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The largest surprise the movie business has witnessed in 2025? The comeback of horror as a dominant force at the UK film market.

As a genre, it has remarkably surpassed past times with a 22% rise compared to last year for the British and Irish cinemas: £83,766,086 in 2025, against £68 million the previous year.

“Last year, no horror film reached £10m at the UK or Irish box office. This year, five films have,” comments a cinema revenue expert.

The big hits of the year – a recent horror title (£11.4 million), another hit film (£16.2m), The Conjuring Last Rites (£14.98 million) and the sequel to a classic (£15.54m) – have all stayed in the cinemas and in the public consciousness.

While much of the professional discussion focuses on the singular brilliance of renowned filmmakers, their successes indicate something changing between moviegoers and the genre.

“Many have expressed, ‘You should watch this even if horror isn’t your thing,’” says 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 outside of artistic merit, the steady demand of frightening features this year implies they are giving cinemagoers something that’s highly necessary: therapeutic relief.

“Right now, there’s a lot of anger, fear and division that’s being reflected in cinema,” says a horror podcast host.

“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 war, border tensions, far-right movements, and environmental crises, witches, zombies and vengeful spirits resonate a bit differently with viewers.

“Some research suggests vampire film popularity correlates with financial downturns,” says an actress from a popular scary movie.

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

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

Analysts highlight the rise of early cinematic styles after the first world war and the chaotic atmosphere of the early Weimar Republic, with features such as The Cabinet of Dr Caligari and Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror.

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,” explains a historian.

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

The boogeyman of immigration influenced the recently released supernatural tale The Severed Sun.

Its writer-director elaborates: “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.”

“Also, the concept of familiar individuals revealing surprising prejudices in casual settings.”

Arguably, the modern period of celebrated, politically engaged fright cinema began with a clever critique debuted a year after a contentious political era.

It ushered in a fresh generation of horror auteurs, including various prominent figures.

“That period was incredibly stimulating,” recalls a creator whose film about a deadly unborn child was one of the time's landmark films.

“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: “In the last ten years, public taste has evolved to welcome bolder horror concepts.”

Concurrently, there has been a revival of the overlooked scary films.

In recent months, a nicke l venue opened in London, showing cult classics such as a quirky horror title, The Fall of the House of Usher and the late-80s version of the expressionist icon.

The re-appreciation of this “gritty and loud” genre is, according to the theater owner, a direct reaction to the algorithmic content produced at the box office.

“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.

“On the other hand, [these indie works] feel imperfect. They seem to burst forth from deep creativity, free from commercial constraints.”

Horror films continue to upset the establishment.

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

In addition to the return of the mad scientist trope – with multiple versions of a classic novel on the horizon – he forecasts we will see horror films in 2026 and 2027 addressing our modern concerns: about artificial intelligence control in the years ahead and “supernatural elements in political spheres”.

At the same time, a biblical fright story a forthcoming title – which narrates the tale of holy family challenges after Jesus’s birth, and includes celebrated stars as the sacred figures – is set for release soon, and will definitely send a ripple through the Christian right in the United States.</