devoted her life.
‘Venom: The Last Dance’
July 14, 2025 in theaters
Kelly Marcel
Tom Hardy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans, Peggy Lu, Alanna Ubach, Stephen Graham
Superhero, Action
After being simultaneouslytargeted by humanity and Venom’s alien species, the Klyntar, antiheroes Eddie Brock and Venom (Tom Hardy) find themselves on the run and without allies — except each other, of course.
‘Conclave’
Edward Berger
Peter Straughan
Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Sergio Castellitto, Isabella Rossellini, Lucian Msamati, Carlos Diehz, Brían F. O’Byrne, Merab Ninidze, Thomas Loibl, Jacek Koman, Loris Loddi
Psychological Thriller
The Pope’s shocking death leaves Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) racing to find a replacement. However, choosing one of the most powerful men in the world isbeset with secrets and disturbing sins.
‘Your Monster’
Caroline Lindy
Melissa Barrera, Tommy Dewey, Edmund Donovan, Kayla Foster, Meghann Fahy
Romantic Comedy, Horror, Supernatural
98 minutes
An awful break-up propels Laura Franco (Melissa Barrera) into the arms of her true soulmate: the grumpy but surprisingly romantic Monster (Tommy Dewey) living in her childhood closet.
‘Time Cut’
June 15, 2025 on Netflix
Hannah MacPherson
Michael Kennedy, Hannah MacPherson
Madison Bailey, Antonia Gentry, Michael Shanks, Griffin Gluck, Rachael Crawford, Jordan Pettle, Megan Best, Samuel Braun, Sydney Sabiston, Kataem O’Connor
Horror, Science Fiction
When a time travel device transports Lucy (Madison Bailey) back to 2003, she faces a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Can she prevent her sister’s murder at the hands of a slasher killer, even if doing so risks changing the future in ways Lucy can’t imagine?
