🔗 Share this article

The largest shock the movie business has experienced in 2025? The return of horror as a dominant force at the UK box office.

As a genre, it has impressively surpassed past times with a annual growth of 22% for the British and Irish cinemas: £83,766,086 in 2025, against £68,612,395 in 2024.

“Last year, no horror film reached £10m at the UK or Irish box office. This year, five films have,” comments a box office editor.

The major successes of the year – a recent horror title (£11.4m), Sinners (£16.2m), The Conjuring Last Rites (£14.98m) and the sequel to a classic (£15.54m) – have all stayed in the multiplexes and in the public consciousness.

While much of the industry commentary highlights the standout quality of certain directors, their triumphs point to something evolving between audiences and the category.

“Many have expressed, ‘You should watch this even if horror isn’t your thing,’” explains a content buying lead.

“Films like these play with genre and structure to create something completely different, and that speaks to an audience in a different way.”

But outside of creative value, the steady demand of frightening features this year implies they are giving moviegoers something that’s much needed: catharsis.

“Right now, there’s a lot of anger, fear and division that’s being reflected in cinema,” observes a genre expert.

“Horror films are great at playing into people’s anxieties, while at the same time exaggerating them. So you forget about your day-to-day anxieties and focus on the monster on the screen,” says a prominent scholar of classic monster stories.

Against a global headlines featuring war, border tensions, far-right movements, and environmental crises, ghosts, monsters, and mythical entities connect in new ways with audiences.

“Some research suggests vampire film popularity correlates with financial downturns,” says an actress from a successful fright film.

“It’s the idea that capitalism sucks the life out of people.”

From film's inception, societal turmoil has shaped horror.

Scholars reference the surge of early cinematic styles after the WWI and the chaotic atmosphere of the early Weimar Republic, with features such as early expressionist works and Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror.

Later occurred the 1930s depression and iconic horror characters.

“Take Dracula: it depicts an Eastern European figure invading Britain, spreading a metaphorical infection that endangers local protagonists,” says a historian.

“So it reflects a lot of anxieties around immigration.”

The boogeyman of immigration inspired the recently released folk horror The Severed Sun.

The filmmaker explains: “I wanted to explore ideas around the rise of populism. Firstly, slogans like ‘Let’s Make Britain Great Again’, that harken back to some fantasy time when things were ‘better’, but only if you were a rich white man.”

“Additionally, the notion that acquaintances might unexpectedly voice extreme views, leaving others shocked.”

Arguably, the present time of praised, culturally aware scary films commenced with a clever critique debuted a year after a divisive leadership period.

It ushered in a recent surge of innovative filmmakers, including a range of talented artists.

“Those years were remarkably vibrant,” recalls a creator whose movie about a deadly unborn child was one of the era’s tentpole movies.

“In my view, it marked the start of a phase where filmmakers embraced wildly creative horror with artistic ambitions.”

This creator, now penning a fresh horror script, notes: “During the past decade, viewers have become more receptive to such innovative approaches.”

At the same time, there has been a revival of the genre’s less celebrated output.

In recent months, a nicke l venue opened in a major city, showing cult classics such as The Greasy Strangler, a classic adaptation and the modern reinterpretation of the expressionist icon.

The fresh acclaim of this “gritty and loud” genre is, according to the venue creator, a direct reaction to the formulaic productions churned out at the box office.

“It counters the polished content from big producers. The industry has become blander and more foreseeable. Numerous blockbusters share the same traits,” he says.

“Conversely, [such movies] appear raw. As if they emerged straight from the artist's mind, untouched by studio control.”

Fright flicks continue to challenge the norm.

“They have this strange ability to seem old fashioned and up to the minute, both at the same time,” observes an specialist.

Alongside the return of the insane researcher motif – with two adaptations of a well-known story imminent – he predicts we will see scary movies in 2026 and 2027 reacting to our current anxieties: about AI’s dominance in the coming decades and “supernatural elements in political spheres”.

In the interim, “Jesus horror” a forthcoming title – which tells the story of holy family challenges after the nativity, and includes well-known actors as the divine couple – is scheduled to debut soon, and will definitely cause a stir through the Christian right in the America.</