Something wicked this way streams.

October is the month when we celebrate all things terrifying, grotesque and scary, so it’s the perfect time to catch up on the best horror films of 2025. Here are the Chronicle’s suggestions for what’s available to stream on Netflix, Prime Video and more.

‘Sinners’

If you watch only one horror film this month, make it director Ryan Coogler’s vampire epic “Sinners.”

The Oakland native reunites with his “Creed” star Michael B. Jordan to bring a tale of bloodsuckers haunting Black communities in the Jim Crow South. With the Ku Klux Klan on one side and nosferatu on the other, Coogler creates a slow-burn horror experience that drips dread from beginning to end.

Did I mention that it’s kind of a musical as well?

In the increasingly impressive era of elevated horror, “Sinners” ranks very near the top of the list.

Watch it: Streaming on HBO Max.

‘Weapons’

Director Zach Cregger’s 2022 debut feature “Barbarian” was an absolutely bananas film – so much so that it kind of seemed impossible to do such cinematic mania twice. But the filmmaker stuck the landing again with “Weapons,” released over the summer.

Seventeen children run off into the night and vanish, leaving behind a baffled town that slowly uncovers a twisted mystery. Julia Garner and Josh Brolin star as a teacher and distraught parent, respectively, who bond as they delve into a sinister cabal targeting the town’s kids.

The story is told in a nonlinear way and takes some effort to keep up with, but Cregger’s trademark weirdness carries the day. But the plot twist is just as mind-bending as the one in “Barbarian,” showing that Cregger just might be the next great visionary horror director.

Watch it: Streaming on Prime Video.

‘Together’

“Together” is either the most romantic horror movie of the last decade or the most anti-romantic, depending on how you feel about codependency and body horror.

Palo Alto native Dave Franco and Alison Brie play a married couple who move to the country in search for a geographic cure for their faltering relationship. One night, they stumble across a pagan ritual space that causes them to partially fuse together.

The rest of the film is an examination of whether love costs us too much of our own identity. That and stomach-churning body horror effects that will make you squirm.

It’s an interesting debut from Australian writer-director Michael Shanks. Having a real-life married couple like Brie and Franco as the leads adds incredible sincerity to the film.

If you can hold down the nausea, it’s incredible.

Watch it: Streaming on Prime Video.

‘Clown in a Cornfield’

Adam Cesare’s young adult novel “Clown in a Cornfield” was a delightful new entry into the tired slasher genre. Luckily, the film adaptation directed by Eli Craig (“Tucker & Dale vs. Evil”) does the bloody tale justice.

Quinn (Katie Douglas) moves to a small town with her doctor father after the tragic death of her mother. Cue the usual fish-out-of-water shenanigans, then add a murder spree by the town’s clown mascot, Frendo.

The film embraces chaos lovingly, dipping between gore and comedy with every axe swing. While Frendo is never going to overtake Pennywise or Art in the horror-clown pantheon, “Clown in a Cornfield” succeeds at subverting tropes and appealing to a wider audience.

Watch it: Streaming on AMC+ and Shudder.

‘The Monkey’

I would have bet any money that no one could make a good film out of Stephen King’s short story “The Monkey.” Somehow, director Osgood Perkins pulled it off.

Based on a King short, it about a father named Hal (Theo James) who is haunted by a clockwork monkey his father left him. Whenever the monkey plays its drum, people die strange and violent deaths. Because of this, Hal avoids interacting with his son, Petey (Colin O’Brien), breaking Petey’s heart but hopefully protecting him from the Monkey’s curse. The two have to confront the Monkey when Hal’s twin brother uses it to wreak havoc.

The movie might as well come with a subheading declaring it a tale of generational trauma.

Despite the grimness of its themes, it is somehow hilarious. The serendipitous deaths caused by the Monkey make “Final Destination” look like an episode of “NCIS,” and the movie keeps it up to the very last bloody shot.

Everything that “Smile” failed to say about healing from trauma, “The Monkey” succeeds at while also just being a fun, gory time.

Watch it: Streaming on Hulu.

This article originally published at 5 best horror movies of 2025 to watch this Halloween season.