When it comes to the horror genre, 2025 will go down as two things: the home of some of the 2020s’ best horror films and the year that housed a ton of bloody horror movies featuring knockoff versions of the very first iteration of Mickey Mouse. There weren’t many major horror movies that totally missed the mark outside Wolf Man, Him, The Strangers: Chapter 2, M3GAN 2.0 (which faltered partially because it didn’t stick to horror), and The Ritual. The Gorge, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Coyotes, Death of a Unicorn, and The Hand That Rocks the Cradle are fine, but not spectacular while Opus, Heart Eyes, Ash, Drop, Clown in a Cornfield, Shelby Oaks, The Monkey, and Black Phone 2 were solid but didn’t quite make the cut.

They also had to genuinely be horror, not thrillers or sci-fi, hence the lack of The Long Walk, Predator: Badlands, Predator: Killer of Killers, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, Companion, Borderline, and Bone Lake. Where did your favorite horror movie of 2025 land? Let’s find out.

10) Dangerous Animals

It’s pretty rare that we get a good shark movie these days. The last really respectable one was The Shallows back in 2016. But now we can add Dangerous Animals to the list, and it’s so good because the sharks themselves aren’t the true beasts of the narrative.

Instead that would be Tucker, a serial killer played by a very game Jai Courtney. He’s both entertainingly eccentric and darkly frightening. In the role Courtney continues to display how he’s an underrated player who should be given the opportunity to play outlandish roles more often.

Stream Dangerous Animals on Shudder.

9) Final Destination Bloodlines

It would have been understandable to think that the Final Destination franchise was over, considering it had been 14 years since the last installment and that movie, Final Destination 5 was the lowest grossing domestically. But Final Destination Bloodlines performed better than anyone could have ever predicted, becoming the highest grosser of the franchise both domestically and worldwide as well as securing the IP’s first Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

It’s easy to see how that came to be, as Bloodlines not only fully delivers on extremely elaborate, creative deaths but also manages to toy with what makes a Final Destination movie a Final Destination movie. Before, a group of characters just narrowly survived a deadly event and were picked off by death one after another. Bloodlines suggest it can go deeper than that. Now, death’s vengeance can run in the family.

Stream Final Destination Bloodlines on HBO Max.

8) 28 Years Later

While 28 Years Later can tonally be a bit of a different animal from its two classic predecessors, it’s still a compelling and thematically rich return to this overrun world. Plus, whoever thought we’d get Ralph Fiennes in a zombie movie?

This is the most ambitious of the three 28 movies. It paints a realistic picture of various factions surviving in a society that has been torn down to the studs for years, brings in new characters, and positions them to be part of further narratives. Specifically, its two sequels, including January’s 28 Years Later: Bone Temple, which is getting some very encouraging early reactions.

Stream 28 Years Later on Netflix.

7) The Conjuring: Last Rites

A major box office hit that sent its franchise off on a high note, The Conjuring: Last Rites is a great place to say goodbye to Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson’s Lorraine and Ed Warren. Is it truly the end for this franchise? Probably not, but it is the end of the Warren couple’s story, and in that regard it’s a success (especially in the third act).

Granted, by this point in the franchise’s nine-film history, many of the tricks it plays on the audience are old hat, but Last Rites still manages to give the audience a few jolts and coat them in unsettling ambiance. But the main goal here was to incorporate the Warrens in a way that felt wholly organic, making up for their supporting player presence in The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.

Stream The Conjuring: Last Rites on HBO Max.

6) Silent Night, Deadly Night

Few could have predicted that a reboot of Silent Night, Deadly Night, one of the most controversial films of the ’80s, would get excellent reviews from critics, but that’s exactly the case. However, it’s also going to be divisive with the general audience. Like with Terrifier 3, the film has some wonderful yet stomach churning practical effects, but where the film succeeds even more is in its alteration to the uncomfortable original film, which had a kid watch his mother get assaulted and his dad murdered then grow up with abusive nuns. Then, as an adult, he gets murderous whenever he sees someone doing something he deems “naughty,” which includes minor things like a pair of sledders being mean to some other sledders.

