The 10 Best Horror Movies of 2025 and 'Black Phone 2'

'Black Phone 2'With Chris Ryan

Black Phone 2 2025

Scott Derrickson's sequel, again written with C. Robert Cargill from Joe Hill's world, with Ethan Hawke back as the Grabber and Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw as Finney and Gwen. Chris likes the first 45 minutes and the contrast between the abusively high-def present and the 8mm/16mm dream footage, but says it collapses under exposition connecting the two films, retcons the mother's death, and turns the Grabber supernatural a la Freddy Krueger. Too long at 1h55, and boring where a horror movie shouldn't be, yet a real box-office win for a cold Blumhouse.

Is horror too good now?The big studio horror of 2025

Sinners 2025

One of the year's top-tier swings and a massive hit; you see the vampire siege coming and love it anyway.

Weapons 2025

Maybe three jump scares in the whole thing and audiences are mesmerized, proof that a great filmmaker plus a few scares wins.

28 Years Later 2025

Big ideas about grief, parenthood and childhood, carried by an iPhone-shot naked zombie alpha.

Final Destination Bloodlines 2025

The studio exception, dormant IP nobody expected much from that turned into a modestly budgeted hit by taking real swings.

The Conjuring: Last Rites 2025

Likely the biggest Conjuring ever, but drowned in the same endless exposition that sinks Black Phone 2.

The Monkey 2025

Osgood Perkins after Longlegs, one of the year's most successful horror films; Chris prefers Longlegs.

Until Dawn 2025

Sony's video-game adaptation, which Chris thought was really bad.

The Strangers: Chapter 2 2025

Cited as the over-explaining problem: a full origin story for the strangers, exactly what the original's mystery didn't need.

The year in horrorChris Ryan's 2025 picks and near-misses

V/H/S/Halloween 2025

One of the best in the annual Shudder anthology, lighter and more playful than past installments; Alex Ross Perry's Kidprint segment is the standout.

Dangerous Animals 2025

Sean Byrne's sadistic movie about a killer who uses a shark as his weapon; Jai Courtney is a great villain, though Chris finds the surfer-finding-herself opening baggy.

Bring Her Back 2025

The Philippou brothers' follow-up to Talk to Me, with a strong Sally Hawkins turn but an instant slog; the dark-web resurrection prequel sounds better than the movie.

Strange Harvest 2025

Stuart Ortiz's note-for-note true-crime-doc pastiche about an Inland Empire serial killer with occult powers, well executed on a low budget but more exercise than movie.

Shelby Oaks 2025

YouTube critic Chris Stuckmann's crowdfunded debut about vanished ghost-hunter YouTubers, later picked up by Neon with Mike Flanagan as EP; it works as a fake true-crime doc, then falters when it becomes a conventional narrative.

Night of the Reaper 2025

Brandon Christensen's babysitter-versus-killer movie, a riff on House of the Devil and Scream that leans on 80s aesthetics but goes its own way.

Marshmallow 2025

Daniel DePurgatorio's plot-dependent comedy-horror set at a summer camp; on Shudder.

Invader 2025

Mickey Keating's 70-minute run-and-gun film with and produced by Joe Swanberg, pitched toward the Dardennes and Haneke; punishingly handheld but the recommendation of the episode.

Companion 2025

A 99-out-of-100 movie hurt by a January release; would have been welcome this month and had too much of itself in the trailer.

Good Boy 2025

A killer seen through the eyes of his dog, with one of the great dog performances; better as experiment than movie at 73 minutes, headed to Shudder.

Descendent 2025

Peter Cilella's Benson-and-Morehead-adjacent sci-fi horror about a security guard drawn in by aliens as his wife is pregnant; strong filmmaking, with Ross Marquand and Sarah Bolger.

Jimmy and Stiggs 2025

Joe Begos's 84-minute splatter-core head trip: a thinly veiled Begos wakes to find aliens in his apartment and has to kill them. Very funny, very gross, with an insane final 20 minutes.

Bleeding 2025

A vampire movie as opioid-addiction allegory, with early-Jeff-Nichols Shotgun Stories energy and performances better than the premise needs.

Fear Street: Prom Queen 2025

Serviceable, pretty decent.

Clown in a Cornfield 2025

A fun killer-clown whodunit slasher, more successful and more tongue-in-cheek than the I Know What You Did Last Summer reboot.

I Know What You Did Last Summer 2025

The Gen-Z reboot, well cast but too pleased with its own cleverness and weighed down connecting itself to the old films; a straight remake might have played better.

Bone Lake 2025

An Airbnb couples-thriller with hints of partner-swapping; Chris hadn't seen it yet.

Witchboard 2025

Chuck Russell's remake of the 1986 Ouija-board movie; Chris hadn't seen it but is eager to, as Russell made Dream Warriors, The Mask and the Blob remake.

