2025 has been an awesome year for movies. In the last month alone, we’ve been blessed with huge hits like Superman and The Naked Gun, alongside high-quality smaller fare in a range of genres like Nobody 2 (action/comedy), Eddington (comedy/western) and A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (fantasy/romance).
Prime Video’s War of the Worlds aside, where 2025 has really shone, though, is in horror.
I’m often more lenient when judging horror films compared to other genres. As long as I get goosebumps and it isn’t a complete mess, I’ll generally have a good time.
Plenty of this year’s horrors fit that description, from genuinely good flicks like Companion, Dangerous Animals and Final Destination: Bloodlines, to good-bad movies that I still had fun with like Clown in a Cornfield and Wolf Man.
Since the beginning of the year, however, there’d been one horror movie I’d been counting down the days to release – Weapons.
The new film is the first after director Zach Cregger’s 2022 debut, Barbarian, which was one of my favorite movies of that year – and one of the best horror films in recent memory. So, when Creggers said Weapons “is more – and in a good way” it immediately shot to the top of my must-see list.
Finally hitting theaters last week, it didn’t disappoint. Weapons is thoughtful, sad, and downright creepy. As opposed to many other good horrors, it’s also a great movie in its own right.
While I didn’t quite think it hit the heights that my colleague Lucy Buglass did – who awarded it five stars in our Weapons review and called it her favorite movie of the year – it’s undeniably one of the year’s most impactful films.
Another 2025 horror that’s winning deserved praise is Together – and I absolutely agree that it’s a body horror flick that shouldn’t be missed.
Only catching the trailer a few weeks earlier when watching I Know What You Did Last Summer (which I actually fell asleep during), I went into Together mostly blind – and had an absolute blast. It’s one of those movies that makes you want to look away while not being able to, and the weirdly heartfelt ending was a pleasant surprise.
While I really enjoyed Weapons and Together and believe they both deserve the accolades they’re receiving, they’re far from my favorite scary movies of the year.
In fact, there are three horrors from 2025 that I liked more: my favorite movie of the year, my favorite horror of the year (yes, they’re different!) and another that was just a darn good time.
The best part is you can avoid a bad audience that laughs at the wrong time or brings in noisy food and stream all three from the comfort of your home.
“You keep dancing with the devil… one day he’s gonna follow you home”
Without a shadow of a doubt, Sinners is my favorite movie of 2025 (so far). And, thankfully, its classification as a horror flick lets me include it here and talk about it.
I just watched it for the third time and loved it just as much as I did the first, if not more. Let’s make this clear, though: this vampire flick isn’t 30 Days of Night.
Directed by Ryan Coogler, who has sat at the top of my ‘watch everything this person directs’ list since Fruitvale Station, Sinners stars Michael B. Jordan as the Smokestack Twins – playing both Smoke and Stack.
At its face, the premise is simple. Set in the American South in the early 1930s, the two brothers arrive back in their hometown after years of war, adventure and making both money and trouble – and looking to hide from that trouble by opening up a ‘juke joint’, headlined by their younger cousin and gifted musician Sammie.
Only to find evil waiting for them.
Beyond its simple premise, Sinners is also a deliberate exploration of folklore, America’s racial history, ancestry, and the liberating power of music.
While I question its status as a horror because I personally didn’t find it that scary, a lack of spooks isn’t a bad thing. For those after a gory vampiric slasher, you will get a hefty dose of gnarly horror action – but personally, my favorite moments in the film are found in the quiet, world-building first hour.
It’s the banter between Smoke and Stack as they recruit their staff, how they treat their Sammie, any moment Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo) is on-screen and the music that I fell in love with.
Arguably worth watching just to hear Sammie sing – and to bask in Mike B’s coolness – Sinners is available to stream on HBO Max, but you can also rent or purchase it on Apple TV or Prime Video, depending on your location.
“Some people believe the spirit stays in the body for months after death”
Beating out Weapons, Sinners and Together for my number one horror of 2025 is Bring Her Back and, frankly, it isn’t even close.
While the Philippou brothers’ first film, Talk To Me, was a genuinely freaky, fun, and original take on possession, Bring Her Back invokes dread right from its opening scene, with no let-up for its 99-minute runtime.
The Australian film follows Andy and his blind younger step-sister, Piper, after the recent death of their father, whose body Andy discovered. The two siblings are incredibly close, but Andy can’t become her legal guardian because he’s only 17. So, after much convincing because of Andy’s troubled past, they are placed into foster care together.
What follows is the foster mother’s deep manipulation of Andy against Piper, as her sinister plot slowly unfolds.
It features some of the most cringe-inducing body horror I’ve ever seen, along with jumpscares, a supernatural element, and maddeningly real manipulation by a person in power.
Yes, I’ll admit it – it gets a few brownie points from me being a fellow Aussie, but if it’s actual horror you’re after, nobody is currently doing it better than the Philippou brothers.
Bring Her Back should be available on HBO Max in the coming weeks, but it’s available to rent or buy on Apple TV and Prime Video right now.
“The more you kill, the easier it gets”
On the other end of the spectrum from Bring Her Back, 28 Years Later is just a good, zombie-killing time. (And, yes, I know they aren’t zombies.)
I should make it clear that I’m not a fan of the series. In fact, I made it through two-thirds of 28 Days Later before I decided I didn’t want to waste a Friday night with a movie I wasn’t enjoying, and I haven’t seen 28 Weeks Later.
So, when my sister dragged me to see 28 Years Later starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson off the back of his Oscar-worthy performance in Kraven the Hunter, I didn’t exactly have high hopes.
I don’t love the over-the-top blood, the slow-mo kills, or the chaotic editing during action scenes. But I still thoroughly enjoyed the near-two-hour journey.
It follows a small village of survivors who live comfortably on a small island away from the mainland, focusing on Spike (Alfie Williams), his father Jamie (Taylor-Johnson) and his mum Isla (Jodie Comer), who has fallen ill.
While I loved the film for its fun action and any scene involving Ralph Fiennes (which I won’t dare spoil), the story is also about a young boy braving unknown horrors to save his mother.
Still, in terms of zombie flicks that will have you watching the screen between your fingers, crying and cheering for the heroes at different times, 28 Years Later is an easy recommendation, and I’m looking forward to whatever this new trilogy may hold.
28 Years Later is available to rent or purchase on Apple TV and Prime Video. Sony Pictures films usually come to Netflix, so you can expect 28 Years Later on the red streamer at some point soon in the US, UK and Australia. I suspect it might come to Binge Down Under, too.
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