SPOILER WARNING: It should probably go without saying this, but the following contains major spoilers for a number of the biggest horror movies of the year. Proceed carefully!
2025 has been one hell of a time for horror cinema. Be it originals or franchise titles, and with a number of amazing different subgenres explored, filmmakers have been swinging for the fences with the scary stuff since January – and with all of the amazing things we’ve seen, it’s actually pretty staggering that the start of spooky season is still a few weeks away. If I were to make a Top 10 for the year so far, it would share a lot in common with a list of my Top 10 favorite horror features, as the last eight months has been a brilliant stretch for jumping, squirming, yelping, and instinctually blurting those three words that escape when a movie has truly shocked you: “What the fuck?!”
With spooky season on the horizon and surely many more WTFs to come in new horror movies, I want to celebrate the best of the best that we’ve seen so far in 2025. And if there are any films on the list that you have not yet seen, do yourself a favor and make note of the title for the next time you’re looking for something to watch and you’re in the mood for something scary.
Weapons – The Kids Turn On Aunt Gladys
I will not soon forget the energy I felt in my Weapons screening when young Alex (Cary Christopher) snaps the fetish with the hair of Aunt Gladys (Amy Madigan) and the 17 kidnapped children turn on their abductor. The batshit madness of seeing more than a dozen children repeatedly smash through doors, windows and walls in magical cinema – and the insanity is provided the perfect exclamation point with Gladys being graphically torn to pieces.
Together – The Bathroom Stall Sequence
Together doesn’t go as big as it could in some sequences (looking at you, chainsaw scene), but thanks to a shoebox of dildos, that’s definitely not the case when discussing the horror of Tim (Dave Franco) and Millie (Alison Brie) hooking up in the stall of an elementary school bathroom. The supernatural force that is attempting to merge them is in full effect, and it’s a painful nightmare to watch them try to, ahem, disengage after spontaneously ending their sex drought.
Bring Her Back – Oliver Chews On A Knife
If you’re a horror movie veteran watching Bring Her Back, you immediately know that it is a terrible idea for Andy (Billy Barratt) to hand Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips) a slice of melon that has been skewered on a chef’s knife… and yet even bracing yourself for the inevitable result doesn’t prepare you for actually seeing the child chomp down on the blade and cut his mouth to ribbons. I can also tell you from personal experience that watching the moment multiple times in no way dulls the terror.
Final Destination: Bloodlines – Erik Gets Penetrated And Folded In An MRI Machine
The joy of the Final Destination franchise is general is the fact that every death aims for big WTF energy, but it’s a testament to the greatness of Final Destination: Bloodlines that it features what can unequivocally be described as an all-timer. Erik (Richard Harmon) isn’t meant to die, as a hidden infidelity means he is outside of the targeted Campbell/Reyes family tree that is being targeted by Death... but that doesn’t mean that the force is ignoring him. He tries to help his brother Bobby (Owen Patrick Joyner) execute a loophole, and the consequence is getting sucked into an overpowered MRI machine and being crushed while having a wheelchair penetrate its way through his body.
The Rule Of Jenny Pen – Dave Tortures Tony
A movie doesn’t need to be bombastic or overly graphic to inspire utterances of “What the fuck,” and The Rule Of Jenny Pen is a perfect example. John Lithgow’s Dave Crealy is as cruel as any evil highlighted in 2025 horror, and the torture he perpetuates on fellow elderly patient Tony Garfield (George Henare) is hard to watch. The humiliation of having Tony submit to a baby puppet is bad, but one can feel it in one’s groin when Dave starts tugging on his victim’s catheter.
28 Years Later – Alpha Rips Off Erik’s Head
Anyone who watched 28 Days Later should have been well-prepared for 28 Years Later to feature an extreme amount of violence and gore – but if anyone were to tell me that they anticipated the sheer number of decapitations, I wouldn’t hesitate to call them a liar. Removing a person’s skull is the favored kill method of the massive Alphas that roam the British Isles, and no moment is freakier than when one of the giants rips the skull off of Erik (Edvin Ryding) after the Swedish soldier shoots and kills the mother of its child.
The Monkey – The Death Of Aunt Ida
Like with Final Destination: Bloodlines, there is no shortage of moments to choose from in The Monkey in regards to the topic du jour. I could have easily picked Ricky (Rohan Campbell) being infested by a swarm of bees, the woman in the pool who explodes, Chip Zimmer (Osgood Perkins) being trampled in his sleeping bag, or the cameo by the Pale Horseman at the end. Instead of any of those, I’ll use this space to highlight the final night in the life of Aunt Ida (Sarah Levy), who goes from descending the stairs of her home with an oversized gun to getting a face full of lures, setting her head on fire, and running straight into the pointed end of a wooden lawn sign.
Companion – Electric Wine Opener
“Chekov’s Electric Wine Opener” isn’t really a thing, but it does feel like an appropriate way to describe the execution of the wildest part of Companion. When the device is introduced early in the movie, there’s a part of your brain that just knows that it’s going to make some kind of special appearance later on, and the film doesn’t disappoint when it is ultimately driven by Sophie Thatcher’s Iris into the skull of Jack Quaid’s Josh.
With plenty of horror fans on staff here at CinemaBlend, I can promise you that we’ll be highlighting plenty more WTF moments in 2025 movies in the coming months, so be sure to stay tuned for all of our news, interview, and editorial coverage.
