10 Horror Franchises Set For A Huge 2025

9. The Strangers

M3GAN 2.0
Lionsgate

The Strangers has been a strange ol' property, initially starting life as an intended one-and-done 2008 movie from Bryan Bertino. Following the success of that impressive picture, work immediately began on a second film... only for those plans to be scrapped in 2010.

By 2011, The Strangers Part II was again a go, with the first film's Liv Tyler later stating that the sequel would be released in 2014. Again, years came and went, the story was vastly changed, and director Johannes Roberts boarded a follow-up - The Strangers: Prey at Night - that eventually released in 2018, to mixed reviews.

Plans for a Prey at Night sequel were canned when Aviron Pictures closed, and the franchise eventually returned in 2024 with The Strangers: Chapter 1, the first part of a trilogy from Renny Harlin. Interestingly, all three legs of this trilogy were filmed at the same time, meaning Chapters 2 and 3 have wrapped and are awaiting release.

Despite rumours all three of Harlin's Strangers pictures could be released across 2024, the lukewarm reaction to the disappointing Chapter 1 saw Chapter 2 pushed back to 2025. Given how vanilla and repetitive Chapter 1 was, Chapter 2 now has a huge task on its hands to get fans back onside, and if that second film is received as poorly as its predecessor, it's easy to imagine that already-filmed Chapter 3 might never see the light of day.

So, no pressure, The Strangers: Chapter 2. No pressure, at all...

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.