Top 15 Horror Movies to See in 2020!

2020 already? How? Where? When? Why? What in the ever-loving f*ck?

Well, as we lift from the fog of the past decade, we look ahead to the future with eager anticipation. With the flip of the calendar comes the promise of 12 months of new movie releases, giving us the opportunity to highlight the most exciting horror flicks to come out from now until December. We normally drop a Top 10 horror spot for such, but since there are so many upcoming genre titles to look forward to in 2020, we’re adding a bonus this time around. From top-tier horror sequels to new original voices, here are our Top 15 Most Anticipated Horror Movies of 2020!

#15. ANTEBELLUM (APRIL 24TH)

Following a bunch of music-related short films (KILL JAY-Z), directors Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz look to make noise of a different kind with ANTEBELLUM, a frightful-looking tale of terror set in the deep American south. From the producers of US and GET OUT, the flick finds a successful author named Veronica (Janelle Monae) whose life becomes nightmarishly upended when she becomes trapped in a rural southern town. Jena Malone, Jack Huston, Kiersey Clemons, Gabourey Sidibe and Eric Lange also star in the flick. We’re always a bit cautious when it comes to first-time filmmakers, but given the cast and producorial track record, ANTEBELLUM might be the sleeper horror hit of 2020!

#14. THE INVISIBLE MAN (FEBRUARY 28TH)

It’s f*cking fantastic to see the dude I once puffed a doob with at the wrap party for INSIDIOUS evolve from a skillful scribe to a deft director now in charge of a major monster movie for Universal! Indeed, Leigh Whannell is hot off his 2018 UPGRADE, now set to breathe new life in the classic H.G. Wells’ monster THE INVISIBLE MAN this February. We‘re proud of you, Leigh (he has no f*cking clue who I am). Starring Elizabeth Moss and Aldis Hodge, the revamp focuses more on the title character’s bereaved wife haunted by the pellucid visage of his Earthly return.

#13. ARMY OF THE DEAD (TBD)

Zombies in Vegas? Sin City flesh-eaters? Why the hell hasn’t this happened before? Well, leave it up to Zack Snyder, the guy who breathed new life and decrepit death into THE DAWN OF THE DEAD redo in 2004. An obvious fan-boy of the genre, Snyder returns with ARMY OF THE DEAD, which revolves around a passel of mercenaries who decides to risk their lives by wading through an undead sea of blood-parched ghouls in Las Vegas in order to rob a casino. The $70 million Netflix property has yet to lock a release date, but will certainly star Chris D’Elia, Dave Bautista, Ana De La Reguera, Garret Dillahunt, Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick and Hiroyuki Sanada.

#12. CANDYMAN (JUNE 12TH)

Since Jordan Peele has positioned himself to be hailed as the newest master of horror, it only seems right we look ahead with great expectations for what he has in store for the newfangled CANDYMAN, due in theaters this summer. With impressive LITTLE WOODS director Nia DaCosta helming from a script co-written by Peele, CANDYMAN is billed as a “spiritual sequel” to the 1992 Bernard Rose/Clive Barker original. Tony Todd returns to the franchise, although he’ll play a character known as Stix, with Yaya Abdul-Mateen set to don the Candyman hook and costume this time around. Set in gentrified Chicago, the story will no doubt poke at the salient economic and criminal scourge currently flooding Chicago.

#11. SAINT MAUD (MARCH 27TH)

When A24 puts its distributive faith in a prestige horror flick, we best take note! We learned the lesson with THE WITCH, HEREDITARY and THE LIGHTHOUSE, and now must take note of SAINT MAUD, the newest elevated horror joint from the premiere distro-house. Written and directed by Rose Glass in her feature debut, the English/Welsh production tracks a highly pious nurse who goes to obsessive lengths to save the soul of a dying patient. Religious fanaticism is at the fore of the flick that stars Morfyyd Clark as Maud, with Jennifer Ehle, Lily Knight, Lily Frazer, Turlough Convery and Marcus Hutton rounding out the support. The film already won the IWC Schaffhausen Filmmaker Bursary Award, which was presented to Glass by Danny Boyle.

#10. MALIGNANT (AUGUST 14TH)

After selling out for the big bucks a mega-DC-comic-book can afford, James Wan will leave AQUAMAN behind for the time being in order to return to his deep horror roots. Even more enthralling, Wan will direct a wholly original property called MALIGNANT, a purported Giallo flick he co-wrote with actress Ingrid Bisu (THE NUN). The particulars are shrouded behind a cloak of secrecy, which is par for the course for a new Wan joint, but we do know the movie will star Bisu, Annabelle Wallis, Maddie Hasson, George Young, Jake Abel, and Michole Briana White. In addition, Wan also completed the direction of INSIDIOUS 5: THE DARK REALM, which is due May 5th, 2020!

#9. THE CONJURING 3 (SEPTEMBER 11TH)

While we do have some brow-furrowed reservations about handing the third entry of THE CONJURING over to director Michael Chaves, aka CURSED BY LA LLORONA, the return of Pat Wilson and Vera Farmiga as Ed and Lorraine Warren is too good to miss THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT this coming autumn. Besides, ORPHAN and CONJURING 2 scribe David Leslie Johnson is back as well, which ought to afford a consistent through-line four years after the last chapter. Plot details are as sub-rosa as you might imagine for a James Wan joint, but we should expect a hard-R horror outing that co-features Julian Hilliard, Charlene Amoia, Sarah Catherine Hook, Andrea Andrade and more.

