For some people, horror cinema is defined by scrappy outsiders who make films on shoestring budgets, but that's not really what it's all about — and it never has been. Since the beginning, horror has been an extremely popular (and profitable) film genre, and one successful horror movie usually begets multiple follow-ups.
As the characters in "Scream 2" note in the film's meta-commentary, sequels are a controversial topic among movie fans, and they're not always well-received from a critical standpoint. However, even if fans are skeptical, they'll probably still show up to the theater to see the newest entry in their favorite series. And while horror sequels often receive the ire of fans and critics — think "Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2" or the completely unnecessary "I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer" — there are also sequels that equal or improved upon the original, like "Aliens" or "Evil Dead II."
Whether you're a skeptic or a believer, horror sequels aren't going anywhere. So, if you're looking for the next object of your affection — or your outrage — you've come to the right place. These horror movie sequels will be on your screens sooner than you might think.
Insidious: The Red Door
James Wan and Leigh Whannell are two of the most successful filmmakers working in horror, and it doesn't look like their reign will end any time soon. This summer we're getting the fifth installment in the "Insidious" franchise, a series the duo created back in 2010. The first two films follow the cursed Lambert family, headed by Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne's characters. The third and fourth movies are prequels that take place several years before the Lambert haunting.
"Insidious: The Red Door" continues the story of the first two installments, and sees the Lambert family facing yet another demonic presence. It takes place 10 years after the events of the second film, in which the Lamberts appear to defeat the evil forces that plague them. However, their respite does not last. As the Lamberts' son, Dalton (Ty Simpkins), heads off to his first year of college, the family is forced to face whatever lies behind that red door. The movie was produced by Whannell and Wan and marks Wilson's directorial debut. It finished shooting in August of 2022 and is set to be released on July 7, 2023, so you don't have to wait long to dig your teeth into this one.
The Meg 2: The Trench
In Hollywood films, the monsters just keep getting bigger and badder. Case in point: the 2018 film "The Meg," in which Jason Statham fights off a shark. But the "Meg," as she's lovingly referred to, is not just any shark. She's a megalodon — an enormous, prehistoric shark capable of destroying ocean liners. The first project earned more than $530 million at the worldwide box office, so it's no surprise Warner Bros. decided to make a sequel.
In "The Meg 2: The Trench," Jonas Taylor (Statham) and his team are back hunting for giant sharks, despite that, as is noted in the film's trailer, that didn't go so well the first time. Giving us a taste of the monster's ancient origins, the trailer begins with a megalodon jumping out of the water to swallow a Tyrannosaurus rex. It looks like we might also get to see some of the other ancient creatures featured in Steve Alten's original novels, like the Kronosaurus, a terrifying marine reptile. And maybe even something with enormous tentacles?
In addition to Statham, the film's human cast includes megastar Wu Jing, who is "the highest-grossing male actor of all time in China," according to Variety. Li Bingbing will not reprise her role in the sequel, but Cai Shuya, who plays Li's character's daughter, will. Sergio Peris-Mencheta ("Resident Evil: Afterlife"), Sienna Guillory ("Resident Evil: Apocalypse"), and Skyler Samuels ("Scream Queens") will also appear. Ben Wheatley directed the film, which began production in January 2022. As such, you won't have to wait long to see the biggest sharks known to man on your screens: The blockbuster will premiere on August 4, 2023.
The Nun 2
The horror franchises created by James Wan have spawned dozens of movies, making him one of the most influential horror filmmakers of our time. It can be hard to keep track of all the films he's had his hand in, so we'll break it down for you: In addition to co-creating "Saw" and "Insidious," he's also responsible for "The Conjuring." That franchise has been extremely successful, spawning eight movies so far, including two spin-off series. The first spin-off is "Anabelle," which premiered in 2014. The second is "The Nun," which premiered in 2018.
