Thanks to the likes of Sinners, Weapons, 28 Years Later, and The Long Walk, 2025 has been a huge year for horror, and these are our favorite scary movies that have hit screens so far.
2025 has been a year where horror has rivalled the big superhero, sci-fi, and action blockbusters, both in terms of quality, and box office returns.
The final film in the Conjuring franchise was a record-breaking hit, grossing more than $450 million worldwide, while original stories wowed critics and audiences alike, most notably western horror Sinners, and psychological chiller Weapons.
So, these are our favorite horror movies of the year so far, ranked in order from 15-to-1.
15. The Monkey
Director: Osgood Perkins
Cast: Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Christian Convery
Release date: February 21, 2025
What it’s about: Estranged twins reunite when a wind-up monkey from their past starts causing unexplained deaths in the present.
Why we like it: Longlegs director Osgood Perkins tackling a macabre Stephen King story proved to be a perfect match, with The Monkey’s gnarly kills underpinned by a healthy dose of morality, and Theo James clearly having a blast as the cursed twins in question.
14. Black Phone 2
Director: Scott Derrickson
Cast: Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Ethan Hawke
Release date: October 17, 2025
What it’s about: Four years after surviving the Grabber, Finney faces new new horrors tied to a summer camp with a dark past, that puts the teen on a collision course with his nemesis.
Why we like it: Black Phone 2 is a perfect sequel because it leans into what worked in the first film, while extending and expanding on the horrific Grabber mythology. The visuals are wild thanks to several inventive dream sequences, while Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw are sympathetic heroes that beautifully contrast with Ethan Hawke’s horrifying villain.
13. Together
Director: Michael Shanks
Cast: Dave Franco, Alison Brie, Damon Herriman
Release date: July 30, 2025
What it’s about: With their relationship on the rocks, a couple head to the countryside for a romantic getaway, but while there encounter a mysterious force that triggers some intense body horror.
Why we like it: Perfect for a twisted date night, Together takes co-dependency to some dark places through a story that’s as grotesque as it is tender, while the movie makes great use of the chemistry between real-life couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie.
12. Final Destination: Bloodlines
Director: Zach Lipovsky, Adam B. Stein
Cast: Kaitlyn Santa Juana, Teo Briones, Richard Harmon
Release date: May 16, 2025
What it’s about: A student’s visions point to a decades-old family curse, and to stop the seemingly unstoppable chain of events, she must decode how her bloodline first cheated fate.
Why we like it: We love this one as it’s Final Destination mayhem with a familial hook, which seriously raises the stakes. The Rube Goldberg carnage is inventive, the kills creative, the callbacks smart, and a surprisingly poignant farewell to an iconic character make this both a worthy revival, and a genuine crowd-pleaser.
11. Good Boy
Director: Ben Leonberg
Cast: Shane Jensen, Arielle Friedman, Larry Fessenden
Release date: October 3, 2025
What it’s about: After moving to a long-vacant house in the middle of nowhere, a loyal dog senses a sinister presence and does everything in his power to protect his owner.
Why we like it: By telling a haunted house tale through the eyes of a dog, Good Boy is a unique and unbearably tense viewing experience, while Indy the dog – played by Indy the dog – delivers the horror performance of the year.
10. Frankenstein
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Cast: Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth
Release date: October 17, 2025
What it’s about: An ambitious scientist decides to defeat death by creating a man from spare parts, and while Victor Frankenstein succeeds in his efforts, the Creature quickly turns on him.
Why we like it: Visionary filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro has taken Mary Shelley’s gothic novel and put a very personal spin on it, adding interesting characters and sub-plots, in an adaptation that’s lush, emotional, operatic, and bleeding with humanity.
9. Presence
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Cast: Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang
Release date: January 24, 2025
What it’s about: A supernatural force watches a family move into their new suburban home, then follows them around for the duration of the movie.
Why we like it: Where Good Boy told a spectral story through the eyes of a dog, here we witness events from the POV of a ghost, and the brilliance of Presence is that we don’t know the spirit’s true intentions until the terrifying final few reels.