#8. SYNCHRONIC (TBD)

Given the frightful enthrallment provided by the filmmaking duo of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorehead, the team behind RESOLUTION, SPRING and THE ENDLESS, their new star-studded sci-fi horror tale SYNCHRONIC cannot be missed in 2020. Following a killer bow at Fantastic Fest a few months back, the flick starring Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan finds the pair playing New Orleans medics who are thrown headlong into a bizarre universe when a designer drug begins altering reality as they know it. The genre-melding film promises unflinchingly graphic carnage as it flips the buddy-cop template on its ear.

#7. THE ORGAN DONOR (MAY 15TH)

Since the SAW franchise seemed to grind its teeth down to a dull blade after seven films, all the property needs to sharpen its shape is a rock. Chris Rock! Indeed, Rock’s deliberate and highly enthusiastic reboot of the moribund SAW universe – tentatively titled THE ORGAN DONOR – starring the equally agog Samuel L. Jackson (who has both publicly voiced his love of horror films and his desire to star in a legit fright-fest), is a surefire must-see come this spring. Franchise vet Darren Lynn Bousman (SAW 2-4) returns to his old stomping and chomping ground behind the camera, with Rock himself costarring alongside Jackson, Marisol Nichols, Max Minghella, Zoie Palmer and Nanzeen Contractor.

#6. ANTLERS (APRIL 17TH)

Anytime Billy the Bull (Gullermo del Toro) flexes his producorial might on new a horror project, we know it’s more than likely worth the wait. Enter ANTLERS, Scott Cooper’s stygian Oregonian horror assault due this April. Starring Keri Russell and Jesse Plemons, the film revolves around a small-town teacher (Russell) and her Sheriff sibling (Plemons), who become enraptured in a mortifying secret kept by one of her students. Based on Nick Antosca’s short story “The Quiet Boy,” the film also stars Graham Greene, Rory Cochran, Amy Madigan, Scott Haze and Jeremy T. Thomas. Del Toro produces with David S. Goyer.

#5. I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS (TBD)

For serious cinephiles, every single Charlie Kaufman movie becomes appointment viewing. For serious Arrow in the Headers, Kaufman’s highly-anticipated first horror flick I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS instantly ranks as a Top 5 must-see movie in 2020. Adapted from the Ian Reid novel, the film follows a woman whose life takes an unforeseen turn when forced to muster up the courage to break up with her boyfriend. Toni Collette (pictured in HEREDITARY above), perhaps the most underrated actor currently working, stars as the woman in question, with Jesse Plemons, David Thewlis, Jessie Buckley, and Colby Minifie costarring.

#4. GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTER LIFE (JULY 10TH)

While a legit argument can be made that the world needs no more GHOSTBUSTERS, now or ever, there’s undeniable intrigue in seeing what original director Ivan Reitman’s filmmaking son, Jason, has in store for this semi-secretive comedic horror sequel. Hell, even actors who auditioned for the flick didn’t know it was a GHOSBUSTERS flick at the time. Let’s hope the mystery is worth the hype, as is the decision to transport the busters out of the big city for the first time and put them into a rural setting. Paul Rudd headlines a new crop of proton-packers that will include OGs Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Waever, Ernie Hudson, and Annie Potts!

#3. LAST NIGHT IN SOHO (SEPTEMBER 25TH)

Based almost solely on the horror instant street-cred forged by his genre-bending and game-changing zom-com SHAUN OF THE DEAD back in 2004, we wholeheartedly defer to Edgar Wright’s return to the horror realm in 2020 with LAST NIGHT IN SOHO. Said to be inspired by 70s Roeg’s DON’T LOOK NOW and Polanski’s REPULSION, the time-twisting tale follows a young fashionista and wannabe chanteuse (Anya Taylor-Joy) who finds the ability to travel to 1960s London. Of course, appearances are deceptive, and soon the young lady is immersed head-over-heels in a nightmarish underworld of unspeakable proportions.

#2. HALLOWEEN KILLS (OCTOBER 20TH)

Here at AITH, we’ll always look forward with great alacrity the skulking return of Michael Myers come All Hallows Eve, but given the smashing success of David Gordon Greene’s earnest recalibration of the franchise – which not only paid honorary tribute as the best-of each Halloween chapter but also restored the terror of Myers himself – HALLOWEEN KILLS becomes an absolute must-see in the fall of 2020. With most of the principals in front of and behind the camera returning, plot details are as scant as they should be leading up to its highly anticipated release. One thing we do know for sure: Anthony Michael Hall joins the franchise as the infamous Tommy Doyle. F*ck. To. The. Yes!

#1. A QUIET PLACE 2 (MARCH 20TH)

Based on the unexpected critical and commercial success of A QUIET PLACE last spring, few films are as highly anticipated as the promissory return of A QUIET PLACE PART II. With original writers Scott Beck and Bryan Woods back on the keys along with director John Krasinski, not to mention reprising stars Emily Blunt, Noah Jupe and Millicent Simmonds, we should all expect another highly entertaining and genuinely enthralling horror thriller this March. We’re excited to see Cillian Murphy fill in for the absence of Krasinski as the de facto Abbott family patriarch. And judging by the trailer, like any worthy sequel, expect to see much more of the monsters this go-around!