🔗 Share this article

The largest shock the cinema world has witnessed in 2025? The resurgence of horror as a main player at the British cinemas.

As a category, it has remarkably surpassed earlier periods with a 22% year-on-year increase for the British and Irish cinemas: over £83 million this year, 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 film industry analyst.

The top performers of the year – Weapons (£11.4m), Sinners (£16.2m), The Conjuring Last Rites (£14.98 million) and the sequel to a classic (£15.54m) – have all hung about in the theaters and in the audience's minds.

While much of the industry commentary centers on the singular brilliance of renowned filmmakers, their triumphs indicate something changing between viewers and the genre.

“I’ve heard people say, ‘Even if you don’t like horror this is a film you need to see,’” states a film distribution executive.

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

But beyond artistic merit, the consistent popularity of frightening features this year indicates they are giving audiences something that’s greatly desired: emotional release.

“Currently, cinema mirrors the widespread anger, fear, and societal splits,” observes a film commentator.

“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,” explains a noted author of vampire and monster cinema.

In the context of a current events featuring conflict, immigration issues, political shifts, and climate concerns, supernatural beings and undead creatures strike a unique chord with filmg oers.

“Some research suggests vampire film popularity correlates with financial downturns,” says an star 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.

Experts highlight the rise of German expressionism after the first world war and the turbulent times of the 1920s Europe, with movies such as The Cabinet of Dr Caligari and a pioneering fright film.

This was followed by the Great Depression era and Universal Studios’ Frankenstein and The Wolfman.

“The classic example is Dracula: you get this invasion of Britain by someone from eastern Europe who then causes this infection that gets spread in all sorts of ways and threatens the Anglo-Saxon heroes,” says a historian.

“Therefore, it embodies concerns related to foreign influx.”

The specter of border issues inspired the recently released folk horror The Severed Sun.

The creator explains: “I aimed to delve into populist rhetoric. Specifically, calls to restore a mythical past that favored a privileged few.”

“Also, the concept of familiar individuals revealing surprising prejudices in casual settings.”

Perhaps, the current era of acclaimed, socially switched-on horror commenced with a clever critique debuted a year after a divisive leadership period.

It introduced a new wave of innovative filmmakers, including a range of talented artists.

“That period was incredibly stimulating,” recalls a filmmaker whose film about a murderous foetus was one of the period's key works.

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

The director, currently developing another scary story, continues: “Over 10 years, audiences’ minds have been opening up to much more of that.”

At the same time, there has been a revival of the overlooked scary films.

Recently, a new cinema opened in the capital, showing underground films such as The Greasy Strangler, a classic adaptation and the late-80s version of the expressionist icon.

The re-appreciation of this “raw and chaotic” genre is, according to the cinema founder, a straightforward answer to the calculated releases produced at the box office.

“This responds to the sterile output from major studios. Today's cinema is safer and more repetitive. Many popular movies feel identical,” he states.

“On the other hand, [these indie works] feel imperfect. They seem to burst forth from deep creativity, free from commercial constraints.”

Fright flicks continue to disrupt conventions.

“Horror possesses a dual nature, feeling both classic and current simultaneously,” notes an expert.

In addition to the return of the mad scientist trope – with multiple versions of a literary masterpiece imminent – he anticipates we will see fright features in 2026 and 2027 responding to our current anxieties: about AI’s dominance in the near future and “vampires living in the Trump tower”.

In the interim, a biblical fright story a forthcoming title – which narrates the tale of biblical parent hardships after the nativity, and includes well-known actors as the divine couple – is set for release in the coming months, and will undoubtedly create waves through the Christian right in the US.</