Hell of a Summer 2025

Finn Wolfhard's co-directed Meatballs-meets-slasher, with Fred Hechinger; a completely entertaining night.

Looky Loo 2025

A very fucked-up first-person found-footage stalking film, on VOD.

In conversation

Alex Ross Perry on

V/H/S/Halloween 2025

His segment Kidprint, a 90s-Blockbuster-'Kid Print'-video nightmare inspired by his essay film Video Heaven, shot in May, out in October; grounded on the fear that scares him most as a parent, a stranger who can just walk in.

Alex Ross Perry on

Creepshow 1982

The single-filmmaker gold standard, rewatchable every Halloween because King writes the funny, fucked-up little stories better than anyone.

Alex Ross Perry on

Creepshow 2 1987

Three single-setting segments and a weak animated wraparound; the Ted Danson beach story is the one everyone loves.

Alex Ross Perry on

Trick 'r Treat 2007

The obvious modern single-filmmaker answer, and everyone's top-five omnibus even if Letterboxd stashes it at No. 10.

Alex Ross Perry on

Kwaidan 1964

Masaaki Kobayashi's film, the highest average on the by-Letterboxd list; watchable across multiple sittings, per Tracy Letts.

Alex Ross Perry on

Dead of Night 1945

The original British omnibus with five directors, second on the by-rating list.

Alex Ross Perry on

Tales from the Hood 1995

A well-regarded single-vision anthology with real consistency.

Alex Ross Perry on

Black Sabbath 1963

Mario Bava's single-filmmaker anthology, near the top of the list.

Alex Ross Perry on

Night Train to Terror 1985

God and the Devil playing chess on a train between shorts that seem to be abandoned features retrofitted into one movie; Alex would rate it a 4 out of 5.

Alex Ross Perry on

Verotika 2016

Glenn Danzig's anthology of his comic stories; not bottom-of-the-barrel, in Alex's telling, whatever the reputation.

Alex Ross Perry on

Death Rider in the House of Vampires 2021

Danzig's vampire Western with Devon Sawa, Julian Sands, Danny Trejo and Eli Roth; a 2.3 on Letterboxd.

Also mentioned raised along the way

News, trailers and the awards field The OdysseyOppenheimerThe Smashing MachineFerrariThiefManhunterHeatHeat 2The IrishmanMichael ClaytonThe Bourne LegacyDuplicitySorry, BabyAfter the Hunt

Horror touchstones and villains A Nightmare on Elm StreetA Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream WarriorsWes Craven's New NightmareScreamHalloweenThe Texas Chainsaw MassacreNight of the Living DeadHereditaryGet OutSawThe Strangers

Blumhouse and the wider studio slate M3GAN 2.0Wolf ManThe Woman in the YardDropFive Nights at Freddy'sFive Nights at Freddy's 2Night SwimLonglegsKeeperNosferatuGuillermo del Toro's FrankensteinHeretic

More of the horror year Talk to MeIn a Violent NatureLate Night with the DevilHell House LLCBeast of WarDangerous AnimalsSleepaway CampShockerBone Lake

Comparisons and name-drops Panic RoomFight ClubOnce Upon a Time in HollywoodRoof ManCaught StealingFrozen IIRebel Without a CauseRiver's EdgeThe GooniesMeatballsThe AddictionShotgun StoriesCannibal HolocaustMary Shelley's Frankenstein

Mickey Keating and House of the Devil The House of the DevilOffseasonCarnage ParkPsychopaths

Chuck Russell and the Witchboard lineage WitchboardThe MaskThe BlobNight of the Demons

Grave Encounters and true crime Grave Encounters

The horror anthology canon V/H/SV/H/S/94V/H/S/BeyondV/H/S: ViralSouthboundXXThree... ExtremesTales from the Darkside: The MovieTales from the CryptTwo Evil EyesBody BagsNightmaresWaxworkTrilogy of TerrorAll Hallows' EveCat's EyeTwilight Zone: The MovieCreepshow 3Books of BloodDr. Terror's House of HorrorsTorture GardenTales That Witness MadnessThe Yule Log

Alex Ross Perry's work and other mentions Video HeavenGolden ExitsPavementsThe InnocentsSaturday Night and Sunday MorningDuneThe Elephant ManThe Straight StoryGlorySchool TiesCaught by the TidesThe Nun

Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads

TV AndorVampirinaIt: Welcome to DerryCastle RockChannel ZeroAre You Afraid of the Dark?Tales from the Crypt (HBO series)Black MirrorThe Twilight ZoneThe Outer LimitsGoosebumpsTaskThe White LotusThe Gilded AgeOuter BanksToo Many Cooks

Books Scary Stories to Tell in the DarkSkeleton CrewDifferent Seasons

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