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The most significant shock the cinema world has encountered in 2025? The resurgence of horror as a leading genre at the British cinemas.

As a genre, it has remarkably outperformed earlier periods with a 22% year-on-year increase 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 big hits of the year – a recent horror title (£11.4m), Sinners (£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 public consciousness.

Even though much of the expert analysis centers on the unique excellence of certain directors, their triumphs point to something changing between moviegoers 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 head of acquisition.

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

But outside of creative value, the consistent popularity of spooky films this year indicates they are giving audiences something that’s much needed: emotional release.

“Right now, there’s a lot of anger, fear and division that’s being reflected in cinema,” says 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 prominent scholar of classic monster stories.

Amid a current events featuring war, border tensions, far-right movements, and environmental crises, ghosts, monsters, and mythical entities connect in new ways with audiences.

“I read somewhere that the success of vampire movies is linked to economically depressed times,” says an star from a popular scary movie.

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

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

Experts point to the surge of German expressionism after the WWI and the turbulent times of the 1920s Europe, with movies such as The Cabinet of Dr Caligari and a pioneering fright film.

This was followed by the 1930s depression and classic monster movies.

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

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

The specter of migration shaped the recently released folk horror The Severed Sun.

The filmmaker explains: “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.”

“Additionally, the notion that acquaintances might unexpectedly voice extreme views, leaving others shocked.”

Arguably, the present time of acclaimed, socially switched-on horror commenced with a clever critique debuted a year after a divisive leadership period.

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

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

“In my view, it marked the start of a phase where filmmakers embraced wildly creative horror with artistic ambitions.”

The same filmmaker, who is writing a new horror original, adds: “Over 10 years, audiences’ minds have been opening up to much more of that.”

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

Recently, a independent theater opened in a major city, showing underground films such as The Greasy Strangler, The Fall of the House of Usher and the late-80s version of Dr Caligari.

The fresh acclaim of this “raw and chaotic” genre is, according to the venue creator, a clear response to the formulaic productions pumped out at the cinemas.

“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.”

Fright flicks continue to challenge the norm.

“These movies uniquely blend vintage vibes with contemporary relevance,” says an expert.

In addition to the re-emergence of the deranged genius archetype – with multiple versions of a well-known story upcoming – he predicts we will see horror films in the near future reacting to our present fears: about artificial intelligence control in the years ahead and “vampires living in the Trump tower”.

At the same time, “Jesus horror” The Carpenter’s Son – which tells the story of Mary and Joseph’s struggles after the nativity, and includes famous performers as the divine couple – is planned for launch in the coming months, and will undoubtedly send a ripple through the Christian right in the US.</