🔗 Share this article

The biggest shock the movie business has experienced in 2025? The comeback of horror as a leading genre at the UK film market.

As a genre, it has remarkably surpassed previous years with a 22% rise compared to last year for the British and Irish cinemas: over £83 million this year, compared with £68.6 million last year.

“In the past year, not a single horror movie hit £10 million in UK or Irish theaters. Now, five have achieved that,” says a cinema revenue expert.

The major successes of the year – a recent horror title (£11.4m), Sinners (£16.2 million), The Conjuring Last Rites (£14.98m) and 28 Years Later (£15.54m) – have all hung about in the cinemas and in the audience's minds.

Although much of the expert analysis highlights the singular brilliance of prominent auteurs, their achievements point to something changing between audiences and the style.

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

“Such movies experiment with style and format to produce entirely fresh content, connecting with viewers on a new level.”

But beyond artistic merit, the consistent popularity of horror movies this year indicates they are giving audiences something that’s highly necessary: therapeutic relief.

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

“The genre masterfully exploits common anxieties, magnifying them so that everyday stresses fade beside the cinematic horror,” says a respected writer of vampire and monster cinema.

In the context of a real-world news cycle featuring geopolitical strife, enforcement actions, extremist rises, and ecological disasters, supernatural beings and undead creatures resonate a bit differently with audiences.

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

“The concept reflects how economic systems can drain vitality from individuals.”

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

Analysts point to the surge of early cinematic styles after the the Great War and the turbulent times of the early Weimar Republic, with features such as early expressionist works and a pioneering fright film.

Later occurred the 1930s depression and Universal Studios’ Frankenstein and The Wolfman.

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

“Thus, it mirrors widespread fears about migration.”

The boogeyman of migration shaped the recently released folk horror The Severed Sun.

The filmmaker clarifies: “My goal was to examine populist trends. For instance, nostalgic phrases promising a return to a 'better' era that excluded many.”

“Secondly, the idea that you could be with someone you know and then suddenly they blurt out something round the dinner table or in a Facebook post and you’re like, ‘Where did that come from?’”

Arguably, the modern period of acclaimed, socially switched-on horror began with a brilliant satire debuted a year after a polarizing administration.

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

“Those years were remarkably vibrant,” says a director whose movie about a murderous foetus was one of the time's landmark films.

“I believe it initiated a trend toward eccentric, high-concept horror that aimed for artistic recognition.”

The same filmmaker, who is writing a new horror original, adds: “During the past decade, viewers have become more receptive to such innovative approaches.”

Simultaneously, there has been a revival of the underrated horror works.

Earlier this year, a nicke l venue opened in London, showing obscure movies such as The Greasy Strangler, a classic adaptation and the late-80s version of the expressionist icon.

The re-appreciation of this “gritty and loud” genre is, according to the theater owner, a clear response to the algorithmic content pumped out at the box office.

“It’s a reaction to the sanitised product that’s coming out of Hollywood. You have a film scene that’s more tepid and more predictable. A lot of the mainstream films are very similar,” he states.

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

Scary movies continue to challenge the norm.

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

Alongside the re-emergence of the deranged genius archetype – with two adaptations of a literary masterpiece imminent – he forecasts we will see scary movies in 2026 and 2027 responding to our current anxieties: about artificial intelligence control in the years ahead and “vampires living in the Trump tower”.

At the same time, a biblical fright story The Carpenter’s Son – which tells the story of biblical parent hardships after Jesus’s birth, and includes famous performers as the holy parents – is planned for launch soon, and will undoubtedly create waves through the religious conservatives in the United States.</