Spooky season arrives, and cinema schedules overflow with horror films. With studios increasingly willing to invest in quality scares, recognising the genre’s reliable box office returns, 2025 has delivered an unusually strong year for frights.
Below, we examine five new releases critics are debating this Halloween season, analysing their strengths and weaknesses, followed by detailed recommendations for 16 additional titles across major streaming platforms.
Critics’ Picks: The Essential 2025 Horror Watchlist
San Francisco Chronicle critics selected these five films as must-watches this Halloween season. Here’s what works, what doesn’t, and how they’ll affect your sleep.
Sinners
Ryan Coogler directs this southern gothic vampire epic, reuniting with star Michael B. Jordan. The story centres on twin World War I veterans, Smoke and Stack (Michael B. Jordan playing both roles), returning home to 1932 Mississippi.
They hope to start a “juke joint” (jazz club) outside of town. The twin brothers face opposition from the white community and the Ku Klux Klan.
A mysterious vampire named Remik shatters their dream, turning locals, including Smoke’s cousin Sammy, into the undead. The twins fight for survival, trying to save their community.
The Critical Take: Sinners works as genre-bending “elevated horror,” blending intense violence, history, and soul. Coogler, an Oakland native, found inspiration in Metallica’s 1988 anti-war song “One,” using its structure—intense, then melodic, then “f—ing crazy”—for the film.
Coogler builds characters and relationships with genuine care before introducing horror elements, making the resultant action hit emotionally harder.
Critics note the film works as a horror-drama that is also “sort of a musical,” putting music into its blood.
Caveats and Audience Guidance: The film disappoints with early jump scares that feel obligatory rather than earned.
Despite a couple of chilling moments, it’s not particularly frightening, relying instead on slow-burn dread and racial commentary.
Critics felt Hailee Steinfeld’s character (Mary) deserved deeper exploration. This is atmospheric horror for viewers who prioritise character drama over visceral scares.
Where to Watch: Streaming on Max (4 July debut). UK viewers can find Max content via Sky or Now TV. Sinners will also become the first film streamed in Black American Sign Language (BASL).
Weapons
Zach Cregger, director of Barbarian, returns with Weapons. The film starts eerily at 2:17 a.m. when 17 third graders leave their suburban Pennsylvania homes and run into the darkness, vanishing completely. A month later, investigations show no progress.
The main story focuses on Justine Gandy (Julia Garner), a new teacher whose entire class disappears except for one child, Alex. Justine bonds with distraught parent Archer Graff (Josh Brolin) as they investigate a sinister cabal targeting the town’s kids.
The Critical Take: Weapons confirms Cregger as a horror auteur worth watching. The plot is inventive and intriguing.
Cregger uses an audacious structural ploy, telling the story nonlinearly, rewinding the narrative to show events from each of the seven main characters’ viewpoints.
Critics called it a mystery where the payoff is genuinely satisfying. The film features “credible characters with edgy relationships navigating increasingly insane situations.”
Caveats and Audience Guidance: The nonlinear structure requires active engagement—this isn’t passive viewing. Though the film eventually delivers gore, it prioritises mystery, intrigue, and dread over overt violence for most of its runtime.
Viewers seeking nonstop action may find the detailed character development slow-paced. When violence arrives, it’s intense and graphic.
Where to Watch: Streaming on Prime Video (available in UK).
Together
Palo Alto native Dave Franco and Alison Brie star as a married couple in this supernatural body horror film. They move to the country seeking a fresh start for their failing relationship.
One stormy afternoon, they fall into an underground cave containing remains of a Plato-worshipping church. After consuming water from a pool in the cave, they wake up partially stuck together.
The mysterious force causes painful, horrific changes, physically drawing them towards each other until they eventually fuse into a singular being.
The Critical Take: Director Michael Shanks’s feature debut uses the premise as an icky-sweet metaphor for codependency, examining whether love costs too much of one’s own identity.
Casting real-life married couple Brie and Franco gives the film undeniable sincerity; their interplay balances blood-curdling rawness with genuine sensitivity.
Caveats and Audience Guidance: Many reviewers found Together to be less a horror film and more a “plodding relationship drama with some impressively disgusting effects superimposed on it.”
The pacing drags during dialogue-heavy sections. However, if you can stomach graphic, extreme body horror, and the effects are legitimately nauseating—the relationship metaphor may resonate. Not recommended for squeamish viewers.
Where to Watch: Digital platforms (released 26 August 2025). UK viewers should check digital storefronts or Prime Video for purchase or rental.
Clown in a Cornfield
Director Eli Craig (Tucker & Dale vs. Evil) adapts Adam Cesare’s young adult novel into a bloody slasher. Quinn (Katie Douglas) moves to a small town with her doctor father following her mother’s death. Soon after, the town’s clown mascot, Frendo, begins a murder spree.
The Critical Take: The film embraces chaos and subverts tired slasher tropes effectively. It balances gore and comedy with nearly every axe swing.
Whilst Frendo won’t dethrone established horror clowns like Pennywise, the film succeeds at appealing to a wider audience who want their scares with laughs.
Caveats and Audience Guidance: This is a bloody slasher that leans into comedy—expect inventive kills played for dark humour rather than pure terror. Fans of standard slasher formulas will enjoy its self-aware, chaotic energy.
Where to Watch: Streaming on AMC+ and Shudder (Shudder available in UK).
