By most metrics, 2025 was a brutal year to be alive — but a comparatively gentle one for horror fans. Set against the anxiety-soaked, near-apocalyptic churn of real-world news, this year’s genre output felt like a warm bath of softer, cuter scares, each hitting (or missing) with a lighter touch. Playfulness eclipsed the nihilism of the previous two years, while romantic love emerged as a surprising throughline, from A24’s sticky “Together” to Neon’s robotic “Companion.”
Narrative originality and character relatability were paramount even as throwback franchises reclaimed the spotlight in theaters, and sequels to recent horror hits tested the still-forming legacies of emerging filmmakers. The Philippou brothers’ “Talk to Me” didn’t make our 2022 list, nor did its spiritual successor “Bring Her Back” from this year. But if it was an uphill battle for YouTubers in horror (see Chris Stuckmann’s “Shelby Oaks”), it was open season for revived IP coming out of the studio system. Four major franchise reboots cracked our top 10, proving that familiarity can still feel sharp if it’s done right, but that’s a tougher and tougher line to walk.
Not everything stuck the landing. We welcomed Sean Byrne’s return but wanted more from “Dangerous Animals.” Meanwhile, “Until Dawn” kept the horror video-game adaptation fight alive, while “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” became the genre’s biggest box-office win (and a much-needed comeback for Blumhouse after the genre-pivot disaster that was “M3GAN 2.0”) — but neither did much to advance the state of play in that particular filmmaking arena. Also in adaptations, it was a banner year for Stephen King with “The Long Walk” leading the fascist-driven pack.
“Drop” gave us one of Meghann Fahy’s most iconic wardrobe moments to date before veering too close to a standard thriller for this list. But we’ll mention Fantasia Fest’s lo-fi darling “Mother of Flies” (not arriving on Shudder until January 23 of next year) as an early contender for genre’s best in 2026. Horror has survived by softening its edges lately, but even as heavy hitters like “Weapons” and “Sinners” position themselves in the awards race, next year looks scarier already.
10. “I Know What You Did Last Summer”
“I Know What You Did Last Summer” proves reheated fish can still taste fresh, if you know how and when to prepare it. Jennifer Kaytin Robinson’s reboot/sequel wasn’t for everyone, but it successfully turned a mediocre ’90s slasher into a comparatively lean, nasty crowd-pleaser that understood its legacy and that story’s limits. The new kids driving recklessly down a winding road are rich, messy, and mostly unlikable, but not irredeemable, and the kills arrive with keen perspective and brutal efficiency complimentary of their layers. Best of all, Robinson resists drowning the movie in nostalgia, letting Jennifer Love Hewitt’s returning final girl Julie James cut through the carnage with earned authority and giving Freddie Prinze Jr. a part to play that’s nothing if not true to the heart of the melodramatic franchise. Plus, you can’t beat that cliffhanger — dangling the promise of a sequel with “I Still Know What You Did Last Summer” star Brandy Norwood we’ll probably never get but still desperately want.
9. “Silent Night, Deadly Night”
The new “Silent Night, Deadly Night” turns a janky, melodramatic, boob-heavy slasher from the ’80s into a viciously cathartic Christmas nightmare with an oddly lovable center. Filmmaker Mike P. Nelson follows his divisive “Wrong Turn” reboot with something moodier and more politically tuned-in, using this franchise’s admittedly chaotic legacy as permission to go for broke with a “Dexter”-like serial killer. Anchored by the dreamy Rohan Campbell from “Halloween Ends,” this version reframes the frenetic Billy as a haunted drifter whose violence manifests as a more pointed vigilante fantasy — complete with a jaw-dropping Nazi massacre. It’s messy, knowingly provocative, and overstuffed with enough holiday cheer to narrowly make it onto our list at the end of the year.
8. “Together”
As flawed and infuriating as real-life couples, “Together” is a queasy, body-horror romance that takes the familiar pain points of a nagging girlfriend/slacker boyfriend dynamic and stretches them to their most disgusting ends. Michael Shanks’ feature debut understands that the scariest part of commitment isn’t merging lives, but realizing the mess you’ll have on your hands if you ever try to separate. Dave Franco and Alison Brie are ferociously game as a wildly unlikable couple whose move to a quiet farmhouse turns codependency into a sticky literal battle that’s impossible to ignore. Shanks doesn’t hide where his script is going, but instead savors its humor and black heart. The story sometimes falters building out its middling backstory, but you just can’t ignore a movie that fuses a guy’s dick to his girl’s cervix.
7. “Heart Eyes”
“Heart Eyes” is a giddy Valentine’s Day slasher — one that went beyond splattering paper hearts with fake blood to instead keenly dissect the brutally bad decision-making that underpins so much horror and romance. Director Josh Ruben creates a memorable new holiday tradition with the massacre that follows and the script’s original killer sets the bar high for future wannabe “My Blood Valentine” successors. Co-writers Phillip Murphy, Christopher Landon, and Michael Kennedy fold whip-smart rom-com banter into a hyper-violent whodunit that arms their filmmaker with the confidence of a Golden Age hack-and-slash auteur. Stars Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding flirt up a small frenzy of sparks, too, with a fake office romance that becomes a lethal liability when the Heart Eyes Killer starts hunting down couples with twisted holiday flair. Funny, slick,and unexpectedly sweet, “Heart Eyes” offered definitive proof that holiday horror is very much back and on the hunt for new admirers.
