Hollywood generally considers the fall movie season to be awards season. It’s when studios start rolling out their best films as the end of the year approaches. For genre fans, though, we get that and so much more. There are also horror movies for Halloween, big exciting blockbusters, as well as wondrous fantasy for us to enjoy. Here are all the fantastic films opening this fall you should know.

September

Morgan

Release date: September 2

Jake Scott, son of Ridley Scott, brings us the story of a corporate fixer, played by Kate Mara, who gets in over her head when she’s asked to rectify a situation where a highly intelligent, quickly evolving, artificially enhanced being (The Witch’s Anya Taylor-Joy) is potentially killing people. This original story looks to blend scifi, horror, and thrills.

Yoga Hosers

Release date: September 2

Kevin Smith’s True North Trilogy continues with this genre-blending teen comedy. In it, Smith’s daughter Harley Quinn (for real) and Johnny Depp’s daughter, Lily-Rose, are teen clerks forced to battle killer bratwurst (for real) to get to a party. The movie looks insane, though critics who’ve seen it have not been kind.

The Disappointments Room

Release date: September 9

Kate Beckinsale plays a mom who moves to a new house and finds a mysterious room in it. This room is not on the floor plan, it’s locked, and for some reason she doesn’t immediately run out of the house screaming. D.J. Caruso, who helmed Disturbia and the upcoming XXX 3, directs.

The Wild Life

Release date: September 9

The Fall movie season has a few under-the-radar animated features coming out and the first one is this talking-animal, kids version of the Robinson Crusoe story. As you’d expect, the trailer does not inspire much confidence.

Blair Witch

Release date: September 16

One month ago, we had no idea a sequel to one of the most successful horror movies of all time was coming. Now, it’ll be here a month. From the team behind You’re Next and The Guest, Blair Witch picks up 20 years after the original film as Heather’s brother goes back into the woods when he sees a YouTube video that suggests she may still be alive. We’ve seen it, and it’s scary as hell.

Snowden

Release date: September 16

Nothing in Snowden is science-fiction, and that’s exactly what makes Oliver Stone’s retelling of Edward Snowden’s story so scary. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays the NSA employee who blew the whistle on the terrifying surveillance being done by the U.S. government.

Operation Avalanche

Release date: September 16

Conspiracy theorists are sure to love this fictional story about a group of CIA agents who break into NASA and uncover a cover-up behind the Moon landing. Yup, you guess it, the film shows what may have happened if we didn’t actually go and just made a movie that tricked people into thinking we did.

Storks

Release date: September 23



An all-star voice cast including Andy Samberg, Jennifer Aniston, Kelsey Grammar, Ty Burrell, Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele lend their talents to this animated film set in the world of delivery. After centuries of delivering babies, storks now deliver packages for a sort-of Amazon-inspired company. That is, until, one more baby needs delivering.

Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et La Bete)

Release date: September 23

Not to be confused with Disney musical version coming out in March, this French retelling of the classic tale is from Christopher Gans, director of The Brotherhood of the Wolf, and stars Vincent Cassel (Jason Bourne, Ocean’s Twelve) and Lea Seydoux (Spectre, The Lobster) as the title characters. Expect a more gritty take.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Release date: September 30



If Tim Burton made a kind of Harry Potter, X-Men mash-up, it would look something like Miss Peregrine, which is based on the popular books by Ransom Riggs. Asa Butterfield stars as a young boy who finds out that his past is intertwined with a time-bending group of “peculiar children” who live together in an alternate dimension and have special powers. Together, they’ll battle to save a slice of the world most people will never see.

Long Way North

Release date: September 30

This beautiful-looking animated film tells the story of a young girl who goes on an epic quest to find her missing grandfather, himself a great explorer.

Clowntown

Release date: September 30

If you’re looking for a good laugh, the trailer for Clowntown is just the thing. The film follows a group of good looking kids who go to a town where clowns rule the night. Basically, it’s the dumbest/scariest premise of all-time with some seriously fun potential.


