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The biggest surprise the film industry has witnessed in 2025? The comeback of horror as a main player at the British cinemas.

As a category, it has remarkably exceeded 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,” notes a cinema revenue expert.

The top performers of the year – Weapons (£11.4 million), 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 popular awareness.

While much of the industry commentary centers on the singular brilliance of certain directors, their successes indicate something evolving between moviegoers and the category.

“Viewers often remark, ‘This is a must-see regardless of your genre preferences,’” says a film distribution executive.

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

But outside of aesthetic quality, the ongoing appeal of horror movies this year implies they are giving cinemagoers something that’s much needed: therapeutic relief.

“Right now, there’s a lot of anger, fear and division that’s being reflected in cinema,” 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 respected writer of vampire and monster cinema.

Amid a global headlines featuring conflict, immigration issues, political shifts, and climate concerns, ghosts, monsters, and mythical entities connect in new ways with audiences.

“It’s been noted that vampire cinema thrives during periods of economic hardship,” says an actress from a popular scary movie.

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

Since the early days of cinema, social unrest has influenced the genre.

Scholars point to the surge of German expressionism after the first world war and the chaotic atmosphere of the 1920s Europe, with films such as The Cabinet of Dr Caligari and Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror.

Subsequently came 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 academic.

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

The boogeyman of border issues influenced the recently released folk horror The Severed Sun.

The creator clarifies: “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.”

“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?’”

Maybe, the modern period of praised, culturally aware scary films commenced with a clever critique debuted a year after a polarizing administration.

It introduced a new wave of horror auteurs, including a range of talented artists.

“Those years were remarkably vibrant,” recalls a filmmaker whose film about a violent prenatal entity was one of the time's landmark films.

“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 reappraisal of the overlooked scary films.

In recent months, a independent theater opened in the capital, showing underground films such as The Greasy Strangler, a classic adaptation and the modern reinterpretation of the expressionist icon.

The re-appreciation of this “rough and rowdy” genre is, according to the theater owner, a straightforward answer to the calculated releases pumped out 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 explains.

“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 challenge the norm.

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

Besides the return of the mad scientist trope – with multiple versions of a literary masterpiece imminent – he anticipates we will see scary movies in the near future addressing our modern concerns: about AI’s dominance in the near future and “monstrous metaphors in power structures”.

Meanwhile, a religious-themed scare film The Carpenter’s Son – which depicts the events of holy family challenges after Jesus’s birth, and stars celebrated stars as the sacred figures – is set for release soon, and will definitely create waves through the faith-based groups in the US.</