The Monkey
Director Osgood Perkins (Longlegs) adapts the Stephen King short story. The story follows twin brothers Hal and Bill Shelburn (both played by Theo James).
They are haunted by a cursed clockwork monkey toy left by their father, which causes bizarre, fatal accidents whenever it plays its drum. Years later, after the monkey resurfaces, the distant brothers must confront the object causing havoc.
The Critical Take: Perkins attempts darkly comedic horror with cartoonish violence and outrageous kills. The death sequences are inventive, more elaborate than Final Destination, and clearly designed to provoke laughter rather than screams.
Caveats and Audience Guidance: However, the film largely fails to achieve a consistent tone. Multiple critics found it “the worst thing a horror saga can be: boring,” with a hollow centre that never makes viewers care about the dysfunctional, narcissistic family at its heart.
The violence is intentionally over-the-top (decapitations, explosions, unspooled intestines), but without emotional stakes, it becomes repetitive. Perkins fans may be disappointed as this is considered his weakest work to date.
Where to Watch: Streaming on Hulu (often available via Disney+ Star in UK).
Supplement Your Stream: 25 More Scary Films with Critical Guidance
Additional options across platforms, with concrete UK streaming information and critical context for informed marathon planning.
Scream, Stream, and Repeat with Netflix
Netflix offers psychological dread mixed with lighter fare (Available on Netflix UK):
- Don’t Move (2024): A slick survival thriller featuring a paralysed woman against an intruder. Creates genuine claustrophobic tension.
- Apostle (2018): Dan Stevens battles a blood cult on a remote island. Genuinely unnerving, though pacing lags in the middle.
- Until Dawn (2025): “Fun horror” that blends survival thrills with tongue-in-cheek scares—designed for viewers who want entertainment without nightmares.
- Run Rabbit Run (2024): Sarah Snook anchors this eerie slow-burn exploring motherhood and memory. Rewards patient viewers.
- Nightbooks (2021): Kid-friendly chiller based on J.A. White’s book. Features a boy kidnapped by a witch (Krysten Ritter) who must tell scary stories nightly. Age-appropriate scares for younger viewers.
Settle In for Some Horror With Hulu
Hulu (often available on Disney+ Star in UK) delivers supernatural and psychological scares:
- Late Night with the Devil (2023): This cult favourite blends demonic possession with 1970s talk-show chaos. Effectively creepy despite low budget.
- Prey (2022): The Predator prequel, set in 1719, follows a skilled Comanche warrior against a terrifying hunter. Tense, beautifully shot, and surprisingly emotional.
- Barbarian (2022): Smart, shocking, and darkly funny—starts as a double-booked Airbnb scenario before delivering genuinely unpredictable twists.
- Ready or Not (2019): A bride must survive her wedding night hunted by devil-worshipping in-laws. This horror-comedy features an unhinged, blood-drenched finale.
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975): ’70s counterculture midnight film offering sci-fi horror elements (spooky mansion, man-made creature) blended with musical camp.
- The Sixth Sense (1999): M. Night Shyamalan’s phenomenal debut builds taut suspense through atmospheric drama rather than jump scares.
Petrify Yourself With Prime Video
Amazon’s catalogue spans retro horror and modern thrillers (Available on Prime Video UK):
- The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014): Found-footage horror that escalates from creepy to genuinely unforgettable. Contains one particularly disturbing scene that lingers.
- Suspiria (2018): A disturbing, stylish reimagining that remains divisive amongst fans. The 1977 original is also available via Prime with Screambox.
- The Black Phone (2022): Director Scott Derrickson’s film stars Ethan Hawke as a masked kidnapper in this tense supernatural thriller. Eerie and unexpectedly emotional.
Turn the Lights Off for These Max Nightmares
Max (content often streams via Sky or Now TV in UK) offers prestige horror and classics:
- Companion (2025): This sci-fi horror thriller cleverly blends horror, dark comedy, and commentary around a companion robot twist. On the tamer side despite containing gore.
- Evil Dead Rise (2023): Bloody and chaotic—essential viewing for Evil Dead franchise fans. Expect intense, relentless horror.
- Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025): This franchise entry revitalises the formula with inventive death sequences. Nostalgic yet genuinely horrifying—the MRI machine scene earned audible gasps in cinemas.
- Beetlejuice (1988): Tim Burton’s classic ’80s comedy features Michael Keaton as the “bioexorcist.” Light horror-comedy accessible to most audiences.
- Get Out (2017): Jordan Peele’s instant classic. Whilst it contains violent moments, the scariest aspect remains its larger social commentary about race. More thoughtful thriller than pure horror.
- Gremlins (1984): Kid-friendly horror-comedy about creature chaos. A cautionary fable about following directions.
Family-Friendly Frights on Disney+
Disney+ provides options for younger viewers (Available on Disney+ UK):
- Mr. Boogedy (1986): Cult classic experiencing renewed interest from nostalgic millennials.
- Halloweentown (1998): Comforting, cosy, appropriately spooky.
- Muppets Haunted Mansion (2021): Musical comedy special with light frights for younger audiences.
- Coco (2017): Animated Pixar film using Day of the Dead-inspired visuals. Features a memorably nasty villain whilst remaining age-appropriate.
- Monsters, Inc. (2001): Animated buddy comedy—the ideal gateway horror for young children.
Whether you’re seeking elevated scares or lighthearted frights, this Halloween season offers something for every tolerance level.