The 10 Best Horror Movies of 2025
From Sinners to Bring Her Back, we rank the best of a landmark year for the genre
by Lana Thorn & Alex Secilmis 22 December 2025
From dark indie darlings to must-see blockbusters, 2025 has been one of the most important years in horror film history. Both original stories (Weapons, Sinners) and franchise revivals (The Conjuring: Last Rites, Final Destination: Bloodlines) have attracted viewers in droves in a time when moviegoing is under significant threat. And despite its usual R rating and low-brow status, with critical successes like Ryan Coogler’s vampire epic, horror cinema is enjoying an expanding place in the cultural conversation.
The strength of this year’s output makes choosing and ranking a top 10 a difficult task. Nevertheless, our team has tallied the best films we caught both at our local multiplexes and at festivals across the globe—with one notable omission that may cause outrage.
10. Queens of the Dead
© IFC
Putting a stylish, glittery spin on the subgenre pioneered by her father, horror maestro George A. Romero, Tina Romero queers the zombie film in a campy horror comedy debut with an A+ ensemble—featuring Katy O’Brian, Jack Haven, Jacquel Spivey, Cheyenne Jackson and more. There’s plenty of charm in the central conceit (drag queens and LGBTQ+ club kids take on a glammed-up vision of the undead), but Romero elevates the premise with an introspective, heartfelt exploration of tensions in the queer community.
9. Bring Her Back
© A24
In our book, Danny and Michael Philippou’s barnstorming debut Talk to Me was hands-down the best horror film of 2023. Following up their surprise A24 hit was always going to be a tall order, but the Aussie duo do admirably with this brutal sophomore effort about two orphaned siblings and their eccentric new foster parent. There are scenes that rival the intensity of their debut (I can never look at cantaloupes the same again) and even better performances (Sally Hawkins, Billy Barratt, and Sora Wong are all superb), but an overcooked script prevents the film from climbing higher on this list.
8. The Serpent’s Skin
© Dark Star Pictures
Six features in, the prolific 21-year-old indie filmmaker Alice Maio Mackay has delivered her best work yet. Billed as “a transgender film” (inspired by the labels used by Gregg Araki), The Serpent’s Skin is half queer hangout movie and half 90s horror TV pilot. With two excellent leads in Alexandra McVicker and Avalon Fast as young witches, Maio Mackay wears the Buffy and Charmed influences on her sleeve and remixes them with panache.
7. Bugonia
© Focus Features
An operatic, pitch-black comedy with horror stylings, Bugonia sees Yorgos Lanthimos reaching disturbing new heights. The celebrated Greek director’s remake of the 2003 Korean film Save the Green Planet! follows two conspiracy theorists (Jesse Plemons and Aidan Delbis) who kidnap a CEO (Emma Stone), convinced that she’s an alien. Lanthimos’ most focused film, Bugonia is a gratingly relevant, unflinchingly honest portrait that takes the human race as its subject.
6. Dust Bunny
© Roadside Attractions
The big-screen debut from veteran showrunner Bryan Fuller (Hannibal, Pushing Daisies), Dust Bunny is a Spielbergian children’s horror fantasy with the off-kilter aesthetic of a Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet film. The plot is simple: Mads Mikkelsen is a hitman hired to by a little girl (an excellent Sophie Sloan) to kill the monster under her bed. Co-starring Sigourney Weaver as an ice-cold fixer, it’s a relentlessly charming fairytale for the whole family (don’t believe the ridiculous R-rating).
5. The Holy Boy
© Fandango
A delightful, or rather horrific, surprise at Venice, the latest from Paolo Strippoli is a devastating folk horror film that marvellously capitalises on the thick atmosphere of its Italian mountain village setting. Boasting the best trauma metaphor in recent memory—a young queer teenager is worshipped like an angel for his ability to absorb another’s pain by hugging them—The Holy Boy is Carrie meets The Wicker Man, bolstered by a sensational Giulio Feltri in his debut role.
4. 28 Years Later
© Sony Pictures
By telling a distinctly fresh story that both cleverly reflects modern Britain and prioritises character work, 28 Years Later delivers a truly rare contemporary sequel. There’s no empty nostalgia to be found here, just a kinetic, gory thrill ride about a boy (Alfie Williams) trying to save his mother (Jodie Comer). After that cliffhanger ending, the Nia DaCosta-directed sequel The Bone Temple can’t come soon enough.
3. The Ugly Stepsister
© Scanbox Entertainment
A year after The Substance, Emilie Blichfeldt’s deliciously demented fairytale has again invigorated the body horror subgenre. A vicious re-working of Cinderella, The Ugly Stepsister is a Victorian plastic surgery satire that doesn’t skimp in the slightest on the gore—and the tapeworms.
2. Frankenstein
© Netflix
Decades in the making, Guillermo del Toro finally realised his dream project in the shape of a Gothic blockbuster that’s sure to become one of the definitive adaptations of Mary Shelley’s story. With the film’s artisans all delivering outstanding work (including costume designer Kate Hawley and production designer Tamara Deverell), del Toro’s Frankenstein is a gorgeous reinvention, and the liberties that he takes with the novel—namely refashioning it into a father-son family drama guided by—more than pay off.
1. Sinners
© Warner Bros.
The film on this list unequivocally destined to be a classic, Sinners is a flawless horror movie and an ingenious update on the vampire myth. Set in Jim Crow-era Mississippi, Ryan Coogler’s film about two brothers defending their newly-opened juke joint from an Irish bloodsucker works both as a gangster epic and a riotous horror blockbuster. Led by Michael B. Jordan in a commanding dual role, Sinners is relentless fun with a deeply moving undercurrent that celebrates Black history and community.