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The largest shock the cinema world has encountered in 2025? The return of horror as a main player at the UK film market.

As a genre, it has remarkably exceeded past times with a 22% year-on-year increase for the UK and Ireland film earnings: £83.7 million in 2025, compared with £68,612,395 in 2024.

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

Even though much of the expert analysis focuses on the unique excellence of renowned filmmakers, their achievements point to something changing between moviegoers and the category.

“Viewers often remark, ‘This is a must-see regardless of your genre preferences,’” states a content buying lead.

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

But apart from aesthetic quality, the consistent popularity of horror movies this year indicates they are giving audiences something that’s highly necessary: therapeutic relief.

“Currently, cinema mirrors the widespread anger, fear, and societal splits,” observes 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 horror film history.

Against a current events featuring war, border tensions, far-right movements, and environmental crises, witches, zombies and vengeful spirits strike a unique chord with audiences.

“Some research suggests vampire film popularity correlates with financial downturns,” says an actress from a recent horror hit.

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

Historically, public discord has always impacted scary movies.

Scholars point to the boom of German expressionism after the WWI and the unstable environment of the early Weimar Republic, with films such as The Cabinet of Dr Caligari and a pioneering fright film.

Later occurred the economic crisis of the 30s and iconic horror characters.

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

“Thus, it mirrors widespread fears about migration.”

The phantom of immigration influenced the just-premiered rural fright 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.”

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

Maybe, the modern period of praised, culturally aware scary films started with a clever critique debuted a year after a divisive leadership period.

It introduced a new wave of innovative filmmakers, including various prominent figures.

“Those years were remarkably vibrant,” comments a filmmaker 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.”

The director, currently developing another scary story, continues: “In the last ten years, public taste has evolved to welcome bolder horror concepts.”

Simultaneously, there has been a reconsideration of the genre’s less celebrated output.

Earlier this year, a new cinema opened in the capital, showing cult classics such as The Greasy Strangler, a classic adaptation and the 1989 remake of the expressionist icon.

The re-appreciation of this “raw and chaotic” genre is, according to the theater owner, a direct reaction to the formulaic productions churned out 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 explains.

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

Fright flicks continue to challenge the norm.

“These movies uniquely blend vintage vibes with contemporary relevance,” observes an authority.

Besides the revival of the deranged genius archetype – with several renditions of a classic novel on the horizon – he forecasts we will see fright features in the coming years reacting to our modern concerns: about artificial intelligence control in the years ahead and “monstrous metaphors in power structures”.

At the same time, a biblical fright story The Carpenter’s Son – which tells the story of Mary and Joseph’s struggles after the nativity, and features well-known actors as the holy parents – is scheduled to debut later this year, and will undoubtedly create waves through the faith-based groups in the US.</