Compared to the last few years, there have been some impressive horror movies in 2025, including the recent release of Black Phone 2. From theater releases like Sinners and Together to notable streaming releases such as Night of the Reaper, this has been an exciting year for the scary genre. Movies such as Good Boy are also proving that there are still new ideas to be found in the extensive genre, giving fans hope for other upcoming horror releases.
Unfortunately, not all the new horror additions of 2025 have thrilled viewers and critics, either disappointing one or the other, or both. Some of these movies are franchise continuations that didn’t quite live up to the reputation of the popular series. Others had major and important themes to tackle, but didn’t quite find the balance between conveying a metaphor and telling a compelling narrative. This small collection of 2025 horror movies had a lot of hype, but did not live up to expectations.
In The Woman in the Yard, Ramona, a school teacher, is struggling with the tragic loss of her husband, leaving the relationship between her teenage son and young daughter strained. One day, a strange woman draped entirely in black appears at the edges of their remote property. Though Ramona tries to confront the woman, concerned for her well-being, the grieving mother soon realizes the mysterious stranger is not a lost elderly woman. As the day goes on, the woman gets closer and closer to the hope, and odd things begin happening, making the family believe this being is not an ordinary person.
The Woman in the Yard has been praised for being a polarizing horror movie, captivating viewers with the heartbreaking representation of a grieving widow unable to cope with the loss of her loved one. With the mysterious woman representing the horrors of guilt and depression, the story becomes about more than a supernatural figure stalking a helpless family. Unfortunately, the plot leaned into this metaphor too significantly, creating a captivating tale of mental health struggles but failing to be a truly terrifying paranormal horror movie.
The Strangers: Chapter 2 Forgot What the Franchise Is All About
The Strangers: Chapter 1 (2024) closely follows the same overall plot as the original film from 2008, focusing on a young couple who stay at a remote cabin in the woods and are stalked by three masked strangers with a lust for killing. However, some fans of the franchise were excited by the twist ending, which revealed Maya survived the initial attack, unlike Kristen in the original. In The Strangers: Chapter 2, the identities of the three masked killers are revealed as they try to plot a way to kill Maya once and for all while she recovers from her injuries at the Venus County Hospital.
By modern expectations, The Strangers: Chapter 2 is a relatively average slasher movie with typical jump scares and impressive acting, especially from the star actress, Madelaine Petsch. Unfortunately, the plot doesn’t do any significant development of the storyline, creating an odd and unimpressive sequence of fight scenes and confusing flashbacks. The more egregious mistake made by this installment is the decision to reveal the identity of the masked assailants, which completely dismisses what makes The Strangers so unsettling: unknown strangers attacking innocent people with seemingly no other intention than to cause harm.
Fans and Critics Are Divided on The Conjuring: Last Rites
The Conjuring: Last Rites takes place in the mid-’80s, revealing that Ed and Lorraine Warren have retired from paranormal investigations due to their ages and Ed’s declining health. However, their daughter Judy, now a young adult, has similar psychic abilities to her mother but struggles to cope with her horrific visions. When a family is tormented by a haunted mirror and the three ghosts that are attached to the object, Judy is compelled to help them, urging her parents to come out of retirement for one last, terrifying battle with demonic entities.
For many long-time viewers, The Conjuring: The Last Rites doesn’t erase the huge franchise mistakes throughout the horror series, never quite living up to the impact of 2013’s The Conjuring. Fans of the franchise have praised this final installment in Ed and Lorraine’s storyline, believing it was a fitting conclusion for the iconic cinematic supernatural investigators. However, though the critics respect that this last chapter honored the scary quality of the overall series, the finale of this spooky story was an underwhelming, slow-moving plot with a subpar villain that didn’t live up to the grandeur of the praised horror franchise.
Wolf Man Couldn’t Live Up to the Iconic Monster Movie Classic
In Wolf Man, Blake moves his young family, his wife Charlotte and daughter Ginger, from the busy San Francisco area to his father’s remote Oregon. In the wake of his father’s mysterious disappearance and the pressure of his strained marriage, Blake hopes this will give their family some time to bond. However, the night they get to the house, they’re attacked by a vicious animal that tracks them back to the property. As Blake’s behavior becomes unusual, and the mysterious creature lurks outside, Charlotte is forced to protect her child from multiple unseen dangers.
The modern creature feature found success on streaming, with many new viewers discovering the werewolf movie not long after its release. Unfortunately, compared to the classic monster movie The Wolf Man (1941), the slow film didn’t live up to the hype of the original, especially with the lackluster attempt at a more poignant psychological twist. Filmmaker Leigh Whannell chose some exceptional actors for the roles and did a phenomenal job with the remake of The Invisible Man (2020), but fumbled this attempt at a next-generation Wolf Man that was intended to revive the timeless classic.
I Know What You Did Last Summer Wasn’t What Anyone Expected (In the Worst Way)
In the next-generation I Know What You Did Last Summer, friends Danica, Ava, Milo, Teddy, and Stevie go up to their old hangout, where they used to watch fireworks on the 4th of July, when Teddy accidentally causes someone to run off the road. A year after they unintentionally caused the death of a young man and didn’t go to the police with the information, they received an ominous threat in a card stating, “I know what you did last summer.” When a mysterious killer in a fisherman’s slicker and a hook started targeting them, the friends sought out the help of survivors of the previous Southport slaying in ’97, Julie James and Ray Bronson.
Considering the low ratings of the other I Know What You Did Last Summer, fans of the cult classic were excited to see the franchise come back and receive another chance, especially with the return of Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. (with a cameo from Sarah Michelle Gellar). However, despite the promising young actors and actresses who played the next-generation cast, the movie severely disappointed slasher fans. Between the predictable kills and the shoddy script, the plot was far too familiar while also not nearly honoring the ’90s classic the way viewers expected.
HIM Was an Unexpected Fumble
In HIM, Cameron (Cam) Cade is a promising professional football player about to attend the NFL Scouting Combine when a sudden attack causes a severe injury that risks his career. Determined to seek the allure of fame and success as a professional athlete, Cam agrees to travel to the remote compound of Isaiah White, a famed quarterback, offering to take the aspiring professional under his wing. However, Cam grows increasingly concerned and disturbed by Isaiah’s odd training methods and unusual behavior.
Fans and critics disagree on HIM, with the critics believing this movie was a serious fumble that didn’t live up to the impactful themes, and many fans still praising the commentary on the cost of fame and the pressure of professional athletes to become a commodity. Though viewers were expecting the same quality as Jordan Peele’s films like Get Out and Us, it is notable that the famed filmmaker was only a producer on this project, and his name was utilized to promote the project due to his previous success. Overall, the movie was not what viewers expected, and it has yet to be determined if HIM will be remembered as a flop or an underrated gem, but the praise for Marlon Wayans and Tyriq Withers’ performances is well-deserved.
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