Best Horror Movies of 2025 So Far – Ranked

Discover the best horror movies of 2025 has to offer, from ‘Sinners’ and ‘Nosferatu’ to ‘28 Years Later’ and ‘Final Destination: Bloodlines.’

August update: Horror fans are eating good this month! We’ve got Weapons — Zach Cregger’s mysterious, weird, and awesome missing-kids thriller — and Together, the Alison Brie/Dave Franco relationship horror that makes staying single sound like a brilliant life choice.

Unlike the vampires, monsters, and virus-infected “alphas” we see on screen, the horror genre is alive and kicking. In fact, you could say it’s in a “beautiful” phase right now. If you love going to the movies to get scared out of your seat, 2025 has been way kinder to you than to comedy lovers. Comedy has been pretty quiet this year, but horror has been relentless — in a good way.

The big headliners like Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu and Ryan Coogler’s Sinners pulled huge audiences and spawned endless memes. But don’t overlook the rest — here are the must-watch horror films of 2025 so far.

1. The Monkey – One of the Best Horror Movies of 2025 Has for B-Movie Fans

Foto: Beta Fiction

After the creepy success of Longlegs, Osgood Perkins — son of Psycho star Anthony Perkins — takes on a Stephen King short story. The plot? A demonic wind-up toy monkey. Every time someone winds it up, a disturbing and violent death follows. The only hope? Theo James (playing the “good” twin)… unless his “evil” twin wins.

Is it deep or groundbreaking? Nope. But it’s gleefully gory, darkly funny, and feels like a cartoonish B-movie in the best possible way.

2. Dangerous Animals

Photograph: Courtesy of Independent Film Company and Shudder

Think Wolf Creek, but with more fun and more blood. This sunny horror-thriller turns a great white shark into a deadly weapon — but the real villain is Tucker, played by Jai Courtney. He’s a bald, rough Aussie shark dive operator who lures unsuspecting tourists onto his rusty old boat… then feeds them to the local fish.

Oh, and he records every horrifying death on VHS tapes — a twisted little nod to exploitation cinema. Meanwhile, surfer girl Zephyr (Hassie Harrison) keeps things from becoming one-sided in the survival game.

3. 28 Years Later

Photograph: Miya Mizuno/Sony Pictures Internatiional

Danny Boyle and Alex Garland reunite for the most “film school meets horror” movie since Sinners. Like 28 Days Later back in 2002, the first hour is a non-stop, intense ride. Then it slows down, focusing on a mother (Jodie Comer) and son (newcomer Alfie Williams) trapped in a dying, cut-off Britain.

And yes, they’re still not zombies — they’re “infected.” But just like the original, it’s a smart, emotional story about survival and society.

4. Bring Her Back

Photograph: A24

From the directors of Talk To Me, Danny and Michael Philippou, comes another unsettling story — this time about grief. Two Australian teens — Andy (Billy Barratt) and blind Piper (Sora Wong) — are sent to live with a strange foster mother, Laura (Sally Hawkins).

Andy starts to suspect Laura has a hidden agenda, and things spiral into a mix of suspense, disturbing imagery, cult-like rituals, and one unforgettable kitchen knife moment. Sally Hawkins as the “evil mom” is chilling.

5. Presence

Photograph: Neon

This isn’t a jump-scare fest — it’s Steven Soderbergh doing a ghost story his way. The whole movie is shown from the point of view of an unseen entity living in a family’s house. The family has plenty of dark secrets, and watching them unfold from this creepy, voiceless perspective makes the haunted house genre feel fresh again. It’s sad, haunting, and unsettling all at once.

6. Together

Foto: Cortesía

Here’s a clever idea: cast a real-life Hollywood couple in a horror about a couple. Alison Brie and Dave Franco star as two people trying to escape their relationship problems by retreating to the countryside.

But thanks to a supernatural curse, they literally — physically — start sticking together. If they separate, they might fuse forever. It’s gross, it’s funny, and oddly… kind of romantic in a messed-up way.

7. Final Destination: Bloodlines

Photograph: Warner Bros.

It’s been 14 years since the fifth Final Destination, but this sixth film isn’t a lazy cash grab. In fact, it might be the best one yet.

This time, a young woman discovers her entire family shouldn’t even exist — because a distant relative was supposed to die in a terrible accident years ago. She tries to keep Death away from them, and we get a mix of family drama and the franchise’s signature creative, over-the-top kills.

It balances gore and humor perfectly without getting too self-aware.

8. Nosferatu

Foto: Focus Features

Robert Eggers (The Lighthouse) finally delivers his take on the 1922 classic. His version is an erotic, Gothic update of the Dracula legend. Bill Skarsgård plays the terrifying vampire, who forms a psychic bond with a bride (Lily-Rose Depp) while terrorizing a small German town and an innocent realtor (Nicholas Hoult).

It’s moody, it’s atmospheric, it’s occasionally scary — and Skarsgård is just as disturbing here as he was as Pennywise in It.

9. Sinners – Epic Southern Vampire Tale in Best Horror Movies of 2025

Photograph: Warner Bros.

Ryan Coogler blends Southern vampire horror with musical, romance, and action — and somehow makes it work. Michael B. Jordan plays two roles (one originally written for Jonathan Majors).

This one’s for gore lovers: necks are bitten, bodies burn in sunlight, and the kills are brutal. But Coogler layers it with racial themes, turning it into a big, sweeping cinematic experience that hits both the heart and the nerves.

10. Weapons

Photograph: Warner Bros. Pictures

From Zach Cregger, the director of Barbarian, comes a strange, unsettling story set in a small town shaken by the mysterious disappearance of 17 schoolchildren in one night.

Some questions never get fully answered — What’s it really about? Is it even scary? And what’s with that giant assault rifle in the sky? — but the movie nails its mix of social commentary, strong characters, creepy atmosphere, gore, and campy humor.

It even has shades of 1970s horror like Rosemary’s Baby — which is about as good as a horror compliment gets.

Final Thoughts

If 2024 was a solid year for horror, 2025 is shaping up to be a feast. From sharks and vampires to cursed couples and killer monkeys, this year’s lineup proves that the genre still has endless room to surprise, gross out, and even move us.

So, whether you’re here for the scares, the gore, or the weirdly touching moments — grab your popcorn. This year, horror isn’t just alive… it’s thriving.