I love the horror genre. You’ll find me watching scary flicks all year long, but naturally, around Halloween, my movie-watching time is completely dominated by spooky picks. However, there’s only so many times you can rewatch familiar favorites like “The Exorcist,” “Get Out” and “The Shining.” Eventually, you might want to inject some new blood into your marathons.
So, it’s a good thing that 2025 has been a pretty great year (so far) for brand-new horror movies. Yes, there’s been plenty of duds (The “Wolf Man” remake was a real low), but we’ve also got some phenomenal horror efforts that I know genre fans like myself will be recommending during Halloween season for years to come. These range from incredible originals to long-awaited franchise revivals. In 2025, horror fans have been eating good.
If you’re currently planning your seasonal movie marathons ahead of the day itself (or just want to watch a great new horror movie this week), here are the 5 movies released in 2025 that you need to watch for Halloween this year.
‘Weapons’
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“Weapons” is my current favorite movie of 2025, and now that it’s streaming on HBO Max, you better believe I’ll be returning for a rewatch this month. Zach Cregger’s follow-up to his breakout debut, “Barbarian,” this epic horror blends a sprawling multi-perspective narrative with plenty of spooky scares, and phenomenal performances from Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich and Benedict Wong. It’s a masterclass in supernatural storytelling and features one of the most memorable (and sinister) cinematic villains of the past decade.
Presented in a nonlinear fashion, with individual chapters told from various character perspectives, “Weapons” opens with a group of 17 third-graders waking up at exactly 2:17 a.m., walking out of their homes, running off into the pitch-black night, and never coming back. Naturally, the parents are desperate for answers (and somebody to blame), while the authorities are puzzled by the bizarre event. I’ll say no more for fear of spoilers because trust me, there’s plenty to discover in this thrilling and wonderfully compelling mystery flick.
Watch “Weapons” on HBO Max now
‘Sinners’
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Another super obvious choice for Halloween 2025 is “Sinners,” but there’s a reason the latest collaboration between writer/director Ryan Coogler and star Michael B. Jordan was all anybody could talk about back in the spring. It’s a frightfully well-crafted vampire horror that blends Southern folklore with genre filmmaking that feels cutting-edge. If I have one criticism, it’s that the vampire-free first half might actually be superior to the bloody chaos that follows afterward, but taken as a whole, it’s critically acclaimed for good reason.
In “Sinners,” Michael B. Jordan is on double-duty playing identical twin brothers who return to their Mississippi hometown after seven years working for the mob in Chicago. They plan to open a juke joint in an old sawmill, but what starts as an evening of celebration (and really good music) becomes much darker when an unexpected visitor (Jack O’Connell) turns up on the doorstep. Also starring Hailee Steinfeld, “Sinners” is near pulpy perfection.
Watch “Sinners” on HBO Max now
‘Together’
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It turns out that when you cast a real-life married couple as an on-screen couple, the results are pretty darn excellent. “Together” sees Alison Brie and Dave Franco play longtime partners suffering from the seven-year itch, and that’s an apt phrase because this body shocker will certainly make your skin crawl. The chemistry between Brie and Franco is the movie’s real ace, and the twisting narrative that leaps between dark comedy and very graphic body mutations proves to be a quite potent mixture for unforgettable horror.
Millie (Brie) and Tim (Franco) have been a couple for years, but when they move to the countryside so the former can take a new job, long-ignored cracks in their relationship start to tear them apart. That is, until they encounter a mysterious force that literally brings them together again, closer than ever before. Only a weak ending and some poor CGI effects blunt the impact. Otherwise, “Together” is twisted and horrific in all the best ways.
Buy or rent “Together” on Amazon now
‘Bring Her Back’
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I rank directors Danny and Michael Philippou’s debut effort, 2023’s “Talk to Me,” as one of the finest chillers of the past five years, and their follow-up, “Bring Her Back,” proves it was no first-time fluke. Forget the sophomore slump, the filmmaking pair strike horror gold once again with this hugely sinister supernatural flick. Most impressively, Sally Hawkins gives arguably the best performance in a horror movie this side of Toni Collette in “Hereditary.” And it’s a good thing too, as Hawkins’ work is vital to making the movie tick.
Andy (Billy Barratt) and Piper (Sora Wong) are half-siblings bouncing around the foster system in the wake of their father’s death. Assigned to stay at the home of a seemingly friendly woman named Laura (Hawkins), things get creepy extremely fast. Not only does Laura seem to have an unwarranted grudge against Andy, her other foster child, Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips), appears to be deeply disturbed, making their new home anything but inviting. One of “Bring Her Back’s” biggest strengths is that it trusts viewers to figure things out for themselves rather than spoonfeeding you exposition, which I found refreshing.
Watch “Bring Her Back” on HBO Max now
‘Final Destination: Bloodlines’
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I was quite obsessed with the “Final Destination” series in my teen years, so I’ve been waiting a long time for the gruesome series to make a comeback, and its grand return was even more entertaining than I could have hoped for. “Final Destination” is definitely not a franchise for the squeamish or anybody who wants proper scares, but if you want a new horror movie that is more fun than frightening, “Final Destination: Bloodlines” easily fits the bill.
The best thing about this sixth entry in the long-running franchise is that it reworks the standard setup in a small but interesting way. Instead of the protagonist being somebody who survives a disaster and then is hunted down by death, it centers on the descendants of a woman who avoided the reaper’s grasp decades earlier. With some of “Final Destination’s” most deliciously twisted murder sequences yet, and a shocking ending (a hallmark of the franchise), “Bloodlines” is worthy of the franchise name, and I hope we’re not waiting another 14 years for the next dose of “Final Destination’s” trademark brand of blood splatter.
Watch “Final Destination: Bloodlines” on HBO Max now
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