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The most significant surprise the film industry has experienced in 2025? The return of horror as a leading genre at the UK film market.

As a style, it has notably exceeded earlier periods with a 22% rise compared to last year for the UK and Irish box office: over £83 million this year, against £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,” comments a cinema revenue expert.

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

While much of the industry commentary focuses on the unique excellence of renowned filmmakers, their successes point to something changing 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,’” explains a content buying lead.

“Films like these play with genre and structure to create something completely different, and that speaks to an audience in a different way.”

But outside of aesthetic quality, the steady demand of frightening features this year suggests they are giving audiences something that’s much needed: catharsis.

“These days, movies echo the prevalent emotions of rage, anxiety, and polarization,” notes a film commentator.

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

In the context of a global headlines featuring conflict, immigration issues, political shifts, and climate concerns, ghosts, monsters, and mythical entities resonate a bit differently with filmg oers.

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

“It’s the idea that capitalism sucks the life out of people.”

Historically, public discord has always impacted scary movies.

Scholars reference the rise of German expressionism after the first world war and the chaotic atmosphere of the post-war Germany, with movies such as early expressionist works and a pioneering fright film.

Subsequently came the Great Depression era and iconic horror characters.

“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 immigration shaped the newly launched 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.”

“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 current era of acclaimed, socially switched-on horror began with a clever critique debuted a year after a contentious political era.

It sparked a recent surge of horror auteurs, including various prominent figures.

“That period was incredibly stimulating,” says a creator whose project about a deadly unborn child was one of the era’s tentpole movies.

“I think it was the beginning of an era when people were opening up to doing a really bonkers horror film which had arthouse aspirations.”

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

Concurrently, there has been a reappraisal of the underrated horror works.

Recently, a new cinema opened in the capital, showing obscure movies such as a quirky horror title, a classic adaptation and the late-80s version of Dr Caligari.

The re-appreciation of this “gritty and loud” genre is, according to the venue creator, a straightforward answer to the formulaic productions churned out at the theaters.

“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.

“In contrast [these alternative films] are a bit broken. It’s like they’ve erupted out of someone’s subconscious and been planted out there without corporate interference.”

Horror films continue to disrupt conventions.

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

In addition to the return of the mad scientist trope – with two adaptations of a well-known story upcoming – he forecasts we will see fright features in the near future reacting to our present fears: about tech supremacy in the years ahead and “monstrous metaphors in power structures”.

Meanwhile, “Jesus horror” The Carpenter’s Son – which tells the story of Mary and Joseph’s struggles after the nativity, and features famous performers as the sacred figures – is scheduled to debut in the coming months, and will undoubtedly create waves through the faith-based groups in the US.</