The Best Horror Movies of 2025 (So Far)

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The horrors! They persist! So why not let them run rampant on the big screen, where you can at least experience some catharsis? Thankfully, the genre is in a superb place. The golden age of modern horror has given way to an explosion of experimental and genre-bending art. Now, horror movies like The Substance and Nosferatu are even seeing acknowledgment from the Oscars and Golden Globes.

So far, 2025 has delivered quite a few scary films worth your time. Osgood Perkins delivered The Monkey, his highly anticipated follow-up to last year’s surprise hit Longlegs. Plus, we got a sixth Final Destination sequel featuring Tony Todd’s last on-screen performance. And Ryan Coogler even entered the chat with his vampire epic, Sinners.

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There are more exciting horror movies coming out this year than even a chronically online person can keep up with. However, as a horror buff with over thousands of viewing hours of carnage under her belt, I have trained tirelessly to pick out the best of the best from this year’s crop so far.

The Monkey

Osgood Perkins, director of last year's breakout film Longlegs, adapted his new feature from a Stephen King short story titled "The Monkey." In case you're just catching up, the story sees a murderous toy monkey that haunted two brothers in their childhood return to wreak more havoc on their lives. Theo James flexes his acting range while playing the titular twin brothers, while Osgood charms with some slick dark humor and stunningly gory death scenes. Is it quite what we expected from him following Longlegs? Not exactly. But Osgood knows that a horror film’s threadbare plot can still be saved by visceral scare tactics.

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Sinners

Twins are in! Ryan Coogler must have heard the innermost wish of women all around the world when he decided to give us two Michael B. Jordans in his Southern Gothic vampire film, Sinners. And Coogler did not disappoint with his first original feature idea since his groundbreaking 2013 film, Fruitvale Station. The director combined his trademark sense of style and instinct for deep cultural storytelling to create a historical horror about a vampire invasion on a Black community in the Mississippi Delta. His near-religious reverence for blues music, and his depiction of the beauty of the deep South will ensure this film a lasting legacy—and probably earn some award nods.

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Companion

Drew Hancock’s Companion explores the almost unbearably in-vogue idea of AI sentience and human relationships. If the thought of that doesn’t make you delete your ChatGPT account, then the no-holds barred violent sequences in this film will. Jack Quaid and Sophie Thatcher put their horror-genre experience on display in this sci-fi thriller directed by Drew Hancock. We love horror that takes into account technophobia and our looming fears of ever-evolving AI technology. Companion's stacked cast deftly navigates Hancock’s dark picture of humanity’s future.

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Final Destination: Bloodlines

One good thing about the trend of rebooting and/or remaking every single millennial-beloved franchise is that we occassionally see a banger follow-up to a beloved classic. Directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein had a huge weight of responsibility to a long-awaited sequel to the Final Destination franchise. Their dedication to using practical effects for all the Rube Goldberg traps that make the Final Destination movies so fun enshrined this entry as a top-tier sequel. Final Destination: Bloodlines delivered on what most fans of the franchise loved about the series and more.

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Bring Her Back

This might be the year of iconic sophomore films from horror auteurs. With Bring Her Back, Michael and Danny Philippou destroyed any doubters who thought they would go down as one-hit wonders after their first feature, 2023’s Talk To Me. This film centers around a brother and sister who are left vulnerable after their father dies suddenly. They’re thrust into the home and care of a strange foster mom, played by Sally Hawkins. This movie dives into the Philippous's comfort zone, which is, you know, making the viewer extremely uncomfortable. Bring Her Back is another meditation into grief and the extreme emotional places that trauma can take a person to. The Philippous are not afraid to tread scary territory, be it in gore-packed action or in devastating emotional blows.

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M3GAN 2.0

We made a best friend (or enemy, in the case of our entertainment editor, Brady Langmann) in M3GAN, when she was introduced to us by director Gerard Johnstone in 2022. The viral meme machine and multitalented AI doll sliced and diced her way into our hearts, and we’ve since been impatiently awaiting her return to the big screen. M3GAN 2.0 sees the titular killer children’s toy take a new role—as humanity’s savior. Some viewers found the genre switch a little too much of a left turn to handle. But in my house, any M3GAN is a good M3GAN. Especially if she has a brand-new wig, outfit, and a load of attitude.

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28 Years Later

Danny Boyle and Alex Garland teamed up again to revive the 28 Days Later series they created in 2002. Of course, the world has changed a lot since then, and so has the world inside the dystopian zombie-infested 28 Years Later. This time, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jack O’Connell, and Jodie Comer join the cast as survivors after the original virus that turned human beings into monsters has been mostly wiped out. However, as we’re all painfully aware, society doesn’t necessarily change for the better after a large global pandemic. In fact, extremist beliefs and isolationist behavior tend to thrive in such environments! Boyle and Garland take a hard glance at the current cultural political climate with their apocalyptic sequel.

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The Ugly Stepsister

Thought you had enough of body horror after watching The Substance last year? Think again! The Ugly Stepsister, the debut feature film by Norwegian Director Emilie Blichfeldt, takes the genre to new extremes. A retelling of the mythical story of Cinderella, The Ugly Stepsister focuses instead on the oldest new stepsister of Cinderella, Elvira. She’s plain and invisible compared to the conventionally attractive and naturally charming Cinderella. Elvira believes that true love and validation will come in the form of being chosen as the prince’s bride. So, she embarks on a dangerous journey to mutilate her body until she’s eye-catching enough to hook the prince. Her transformation isn’t aided by any fairy godmothers, but rather by brutishly antiquated plastic surgery procedures like sewing (yes, with needle and thread) false eyelashes to her eyelids, and breaking her nose until it can be reset into the perfect shape. Blichfeldt weaves a darkly funny, yet brutal tale of the doom in trying to change yourself for others.

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