6. “The Ugly Stepsister”
Gruesome and fashionable, “The Ugly Stepsister” rides the public-domain horror wave sideways into the whale-sized guts of fairytale. After “The Substance” made it to the Oscars last year, feminist body horror movies carry extra cultural heat. Norwegian director Emilie Blichfeldt’s grisly and sharp-toothed Cinderella riff digs into this contemporary moment through its much older political roots. Her Grimm retelling swaps glass slippers for broken noses, tapeworms, and eyelash surgery from hell — weaponizing the inevitability of a storybook to skewer beauty standards as a real social contract. It’s playful, painful, and grotesque with a stylish commitment to viscera that’s exquisite and undeniable.
5. “The Long Walk”
This year, “The Long Walk” finally pulled off a literary adaptation long thought to be unfilmable. Stephen King’s first book was technically written when he was just a 19-year-old student at the University of Maine, but that novel wasn’t published until 1979 when the already-renowned author released it under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. Even after the Bachman books were connected back to King’s identity, the main conceit of “The Long Walk” — a fascist death march, dooming dozens of boys to extermination in a warped version of the U.S. — was widely dismissed as too monotonous, too interior, and too cruel for the big screen. Under the unblinking direction of “Hunger Games” genius Francis Lawrence, however, screenwriter JT Mollner’s brilliantly altered script refused to provide comfort or catharsis and came across the finish line beautifully. The punishing effect is complimented by casting director Rich Delia, who assembled a devastating ensemble of ctors (Cooper Hoffman, Judy Greer, David Jonsson, Garrett Wareing, Joshua Odjick, and more), all with enough gravity to make every mile hurt.
4. “28 Years Later”
Even while munching on decades-old zombie IP, “28 Years Later” suggests Danny Boyle and Alex Garland really aren’t interested in making horror films that feel like comfort food. This long-gestating sequel fractures its narrative into three parts, this year kicking off with a rage-fueled allegory and coming-of-age story that’s at once soulful and despondent. It comes equipped with a devastating performance from Jodie Comer; Ralph Fiennes amid some revelatory set design; and the promise of two more sequels, the next directed by “Hedda” filmmaker Nia DaCosta. Also starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Alfie Williams, the first installment moves with bruising purpose — blossoming into a strange spiritualism that swerves hard into an ending reminiscent of “A Clockwork Orange” or “Mad Max.” Trading pure undead terror for moral unease, “Years” feels leagues messier than “Days” and riskier than “Weeks.”
3. “Final Destination: Bloodlines”
“Final Destination: Bloodlines” is the rare reboot that starts with an overly contrived premise and still manages to find a sequel that wholly understands why its franchise endures. Even when some of the movie’s goofy soap opera tendencies and ill-conceived action mechanics from the last act wobble, the core appeal is better than ever. The freak-accident conceit has never not worked, even at the series’ lowest points, but directed by Adam Stein and Zach Lipovsky, Death’s cartoon logic is sharper, funnier, and more memorable than you remember — finally clicking into an intentional comedy style that gives the unseen killer a voice with real weight. Richard Harmon’s tattooed Erik is an instant series MVP, prickly, wounded, and devastating, while the late Tony Todd’s final turn as William Bludworth hovers over it all, making the world of millennium horror look not just remembered but triumphantly alive.
2. “Sinners”
“Sinners” sees Ryan Coogler simultaneously directing at his most theatrical and most personal, gifting fans of the filmmaker a vampire movie that’s powered by sweat, blues, lust, and that same haunting essence of a violent memory superhero audiences saw front and center for “Black Panther,” too. Set over an explosive night in the Jim Crow South, this terrifying period piece plays like a boozy bass riff stretched across genres. As horror, romance, and local myth bleed into a senseless massacre, the movie’s ambition swims in unruly excess — making hunger the point and propping up Michael B. Jordan’s two performance as a slippery pair of twins for unyielding audience judgment the ferocious actor can easily stand. “Sinners” captures the recognizable pursuit of pleasure as much as that of survival, committing to that idea with insatiable confidence from Coogler and a vision that’s messy, sensual, fierce, and inviting.
1. “Weapons”
Following up his debut feature “Barbarian” (i.e. IndieWire’s Best Horror Movie of 2022), Zach Cregger’s sophomore feature, “Weapons,” affirms the filmmaker as one of the most daring and powerful voices steering the horror genre today. Less puzzle box and more pressure cooker, this shrapnel-infused melodrama builds dread through the slow accumulation of tension across a tortured town. Grief gets layered on top of grief and secrets stack sky high as suburban normalcy decays into something at once alarmingly unstable and comfortingly funny. Even when Cregger holds his mythology deceptively close to the chest, the emotional intrigue never falters in the wake of a mass disappearance that saw more than 30 local children disappear. The cast, particularly the vexing Julia Garner as the kids’ mystified school teachers, stays magnetic, diligently convincing the audience to pursue scares in answers they won’t get. It’s brutal, strange, impossible to shake, and a blistering next step for Cregger’s career.