
Following a fantastic year that gave us horror treasures like The Menu, Scream 5, Fresh, Bodies Bodies Bodies, X, and Terrifier 2, we have to be honest – 2023 has massive horrors to match.
Even the most ardent horror fans couldn’t have imagined what a fantastic year 2022 would have been for the genre, with at least one notable release almost every month.
The pace isn’t letting down though, as we’re kicking off a new slate with the arrival of M3GAN, the female frightening doll that would make Chucky shiver in his boots and has already become a viral sensation before entering theatres.
Because of M3GAN’s amusing TikTok dance movements and pure cruelty, which we saw in the teaser, social media has been buzzing with anticipation for the year’s first major horror film.
So far, the film has gotten a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on slightly over 40 reviews.
Are we starting the year on the right foot? We can only hope! Here are the horror films we’re most looking forward to watching in 2023…
M3GAN (January 13)
When you were a kid, did you ever want a lifelike, all-talking, all-dancing doll as a best friend? M3GAN, the next creeper from Blumhouse, will make you reconsider your dream, as she is shown to be a nightmare.
Gemma, a roboticist, creates the AI doll that becomes a friend for her eight-year-old niece, for whom she is suddenly responsible. She’ll soon regret gifting the girl an M3GAN prototype once she wrecks their life.
Chucky, you’ve met your match.
Scream 6 (March 10)
If you’re anything like us, you’re still reeling after the shocking events of Scream 5. (we miss you, Dewey).
Well, your mourning period will come to an end this spring, since Ghostface will return for Scream 6 in a completely new locale. After five instalments terrorising Woodsboro, the slicing serial killer has boarded a train to New York in search of the survivors from the previous sequel.
Tara (Jenna Ortega), Sam (Melissa Barrera), Chad (Mason Gooding), and Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) will be back, as will Scream 4 hero Kirby (Hayden Pannetiere), and Samara Weaving will join the group.
However, it has previously been confirmed that Sidney (Neve Campbell) will not be returning to the franchise due to a wage disagreement, although Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) is scheduled to appear.
It remains to be seen whether Scream 6 can live up to the legacy of the franchise.
Cocaine Bear (February 24)
We thought M3GAN would unquestionably be the wildest film of the year, but then Cocaine Bear said: hold my beer.
The horror film, directed by Elizabeth Banks, depicts a drug-addled grizzly bear who consumes an absurd amount of cocaine before going on a rampage.
It’s partially based on the 1985 incident of a Colombian drug runner who dumped more than 70 pounds of cocaine in the Chattahoochee National Forest. A bear stumbled onto the loot and gobbled the drugs, eventually dying from an apparent overdose, and was discovered ‘among 40 unsealed plastic vials with traces of cocaine,’ according to a New York Times story.
MaXXXine (TBC)
MaXXXine will conclude Ti West’s shockingly superb trilogy, which stars Mia Goth in the lead role.
West first startled us in March 2022 with X, a film that followed a young gang of adult entertainment stars as they filmed a porno before being kicked off by a reclusive elderly couple. The filmmaker then dropped Pearl with no notice in September, providing an origin narrative for the old woman played by Goth.
MaXXXine is set to return to the lone survivor from X, played once again by Goth, and her quest to make it as an actor in 1980s Los Angeles.
Shelby Oaks (TBC)
A horror film made specifically for the horror community.
Chris Stuckmann built his career critiquing other people’s movies on YouTube, but now he’s turning his hand to directing his first feature-length film, Shelby Oaks.
Off-screen, it already has a spectacular tale, with Chris garnering more than $1 million in finance, making him the first in the horror category.
Shelby Oaks will chronicle a woman’s desperate hunt for her long-lost sister before she realises the phantom demon from their childhood was real.
Knock at the Cabin (February 3)
Rupert Grint and Dave Bautista on the same screen? Please sign us up.
Knock at the Cabin follows a young girl and her parents as they are kidnapped by four armed men while on vacation at a lonely cabin in the woods. To stop the apocalypse, the hostage-takers demand that the family make an impossible choice, but the victims must determine what they believe before all is lost.
Insidious 5 (July 7)
We were led to assume that the Insidious series was done, but there is still more to come.
Patrick Wilson is scheduled to reprise his role as the patient Josh, who makes the long journey to drop off his son Dalton at university. Dalton’s collegiate dream, however, quickly turns into a living nightmare when the repressed horrors of his past return to stalk them both.
More importantly, Lin Shaye, the horror legend, will make an appearance.
Evil Dead Rise (April 21)
Prepare for the fifth instalment of the popular franchise!
When an old book gives birth to vicious demons that run amok in a Los Angeles apartment complex, two sisters are forced to fight for their lives.
Renfield (April 14)
Saw 10 (October 27)
Did you really believe Lionsgate was done with one of the most lucrative horror franchises in film history? No, of course not.

Following Chris Rock’s spin-off film Spiral in 2021, the next sequel, dubbed Saw 10, will see Tobin Bell resume his terrifying role as Jigsaw, who will no doubt create yet another horrific trap for his kidnapped victims.
The plot is being kept under wraps for the time being, but we can only image how much more gruesome the game can be in 2023.