It’s not a comfortable movie to watch, the same as any other movie that has a runtime devoted mostly to one character who is just unhinged and hypocritical. The new film does retain some of those elements (e.g. the fate of Billy’s parents), but it plays things with a lighter tone. Furthermore, we get more of an insight into Billy’s mind, helping us understand him, and much to the film’s credit, we only see Billy target genuinely evil people, like the members of a Nazi group. It’s still arguably not a fully comfortable movie to watch, but it’s a far more palatable diversion than the sour feeling provided by the original film.

5) Good Boy

There’s an old adage in the film industry that you should never work with kids and animals. And just as Haley Joel Osment and Natalie Wood proved that the first half of that adage was nonsense, now Indy, the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever protagonist of Good Boy has put the latter to rest.

It’s all a pretty standard haunted house story but telling it through the eyes of a pup was a brilliant way to make something old feel relatively new again. And none of it would work were the right dog not chosen. And in Indy, director Ben Leonberg’s actual dog, an actor was found that manages to convey real emotions just as any human actor would. Give Indy an Oscar, or a PetSmart’s worth of treats, because he’s not just a good boy, but a good actor, as well.

Stream Good Boy on Shudder.

4) Bring Her Back

Mythology-laden and bolstered by a terrific lead performance by Sally Hawkins, Bring Her Back is a movie that never goes for hackneyed scares. It envelops you in its mood and its characters’ organic, relatable grappling with trauma. This is a movie that opens on two kids finding their father dead in the shower and it never gets any brighter from there.

Like those two kids, Andy and Piper, the woman they are sent to live with, Laura, is also grieving. Specifically, for the loss of her daughter. It’s in Laura that the movie finds its most interesting character. We won’t go into spoiler land but suffice to say Laura’s plan is one that is evil on paper. But the movie never lets us forget that her actions are fueled by heartbreak. Villains are always at their best when the viewer has to both grapple with their actions and come to empathize with why those actions were committed.

Stream Bring Her Back on HBO Max.

3) Together

Together may very well go down as the ultimate relationship horror film. The narrative itself, about lovers’ bodies fusing together should one of them drink from a pool in a cave, is outlandish on paper, but that’s only a framework to comment on the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships.

And, to sell that commentary, it was integral to have the right two leads. In Alison Brie and Dave Franco, it has just that. Having been married for eight years themselves they have the exact chemistry required to make the dynamic between Millie and Tim feel real, which then only further emphasizes the tension in the film’s body horror moments.

2) Weapons

If there was a 2025 horror movie with an intriguing mystery at its core it’s Zach Cregger’s Weapons. Well shot and as unpredictable as his horror breakout, Barbarian, Weapons is the type of movie that opens big doors for director’s.

Like Final Destination Bloodlines, The Conjuring: Last Rites, and the next entry on our list, Weapons was a major moneymaker for Warner Bros. And, while writer-producer Cregger does deserve the lion’s share of the credit for the film’s success, compliments are due Julia Garner for her performance in a tough lead role as well as Josh Brolin, Benedict Wong (who has one particularly startling scene), and Amy Madigan.

Stream Weapons on HBO Max.

1) Sinners

Ryan Coogler’s Sinners is further proof that he is one of the most inventive directors out there, who can hop from genre to genre successfully. Not just in terms of one movie to the next, but in the same movie. Vampire horror, romance, action, period drama with a little touch of musical, Sinners is an excellent addition to all of those genres and subgenres.

Even after eight months, Sinners continues to expand its audience. It’s the most beloved movie of 2025 regardless of genre. Just look at how it’s the highest rated movie of the year on Letterboxd, its 97% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, or the fact it was one of the American Film Institute’s Top 10 films of the year to get a sense of how well-regarded Coogler’s movie is. If it doesn’t nab a Best Picture nomination, it’s going to really shine a light on the Academy’s genre film bias.

Stream Sinners on HBO Max.

What was your favorite horror film of 2025? Let us know in the comments.