These are the 8 scariest horror movies coming out in 2021

The pandemic has inevitably had a massive effect on the film industry. With cinemas across the world forced to close their doors—and some, such as the iconic ArcLight in Hollywood never to reopen—this has meant severe delays to a few of the most anticipated new movies (including Dune and No Time To Die, the latest James Bond).

In the world of horror, this means we’re about to be hit by a tidal wave of petrifying content. From iconic horror franchises (Halloween and Saw) to new offerings from some of the most beautifully twisted minds in the industry (Guillermo del Toro and Jordan Peele), 2021 promises to be a vintage year for all things scary.

Vogue turns off the lights, locks the doors and lines up the most terrifying horror films due for release this year.

1. Candyman (August)

Director Nia DaCosta was just two years old when the original iteration of this mirror-based mayhem was released in 1992. Now 31, she’s partnered up with Oscar-winning producer Jordan Peele, a modern master of horror, to give us this spiritual sequel, starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Aquaman, Watchmen). The follow-up expands on the themes of the original, taking us back to Cabrini-Green in Chicago where the original Candyman was murdered for being a black man in a relationship with a white woman. Pointing a lens at gentrification and race, Candyman is one of the most anticipated releases of the year.

2. Benedetta (July)

Controversial 82-year-old Dutch filmmaker Paul Verhoeven’s catalogue includes cult classics Basic Instinct (1992) and Showgirls (1995). The master of the “erotic thriller” most recently directed the critically acclaimed Elle (2016) starring Isabelle Huppert. A divisive figure, no other director can claim to have won a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture and Worst Director (Showgirls) and a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film (Elle), but those two awards, side by side, are a pretty good reflection of his body of work. The trailer for his latest, starring Virginie Efira and Charlotte Rampling, described as an “erotic lesbian nun horror” looks like peak Verhoeven. Sexy, exciting and a bit silly. And, like all of Verhoeven’s work, utterly original.

3. Spiral: From The Book Of Saw (May)

The infamous franchise returns to our screens having recruited two acting legends, Samuel L Jackson and Chris Rock to star in what is the ninth instalment. Directed by seasoned Saw regular Darren Lynn Bousman, Spiral takes the form of a detective thriller about a serial killer targeting cops, leaving spiral symbols as their calling card. Expect this to be true to form, which is to say exceptionally gory and utterly petrifying. If you fancy 90 minutes of adrenalin and nausea starring two of the best actors in the US, this is the one for you.

4. Don’t Breathe 2 (August)

Director Fede Álvarez returns for part two of a story that had audiences gripped from the first frame back in 2016. Part one, about a group of burglars who break into the house of a blind man, played by Stephen Lang, soon finds out he is anything but helpless. The follow-up sees our visually impaired killing machine living in a cabin in the woods where he’s been taken in by a young orphan girl (look, it’s not Shakespeare). When the girl is kidnapped, he must leave the house to try to save her. Produced by Sam ‘The Evil Dead’ Raimi, the godfather of the horror world declared the film, “the greatest idea for a sequel he’s ever heard”.

5. Last Night In Soho (October)

Edgar Wright, the man behind cult British TV comedy series Spaced, has helmed six films to date, including 2004’s zombie romp Shaun Of The Dead and high-speed thriller Baby Driver (2017). His work is fun and fast-paced, and obviously made by someone who revels in being a movie nerd. With his latest offering, Wright switches it up to deliver a time-hopping horror that jumps between the present day and 1960s London. Starring The Queen’s Gambit’s Anya Taylor-Joy and The Crown’s Matt Smith (who look razor-sharp in their retro styling), Last Night In Soho opens by going down a psychological wormhole then ramps up the intensity as the story progresses.

6. Nightmare Alley (December)

A psychological thriller based on the 1946 book of the same name by William Lindsay Gresham, Nightmare Alley is written and directed by Oscar-winner Guillermo del Toro (2017’s The Shape Of Water), with an all-star ensemble cast that includes Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette and Willem Dafoe. The story focuses on a manipulative carnival worker who teams up with an evil psychiatrist to wreak havoc. Safe to say this isn’t a rom-com. As with all of del Toro’s offerings, we can expect a haunting visual delight that will stay with us long after the credits have rolled.

7. Antlers (October)

Stepping out of the director’s chair and into the role of producer, Mr del Toro continues his busy year with this supernatural spookfest starring Keri Russell as school teacher Julia and Jesse Plemons as her sheriff brother in a small town in Oregon. They become concerned that a young boy might be keeping some kind of otherworldly creature inside his house and set out to investigate. Director Scott Cooper told a recent Comic-Con audience that Antlers “is really about what it means to be an individual in America today and all the problems that we’re facing. The climate crisis, a drug-addicted populace, our treatment of native Americans and abject poverty”.

8. A Quiet Place Part II (May)

COVID-19 delayed the highly anticipated release of the follow-up to one of the most successful horrors in recent history—but it’s finally here. This time around, the Abbott family, led by Emily Blunt, must venture into the outside world and face the monsters determined to destroy them. Peaky Blinders’ Cillian Murphy joins the cast in what promises to continue the original’s mix of complete and utter terror with moments of real tenderness. Blunt’s real-life husband John Krasinski is back as director.

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