Though it was critically panned, "The Nun" is actually the highest-grossing film in the "Conjuring" universe, making an impressive $365 million at the box office, so a sequel is to be expected. The first movie is set in 1952 in Romania and follows a nun named Sister Irene (played by Taissa Farmiga, the sister of "Conjuring" star Vera Farmiga) as she fights off a demonic figure known as Valak. In "The Nun 2," Farmiga will reprise her role in the sequel, which details her second encounter with Valak after a priest is murdered.
Rounding out the cast are Storm Reid, Anna Popplewell, and Katelyn Rose Downey. The film was written by Akela Cooper, a rising star who wrote "Malignant" and "M3GAN" — two more films that Wan produced — and directed by Michael Chaves, the filmmaker behind both "The Curse of La Llorona" and "The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It." The sequel hits theaters on September 8, 2023.
The Exorcist: Believer
"The Exorcist" is one of the most iconic horror films of all time, but it has a complicated history with sequels. The first film received a follow-up, "The Exorcist II: The Heretic," which "Exorcist" director William Friedkin called the "worst piece of sh** I've ever seen" on the Movies That Made Me podcast. For some reason, producers saw fit to make another sequel, "The Exorcist III," which was slightly better received and has been reappraised in recent years. There were also two poorly-received prequels released in 2004 and 2005, which brings us to today.
"The Exorcist: Believer" is not a new entry in the established continuity, per se, but rather a legacy reboot, much like the recent "Halloween" films. It'll arrive in theaters on October 13. Leslie Odom Jr. leads alongside Ellen Burstyn, who reprises her role from the original film. Upping the stakes considerably, the film follows not one but two girls who are possessed by demonic forces. Lidya Jewett and Olivia Marcum play school friends who go missing in the woods and return several days later, behaving strangely. Ann Dowd shows up as a concerned nurse, while Jennifer Nettles, Okwui Okpokwasili, and Raphael Sbarge also appear.
According to Variety, the trailer for the movie, which is not yet available to the public, terrified viewers who saw it. Universal is certainly banking on audiences flocking to the theaters to see the film, as they dropped an astounding $400 million on what'll end up being a trilogy.
Saw X
If you haven't been paying attention, you might be surprised to learn that the upcoming "Saw" film will be the 10th, making the series one of the longest-running horror franchises of all time. "Saw X" comes out on October 27, 2023, just in time for Halloween. However, we don't know much about it other than the players involved. The movie is directed by Kevin Greutert, who helmed "Saw VI" and "Saw: The Final Chapter" and was an editor on several other "Saw" films. Shawnee Smith and Tobin Bell return for the 10th chapter, with Renata Vaca, Paulette Hernandez, Joshua Okamoto, Octavio Hinojosa, Synnøve Macody Lund, Steven Brand, and Michael Beach joining them.
Producers haven't shared anything about the plot of the movie, preferring to keep fans in the dark. Per a statement from Lionsgate, "The return of Tobin Bell to the franchise furthers Lionsgate and Twisted Pictures' goal of a film that captures everything 'Saw' fans love about the franchise, while also keeping them guessing with all-new traps and a new mystery to solve." We'll just have to wait until October to see which of our greatest nightmares will be realized.
V/H/S/85
Film producer and Bloody Disgusting founder Ben Miska came up with a brilliant idea when he created the "V/H/S" franchise. Each film in the series is composed of several found-footage horror shorts directed by different filmmakers, often mixing up-and-coming talents with more established directors. So far, there have been five movies in the series as well as two spin-offs; Shudder revealed in 2022 that "V/H/S/94" was its biggest streaming premiere up to that point.
Naturally, a sixth film is on its way. While the previous film in the series was "V/H/S/99," it makes sense that "V/H/S/85" will take the series back in time rather than forwards considering the technology at hand. The new film will feature segments from Scott Derrickson ("Sinister" and "The Black Phone"), David Bruckner ("Hellraiser" and "The Night House"), Gigi Saul Guerrero ("Bingo Hell"), Natasha Kermani ("Lucky"), and Mike P. Nelson ("Wrong Turn"). We don't have a specific air date yet, but Shudder says that the movie will be released sometime in 2023. Derrickson completed his segment in October of 2022, so there's a good chance we'll get to see the film this Halloween season.