October

The Greasy Strangler

Release date: October 7

Note: The above trailer is NSFW. And the reason why it’s NSFW is because nothing about The Greasy Strangler is SFW. It’s about a father and son who compete over a woman who takes their walking tour but there’s way, way more going on than that. The Greasy Strangler aspires to be one of those fucked-up movies you’ll be watching with your friends for years and years.

Boo! A Madea Halloween

Release date: October 21

After so many movies, it was bound to happen. Writer/director/star/mogul Tyler Perry was bound to bring genre elements into his world and he’s finally done it. In Boo, his is famous character Madea fights monsters and the like.

A Monster Calls

Release date: October 21

J.A. Bayona, the director of the upcoming Jurassic World sequel, will first give audiences this emotional, star-studded fantasy about a young boy who creates a world of monsters to deal with his mother’s illness and school problems. Liam Neeson provides a voice, Rogue One’s Felicity Jones is the mother, and we cannot wait for this one.

Ouija: Origin of Evil

Release date: October 21

If Ouija: Origin of Evil, the prequel to the surprise 2014 hit Oujia, is even half as good as its trailer, we’re in for something super solid. Set in the 1960s, Origin of Evil tells the story of a family who uses the paranormal to scam people, then finds the tables turned when their daughter gets possessed.

Rings

Release date: October 28

The first Ring movie since the 2005 sequel, Rings picks up the awesome story of a videotape that kills you seven days after you watch it. This time, however, that tape is digital so it means the spider-like demon child Samara is going to have to come up with new ways to kill everyone.

The Windmill

Release date: October 28

You’ve gotta love any movie that tries to introduce its own distinct, iconic horror villain that that’s exactly what Nick Jongerius’ horror film seems to do. A group of tourists end up stranded in the Dutch countryside and proceed to get brutalized.

Inferno

Release date: October 28

Ron Howard’s third trip into Dan Brown-world with Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon wouldn’t seem too genre on the surface. But, if you’ve read Inferno, it gets way more into science and violence than The Da Vinci Code or Angels & Demons do. In fact, things get downright disturbing as Langdon tries to save the world from a madman with a terrifying, real world agenda.


November

Doctor Strange

Release date: November 4

Benedict Cumberbatch plays Stephen Strange, the latest hero to join Marvel Cinematic Universe. Strange is a brilliant surgeon who can’t continue after a bad accident. Looking for a cure, he travels the world looking and discovers a mystical world where he’ll learn to control time and space. It’s Marvel’s biggest question mark in a while but they have yet to steer us wrong.

Trolls

Release date: November 4

Based on the popular toy that your parents probably had, Trolls features the voice of Justin Timberlake as the lone pessimistic troll in a world of ultra-optimism. He’ll join one of the happiest, voiced by Anna Kendrick, for a bright, musical adventure.

Arrival

Release date: November 11

From the director of Sicario and the upcoming Blade Runner sequel, comes the highly anticipated adaptation of Ted Chiang’s Story of your Life. Amy Adams is a linguist brought in to help communicate with aliens when dozens of ships arrive on Earth. Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker co-star and it looks spectacular.

The Similars

Release date: November 15

Over a year after hitting the festival circuit, Isaac Ezban’s scifi mystery is finally getting a release. The film is about a group of strangers waiting for a bus who each begin to get infected with a “strange condition” that brings out the best and worst in everyone.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Release date: November 18

One of, if not the, most anticipated films of the Fall is writer J.K. Rowling and director David Yates’ return to the wizarding world of Harry Potter. Fantastic Beasts takes places decades before Harry, though, and is about Magizoologist named Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) whose collection of magical creatures escapes on an unsuspecting New York City. The first of a planned trilogy.

Moana

Release date: November 23



In a year that started with the genius Zootopia, Disney Animation hopes to continue its insane critical and financial success with Moana, a South Pacific-inspired adventure about a young girl who joins forces with a demi-God to figure out why her culture stopped exploring. Dwayne Johnsons provides a voice, Lin-Manuel Miranda helped with the music, and it’s directed by the team behind The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. Expectations couldn’t be higher.


And then it’s onto the Holiday season, where we’ll get Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Assassin’s Creed, Passengers, Sing and The Space Between Us. More on those in a few months.