The Biggest Horror Movies To Watch In 2021

After several extremely successful years, the popularity of the horror genre was expected to continue in 2020 with a wealth of high profile releases. Huge horror franchises such as Halloween, The Conjuring, Saw, and The Purge were set to get their latest entries, high-profile directors like James Wan, Zack Snyder, and Edgar Wright had new original movies on the way, and a handful of intriguing indie movies showed that the genre was in great shape. But as we all know, the year didn't pan out as planned, and the majority of 2020's highest profile horror movies were pushed to 2021.

That means there is a lot of exciting new scary cinema on the way this year. All of those big franchise movies will finally arrive, along with the sequel to Don't Breathe, the reboot of Candyman, and a sequel to 2018's hugely successful A Quiet Place.

However, 2021's horror line-up doesn't only include movies that were delayed from the year before. Purge and Halloween producers Blumhouse have several new films in the way, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre will get yet another sequel, Netflix will release a trilogy of movies based on the Fear Street series of books, and James Wan will reveal the mysterious Malignant. So with 2021 here, here's our guide to the most anticipated horror movies to be released over the next four months.

Release date: October 6

The latest part of the popular found footage anthology horror series hits Shudder this Fall. Directors this time include Simon Barrett (The Guest, You're Next), Timo Tjahjanto (May the Devil Take You), Jennifer Reeder (Knives & Skin), Ryan Prows (Lowlife), and Chloe Okuno (Slut), with the wraparound story focusing on a SWAT team which discovers a series of videotapes being stored by a sinister cult. The first V/H/S/94 clip was released during ComicCon@Home, and it definitely has the creepy and oppressive hand-held atmosphere that made the previous films so effective.

Release date: October 6

Director Patrick Brice has shown himself to be skilled at blending genres with his superb horror-comedies Creep and Creep 2, and his next movie is the horror-thriller There's Someone Inside Your House, which hits Netflix in October. It's based on Stephanie Perkins' 2017 novel of the same title and focuses on a teenage girl with a dark past who joins a new school in rural Nebraska. Soon after her arrival, students start dying in a variety of gruesome ways. The novel was acclaimed as an enjoyable throwback to slasher movies, so it'll be fascinating to see what Brice brings to the genre.

Release date: October 8

This creepy-looking Scandinavian folk horror stars Noomi Rapace (Prometheus) as a woman who is running a farm in a remote part of Iceland with her husband. One of their sheep gives birth to a lamb which seems to have some weird human characteristics. The movie's trailer doesn't really reveal what happens after that, but it certainly looks like it goes into some extremely dark places.

Release date: October 15

This highly acclaimed Thai/Korean chiller is a collaboration between director Banjong Pisanthanakun, who made the super-scary 2004 movie Shutter, and writer/producer Na Hong-jin, the man behind the 2016 possession hit The Wailing. It follows a documentary team who are recording the day-to-day life of a local medium who is possessed by the spirit of an ancient God. The Medium is one of the most successful movies released in South Korea so far this year and will be a must-watch when it hits Shudder this month.

October 16

The original Slumber Party Massacre is one of the high points of the early '80s slasher craze--a knowing film with a distinct feminist angle from a female writer and director (Rita Mae Brown and Amy Holden Jones respectively). Director Danishka Esterhazy's remake hits SyFy this month, and with any luck will deliver the same mix of gory horror and smart, scary storytelling.

Release date: October 15

The huge success of 2018's Halloween reboot/sequel proved there's still life in the long-running slasher series. Director David Gordon Green has shot the next two movies back-to-back, and the first will be with us next October. Original star Jamie Lee Curtis is back to fight her masked nemesis Michael Myers on the streets of Haddonfield once more, and series co-creator John Carpenter will provide another iconic score. The third movie, the almost-certainly inaccurately titled Halloween Ends, is due in 2022.

Release date: October 22

The zombie comedy classic Shaun of the Dead proved that director Edgar Wright is a huge horror fan, and with Last Night in Soho, he'll get the chance to show he can make scary as well as funny. It's a '60s-set London-based psychological horror film that reportedly takes influence from British classics such as Don't Look Now and Peeping Tom.The movie stars Thomasin McKenzie (Jojo Rabbit), Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch, The Queen's Gambit), and Matt Smith (Doctor Who) alongside veteran British stars Diana Rigg and Terence Stamp.

October 28

Horror Noire is Shudder's follow-up to its superb Black horror documentary of the same title and is an anthology movie set to showcase six new stories from Black writers and directors. It includes episodes from writers Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes, graphic novelist Ezra C. Daniels, and novelist Victor LaValle, and while the stylish teaser trailer doesn't reveal any footage from the movie, it's one of Halloween season's most intriguing new releases

Release date: October 29

Guillermo Del Toro's next directorial effort, Nightmare Alley, isn't expected until 2022. As a producer, though, his name continues to be attached to a variety of films. Following Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, we have Antlers. It's a spooky tale of a young boy and something scary that lives in the woods that's been picking off the locals. Antlers stars Keri Russell (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) and Jesse Plemons (El Camino: A Breaking Bad Story), and is directed by Scott Cooper.

Release date: November 24

The Resident Evil film franchise is being rebooted this year, with 47 Meters Down director Johannes Roberts taking over helming duties. Welcome to Raccoon City will reportedly stick much closer to the video games than Paul W.S. Anderson's film series, and will focus on a group of survivors who must face the evil that lurks beneath the surface of the titular town. The cast includes Kaya Scodelario (Crawl), Hannah John-Kamen (Ant-Man and the Wasp), Robbie Amell (Upload), Tom Hopper (Black Sails), Avan Jogia (Zombieland: Double Tap), and Neal McDonough (The 100). There's a lot more Resident Evil action on the way after this too, with Netflix making both an animated and a live-action series.

Release date: TBD

The 1974 classic Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the most influential horror movies of all time and has been followed by numerous sequels, prequels, and remakes over the years. The ninth film in the series is due for release in 2021. While the last film, 2017's Leatherface, was a prequel to the original Texas Chainsaw, this next entry will reportedly be a direct sequel, set four decades later, that ignores all the films in between. The film is produced by Fede Álvarez (Don't Breathe) and directed by David Blue Garcia.