The First Omen
These days, prequels seem to be almost as popular as sequels. In May 2022, 20th Century Studios announced the production of "The First Omen," a prequel to the 1976 movie "The Omen." The film marks the feature debut of Arkasha Stevenson, a director best known for her work on "Channel Zero," "Legion," and "Briarpatch." Stevenson wrote the script alongside Tim Smith, who also serves as executive producer.
The original film was popular at the time of its release and spawned two sequels, which were released in 1978 and 1981. There was also a reboot in 2006 starring Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles, and David Thewlis. The 1976 movie, in which Gregory Peck played the lead role, is about an ambassador who suspects that his five-year-old son is the embodiment of the Antichrist. Plot details for the prequel have been kept under wraps, and no release date has been issued.
The only cast member we know about is Nell Tiger Free, who recently starred in the M. Night Shyamalan series "Servant." In January of 2023, Free told The Hollywood Reporter that filming had concluded and that she hopes "The First Omen" will come out sometime this year.
MaXXXine
Though Ti West's first feature film came out in 2005, it wasn't until 2022 that he really made his presence known outside of the horror world. That year, West released two movies, "X" and "Pearl," that take place in the same universe. "X," which was released first, stars Mia Goth as an aspiring adult film star in the late '70s who travels with her boyfriend and a group of fellow actors to a farmstead in rural Texas to make a porn film. While there, they encounter a menacing old woman named Pearl, who Goth also plays. Goth portrayed the character again in "Pearl," which is set in 1918 and tells the old woman's origin story.
Fans are now looking forward to the final film in the "X" trilogy, "MaXXXine." The movie is set several years after the events of "X," with Goth's character, Maxine, living in Los Angeles. It's 1985, and she's looking to make it big in Hollywood. Maxine is the only survivor of the murders that took the lives of her friends, so Goth is joined by a new cast: Halsey, Elizabeth Debicki, Moses Sumney, Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale, Lily Collins, Giancarlo Esposito, and Kevin Bacon.
A24 released a production still from the film that shows Goth and Halsey walking down the street in Los Angeles, looking totally glamorous. An accompanying Twitter caption reads "The life she deserves." The film began shooting in April, and should be released sometime in 2024.
M3GAN 2.0
Thanks to a hilariously strange marketing campaign and a trailer that went viral, "M3GAN" became an unlikely smash hit earlier this year, raking in $176 million on a bargain $12 million budget. "M3GAN" became something of an icon among horror and non-horror fans alike, capturing the attention of internet memers everywhere.
Voracious fans will be delighted to hear that this isn't the last time we will hear from everyone's favorite killer doll. Jason Blum, whose company produced the film alongside James Wan's Atomic Monster, has announced plans for a sequel. The second movie will be written by Akela Cooper, who penned the original, and will see the return of Allison Williams and Violet McGraw, who miraculously survived the events of the first film.
Jason Blum told Empire that, while plans are underway, they don't want to hurry things. The creative process suffers when you [rush]," he explained. "You pretend you're not making compromises, but you always do. So I wanted to give us enough time to make the movie great, and we have that now." That being said, a release date has already been set for January 17, 2025. That'll give the "M3GAN 2.0" marketing team plenty of time to come up with an even wilder video for the internet to latch on to.
A Quiet Place Part III
"A Quiet Place" was a veritable smash when it arrived in 2018, making a killing at the worldwide box office with a $341 million gross. "A Quiet Place Part II" was nearly as successful, taking in just under $300 million. The two films are set in a world where the planet has been invaded by aliens who hunt their prey using sound. The series follows the Abbot family, played by John Krasinski (who also directed the films), his real-life wife, Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, and Noah Jupe.
Following the success of the first two films, Krasinski announced plans for a third entry in the series. The project is very much still in the works, with a proposed release date sometime in 2025. No plot details have been revealed yet, but when asked about the possibility of a third movie, Emily Blunt told Collider that Krasinski has "a whole arc of ideas that could work."
