I won’t lie; the competition for the 2025 horror slate has been mild for me. For the past two, three years, the pool was deep, and way above average temperature. This year, I found myself mediating not a single battle for who deserves a spot on my top 10. It was too easy, and I’m not thrilled about that. Regardless, the heavy hitters we did get this year I’ll probably still be wearing as a new personality ¾ of the way into the new year. Let me lay it down:
10. It Ends
Gen-z purgatory is an entirely different fresh hell, man. A new favorite anxiety fueled single location banger. How does a young 20-something make a near perfect coming of age story while coming of age himself? Editing, ripe dialogue, cinematography- absolutely bitchin’, and very well executed.
9. Ash
Grammy winner Flying Lotus leads the new school of cosmic horror into a deep purple hellscape in his second feature nightmare. To quote my co-host Sharai, “This is a Xero Gravity-ass movie”. The Resident Evil of it all offers layers of landscapes, costume design, creature fx and fight choreo that just keeps evolving. Sound and score take us even higher. It may suffer in writing, but if you’re looking for a spectacle, jump in to whatever the hell Flylo’s got going on in his head.
8. Final Destination: Bloodlines
Out of all the “bloodlines” horror franchise sequels- this one is #1. Bloodlines is a really, really great franchise resurrection, and one of the best movie theater experiences of the year. 68% chance of tears during Tony Todd’s send off scene, and bonus points for adding some color to our franchise with our easy to fall for Filipino lead duo.
7. V/H/S/HALLOWEEN
Ah, yes. The franchise that replenishes the darkness into my morbid girl heart. V/H/S has had a guaranteed spot in my top 10 since 2022, and yes, I am predictable, so here it is again. I’m super attracted to the heavy, and as Shudder VP Sam Zimmerman has mentioned, the goal is to “keep making heavier shit”, and I intend to ingest. The final chapter, Home Haunt by power couple Micheline Pitt-Norman and R.H. Norman is one of the best shorts of the entire franchise, and sells this installment for me.
6. The Toxic Avenger
Is it Criterion material? Won’t even answer that. You should know better than to expect objectively good filmmaking. The new Toxie, (played by Peter Dinklage, holy shit) honors the more evergreen Troma guidelines. The most prominent being the “you can’t laugh at me- I’m already laughing” defense response. Blair and the crew are already 10 steps ahead of you with bloodshot eyeballs giggling in a mirror covered with sweaty fingerprints and other questionable substances. You should watch it.
5. Dangerous Animals
This is one of those new personalities I mentioned earlier. I took my dad to see this one as a band-aid because we couldn’t catch the 50th anniversary of Jaws in theaters. It ain’t your typical killer shark sub-genre situation; one follows a shark that eats people, and the other follows a parasocial relationship between a kooky fragile man and a species of apex predator he uses to cope with his disdain towards women. Regardless, my dad and I are both in love with Jai Courtney now. What a character.
4. Weapons
I trust and believe in the ‘funny guy’ to ‘nightmare maker’ pipeline. There’s a high chance what you see will be filled with a “what the fuck!?” of substance. I love that Cregger hit us with the “I know what you’re thinking, horror junkie who thinks they know it all. So, I’ll have to meet you at the 45 minute mark in a completely different location” a second time. Also, Campbell’s chicken soup is done. I don’t want to see that shit in my grandma’s cupboard.
3. Bring Her Back
The only woman on screen who can out-creep Weapons’s Aunt Gladys is Sally Hawkins as Laura, the world’s worst foster mom. Bring Her Back weighs about the same as a three family brownstone apartment building- its grief partnered with extreme physical perversion by the hands of the woman who previously played the counterpart to Paddington the bear is just sick. The girls on Letterboxd aren’t lying when they say this is the feel-bad movie of the year. Many blessings to the mental health of the Philippou brothers.
2. Sinners
I mean, do I even need to provide an explanation? Sinners saved us in 2025.
1. The Ugly Stepsister
The dangers of “thinking skinny” for patriarchal validation will leave you all types of twisted. So twisted, I had to rearrange my Letterboxd top four. This period piece is a timeless film frosted with humor, irony, and all sorts of bodily substances. Y’all wanna see what 1800’s european-grade ozempic can do to a young woman? Press play. This is a perfect tragedy, and Emilie Blichfeldt is one bad bitch.
In short, 2025 was shit for just about everybody. The volume of A+ horror stories convinces me of that. Realistically though, when I look at my final top 10 of this year, I see promise for new filmmakers, breaking boundaries, testing new ideas, and a push towards the practical; real good gory stuff. I don’t doubt we’ll see more of that in 2026. Let’s spin the block and run it back! We’re still hungry.