8. The Ugly Stepsister
Director: Emilie Blichfeldt
Cast: Lea Myren, Thea Sofie Loch Næss, Ane Dahl Torp
Release date: April 18, 2025
What it’s about: This messed up fairy tale revolves around a troubled teen who goes to shocking lengths to win her prince.
Why we like it: The Ugly Stepsister isn’t for the squeamish, but we loved this screwed up Cinderella story that features jaw-dropping body modification, and has much to say about unhealthy beauty standards, and how perfection can be conflated with pain.
7. Companion
Director: Drew Hancock
Cast: Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, Lukas Gage
Release date: January 31, 2025
What it’s about: A cabin getaway implodes when friends discover one among them isn’t human, causing loyalties to fracture, and brutal choices to be made in service of self-preservation.
Why we like it: Companion is a smart, lean, twisty sci-fi-horror that weaponizes relationship dynamics. Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid are perfectly cast, director Drew Hancock delivers sharp and shocking reveals, while the satisfying finale lands hard.
6. Dangerous Animals
Director: Sean Byrne
Cast: Hassie Harrison, Jai Courtney, Josh Heuston
Release date: June 6, 2025
What it’s about: A surfer finds herself abducted by a human predator who uses sharks as a weapon, but refuses go down without a fight.
Why we like it: Dangerous Animals is a serial killer thriller with an aquatic twist; one that’s anchored by a marvellously unhinged Jai Courtney performance. The film’s stark conservation message elevates proceedings, while Hassie Harrison’s final girl is as kick-ass as they come, resulting in a horror romp that’s as lean and mean as the killing machines at its core.
5. The Long Walk
Director: Francis Lawrence
Cast: Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Garrett Wareing
Release date: September 12, 2025
What it’s about: As part of a nationwide contest, 50 teenage boys must walk nonstop at 3 mph or above. Fall below that pace and you’re executed, while the last boy walking wins riches and the granting of a wish.
Why we like it: A bleak and brutal Stephen King adaptation, The Long Walk satirizes everything from reality TV to the dark side of the American dream. The bond formed between lead characters humanizes the death-march premise, while that devastating denouement will live long in the memory.
4. Bring Her Back
Director: Danny Philippou & Michael Philippou
Cast: Billy Barratt, Sora Wong, Sally Hawkins
Release date: May 30, 2025
What it’s about: Two step-siblings are paired with an eccentric foster family, little realising they are in mortal danger.
Why we like it: Fans of the Philippou brothers’ Talk to Me will be pleased to hear the dynamic duo are two-for-two thanks to Bring Her Back. Their sensitive direction ensures a palpable sense of dread envelopes proceedings, while Sally Hawkins delivers one of the best performances of her illustrious career as a foster parent driven mad by guilt and grief.
3. 28 Years Later
Director: Danny Boyle
Cast: Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ralph Fiennes
Release date: June 20, 2025
What it’s about: Decades after the rage virus has decimated humanity, a father and son journey from the safety of their island home to the overrun mainland, where they find horror around every corner.
Why we like it: Director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland are the dream team who helped reignite the zombie genre with the original 28 Days Later, and they belatedly take that premise in terrifying new directions via 28 Years Later, through a story about grief, death, and the ties that bind us together.
2. Weapons
Director: Zach Cregger
Cast: Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich
Release date: August 8, 2025
What it’s about: While a town reels from the disappearance of a class of schoolchildren, troubled teacher Justine teams up with grieving father Archer to solve the mystery.
Why we like it: Weapons proves that Zach Cregger’s Barbarian was no fluke, with his latest effort delivering chills and scares via a puzzlebox story that gets under your skin, before concluding two hours of tense set-up with a wildly crowd-pleasing pay-off.
1. Sinners
Director: Ryan Coogler
Cast: Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Jack O’Connell
Release date: April 18, 2025
What it’s about: In 1930s Mississippi, criminal twin brothers try to go straight by opening a juke joint, but vampires spoil their efforts by turning the bar into a war zone.
Why we like it: Writer-director Ryan Coogler effortlessly combines genres in Sinners, taking western tropes, merging them with vampire mythology, grounding the story in historic truth, and then adding Blues music to the mix. The result is a film that thrills and scares at every turn, as well as the best horror movie of the year.
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