In the meantime, fans will get another chance to visit the world of "A Quiet Place" with the spin-off film "A Quiet Place: Day One," slated for release on March 8, 2024. That movie is directed by Michael Sarnoski and stars Lupita Nyong'o, Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff, Djimon Hounsou, and Denis O'Hare. Krasinski shared the film's main hook at CinemaCon, saying that "Day One" will follow Nyong'o's character at the onset of the invasion as she travels through "the loudest city in the world, New York."
The Conjuring: Last Rites
Ed and Lorraine Warren were some of the busiest ghost hunters of all time, and their real-life history offers up plenty of stories that the "Conjuring" series can mine. In October 2022, Deadline announced that the fourth main film in the "Conjuring" series was underway. Screenwriter David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, who wrote the previous two movies in the series, will pen the script for this latest installment. "Conjuring" creator James Wan returns as a producer, with series stars Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprising their roles.
No director has been announced yet, but Wan spoke with Collider and reassured fans they are treating the project with care. "With the 'Conjuring' films, we are very precious about [them]," he said. "And so we kind of want to just take our time to make sure we get it right and to make sure the emotion of the Warren stories that we want to tell, and moving into, and potentially wrapping up, we just want to make sure that it's the right thing, the right story that we're telling."
Wan's comments make it sound like "The Conjuring: Last Rites" could be the last film in the mainline "Conjuring" series (though perhaps not in the "Conjuring" universe), and it might be a while before we hear more. Five years passed between the release of the second and third "Conjuring" movies; here's hoping it doesn't take quite that long again. In the meantime, as mentioned, "The Conjuring" spin-off "The Nun 2" will be in theaters this September.
Alien
It feels like just yesterday that the "Alien" series made its return to the big screen, but the Hollywood production train never stops. According to 20th Century Studios (by way of Variety), the movie will follow "a group of young people on a distant world, who find themselves in a confrontation with the most terrifying life form in the universe." That description tells us next to nothing, considering that's the plot of almost every "Alien" movie thus far.
The film is led by Cailee Spaeny ("Mare of Easttown"), who stars alongside David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu. Filming began earlier this year in Budapest, with Fede Alverez — who previously directed "The Girl in the Spider's Web," "Don't Breathe" and 2013's "Evil Dead" — writing, directing, and producing. The most recent installment in the franchise, 2017's "Alien: Covenant," was directed by series creator Ridley Scott, who returns as an executive producer for this film (there's an unrelated TV show by "Fargo" and "Legion" creator Noah Hawley on the way, too). No word yet on when the movie will be released, but unless there are major problems, we can probably expect to see it in the next couple of years.
I Am Legend 2
Thanks to shows like "The Last of Us," zombies and zombie-adjacent creatures are still a popular topic, so it makes sense that a studio would want a sequel to Will Smith's box-office smash "I Am Legend." Warner Bros.' follow-up will bring back Smith, and will also star Michael B. Jordan. It's written by Akiva Goldsman, who penned the 2007 adaptation of the original Richard Matheson novel, too.
This sequel will mark a pretty big departure from the original. In fact, the second "I Am Legend" film will completely ignore the first movie's conclusion, instead following up on the scrapped alternate ending. The final cut of the movie wrapped up with Will Smith's character, Dr. Neville, sacrificing himself and killing the remaining creatures — known as "Darkseekers" — in order to safeguard the cure. But in the original ending, Neville realizes that his experiments on the Darkseekers were inhumane, and opts not to use the cure on them. This ending, which is much more faithful to Matheson's book, was cut after test audiences reacted poorly.
In writing the sequel, Goldsman said that he is inspired by shows like "The Last of Us," which shows what happens when mother nature reclaims the world from humanity following an apocalyptic plague. No word on when the film will be released yet, but the premise certainly piques our interest.
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The post Horror Sequels Fans Will Get to See Sooner Than They Realize appeared first on /Film.