{'It’s like they’ve erupted out of someone’s subconscious': how horror has come to dominate contemporary film venues.

The biggest jump-scare the movie business has experienced in 2025? The return of horror as a dominant force at the UK box office.

As a genre, it has impressively exceeded previous years with a 22% rise compared to last year for the UK and Irish box office: over £83 million this year, 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,” says a film industry analyst.

The top performers of the year – Weapons (£11.4m), another hit film (£16.2 million), The Conjuring Last Rites (£14.98 million) and the sequel to a classic (£15.54m) – have all hung about in the multiplexes and in the popular awareness.

Although much of the industry commentary highlights the singular brilliance of certain directors, their successes suggest something changing between moviegoers and the category.

“Many have expressed, ‘You should watch this even if horror isn’t your thing,’” explains a film distribution executive.

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

But beyond aesthetic quality, the ongoing appeal of horror movies this year indicates they are giving audiences something that’s highly necessary: catharsis.

“Right now, there’s a lot of anger, fear and division that’s being reflected in cinema,” observes a film commentator.

“Scary movies excel at tapping into viewers' fears, amplifying them, allowing you to set aside daily worries and concentrate on the on-screen terror,” says a prominent scholar of classic monster stories.

In the context of a current events featuring geopolitical strife, enforcement actions, extremist rises, and ecological disasters, supernatural beings and undead creatures strike a unique chord with audiences.

“It’s been noted that vampire cinema thrives during periods of economic hardship,” comments an performer from a successful fright film.

“This symbolizes the way modern economies can exhaust human spirit.”

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

Analysts point to the rise of European artistic movements after the the Great War and the turbulent times of the 1920s Europe, with features such as The Cabinet of Dr Caligari and the iconic vampire tale.

Later occurred the 1930s depression and iconic horror characters.

“Consider the Dracula narrative: an outsider from the east brings a corrupting influence that permeates society and challenges its heroes,” says a commentator.

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

The specter of immigration inspired the newly launched folk horror a recent film title.

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.”

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

Perhaps, the present time of praised, culturally aware scary films started with a sharp parody released a year after a contentious political era.

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

“Those years were remarkably vibrant,” recalls a director whose movie about a murderous foetus was one of the period's key works.

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

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

Recently, a new cinema opened in the capital, showing obscure movies such as The Greasy Strangler, a classic adaptation and the modern reinterpretation of the expressionist icon.

The renewed interest of this “gritty and loud” genre is, according to the venue creator, a clear response to the algorithmic content pumped 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.

“Conversely, [such movies] appear raw. As if they emerged straight from the artist's mind, untouched by studio control.”

Horror films continue to challenge the norm.

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

In addition to the return of the insane researcher motif – with multiple versions of a well-known story upcoming – he forecasts we will see horror films in the near future reacting to our present fears: about artificial intelligence control in the years ahead and “supernatural elements in political spheres”.

Meanwhile, “Jesus horror” The Carpenter’s Son – which tells the story of holy family challenges after Jesus’s birth, and stars celebrated stars as the holy parents – is planned for launch soon, and will definitely send a ripple through the Christian right in the America.</