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The biggest shock the film industry has encountered in 2025? The resurgence of horror as a main player at the British cinemas.

As a genre, it has impressively exceeded earlier periods with a 22% year-on-year increase for the UK and Irish box office: over £83 million this year, against £68,612,395 in 2024.

“Previously, zero horror films made £10 million in the UK or Ireland. Currently, five have surpassed that mark,” notes a box office editor.

The big hits of the year – Weapons (£11.4m), another hit film (£16.2 million), The Conjuring Last Rites (£14.98 million) and 28 Years Later (£15.54 million) – have all stayed in the cinemas and in the audience's minds.

While much of the expert analysis focuses on the singular brilliance of renowned filmmakers, their triumphs suggest something shifting between viewers and the category.

“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.

“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 aesthetic quality, the ongoing appeal of frightening features this year suggests they are giving cinemagoers something that’s much needed: emotional release.

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

“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,” says a prominent scholar of vampire and monster cinema.

In the context of a current events featuring war, border tensions, far-right movements, and environmental crises, witches, zombies and vengeful spirits strike a unique chord with filmg oers.

“I read somewhere that the success of vampire movies is linked to economically depressed times,” comments an star from a recent horror hit.

“This symbolizes the way modern economies can exhaust human spirit.”

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

Scholars point to the rise of German expressionism after the first world war and the unstable environment of the early Weimar Republic, with movies such as early expressionist works and the iconic vampire tale.

Subsequently came the Great Depression era and classic monster movies.

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

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

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

Its writer-director clarifies: “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.”

Arguably, the present time of praised, culturally aware scary films started with a clever critique released a year after a divisive leadership period.

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

“It was a hugely exciting time,” comments a filmmaker whose project about a deadly unborn child was one of the era’s tentpole movies.

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

This creator, now penning a fresh horror script, notes: “Over 10 years, audiences’ minds have been opening up to much more of that.”

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

Recently, a nicke l venue opened in the capital, showing obscure movies such as a quirky horror title, a classic adaptation and the modern reinterpretation of the expressionist icon.

The fresh acclaim of this “raw and chaotic” genre is, according to the theater owner, a direct reaction 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.

“Conversely, [such movies] appear raw. As if they emerged straight from the artist's mind, untouched by studio control.”

Fright flicks 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 authority.

Besides the revival of the deranged genius archetype – with two adaptations of a literary masterpiece imminent – he anticipates we will see fright features in 2026 and 2027 reacting to our current anxieties: about artificial intelligence control in the coming decades and “supernatural elements in political spheres”.

In the interim, a religious-themed scare film The Carpenter’s Son – which tells the story of holy family challenges after the messiah's arrival, and stars celebrated stars as the divine couple – is planned for launch later this year, and will definitely send a ripple through the Christian right in the United States.</