Sony/A24/Warner BrosThanks 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 from the period.
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 10-to-1.
10. Frankenstein
NetflixDirector: 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
NeonDirector: 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
ShudderDirector: 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.
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7. Companion
Warner Bros.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
VertigoDirector: 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
LionsgateDirector: 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
A24Director: 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
SonyDirector: 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
Warner Bros.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
Warner Bros.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.
For more scary stuff, check out our list of the best horror movies ever, and best horror movies on Netflix.