Why 2025 is a scarily good year for horror movies

Lights down, armrest gripped, teeth clenched - just an average evening at the cinema for a horror film fan.

The genre is having a great year in 2025, with the top three examples - Sinners, Final Destination: Bloodlines and 28 Years Later - taking a total of £41.3m ($55.6m) in the UK.

According to data provided by TikTok, there's been an rise in horror-related videos globally on the app in the past 12 months.

It said 10.7m people used the horror hashtag - an increase of 38% - while HorrorTok rose 40% to 2.6m.

The tags aren't exclusively used on movie-related content, but TikTok said it had noticed a spike in videos using them during the Cannes Film Festival in May.

While the figures for the past year could suggest a horror explosion, long-time fans argue the popularity hasn't crept up on us out of nowhere.

Ash Millman, a journalist and presenter who specialises in covering horror, says the genre's success has been more of a slow-burn than a jump-scare.

Over the last 10 years, she says, it's been gathering more critical and commercial success.

She says the success of artier efforts such as Hereditary, from studio A24, and crowd pleasers from horror specialists Blumhouse.

Jonah thinks there is also a deeper reason for the appeal of horror, too.

"I think at the moment people want to go to the cinema for a bit of escapism, forget about things and have a bit of fun," he says.

Ash agrees, and says times of "chaos and uncertainty" in the wider world tend to boost the genre.

"I think that's always a big festering ground for horror to make statements," she says.

"I feel like horror is a reflection of society but gives us a bit of control over it.

"Usually you see people kind of battling against a great evil and overcoming it in blockbuster horror, where we get a nice wrapped-up ending.

"And I think that's a really nice form of escapism and a way of kind of moving past these horrible things going on in the world."