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The largest jump-scare the film industry has witnessed in 2025? The return of horror as a leading genre at the UK box office.

As a category, it has impressively outperformed past times with a 22% year-on-year increase for the British and Irish cinemas: over £83 million this year, compared with £68.6 million last year.

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

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

Although much of the professional discussion focuses on the standout quality of prominent auteurs, their achievements suggest something shifting between audiences 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 creative value, the steady demand of spooky films this year implies they are giving cinemagoers something that’s much needed: therapeutic relief.

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

“The genre masterfully exploits common anxieties, magnifying them so that everyday stresses fade beside the cinematic horror,” says a prominent scholar of vampire and monster cinema.

In the context of a real-world news cycle featuring war, border tensions, far-right movements, and environmental crises, ghosts, monsters, and mythical entities resonate a bit differently with viewers.

“I read somewhere that the success of vampire movies is linked to economically depressed times,” states an actress from a recent horror hit.

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

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

Analysts point to the boom of European artistic movements after the WWI and the unstable environment of the 1920s Europe, with films such as early expressionist works and a pioneering fright film.

This was followed by the Great Depression era and classic monster movies.

“The classic example is Dracula: you get this invasion of Britain by someone from eastern Europe who then causes this infection that gets spread in all sorts of ways and threatens the Anglo-Saxon heroes,” notes a commentator.

“Thus, it mirrors widespread fears about migration.”

The boogeyman of border issues shaped the newly launched rural fright a recent film title.

The filmmaker 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.”

Maybe, the current era of praised, culturally aware scary films started with a clever critique released a year after a polarizing administration.

It introduced a new wave of horror auteurs, including several notable names.

“It was a hugely exciting time,” recalls a filmmaker whose film about a deadly unborn child was one of the time's landmark films.

“I believe it initiated a trend toward eccentric, high-concept horror that aimed for artistic recognition.”

The same filmmaker, who is writing a new horror original, adds: “During the past decade, viewers have become more receptive to such innovative approaches.”

Concurrently, there has been a reconsideration of the underrated horror works.

Recently, a independent theater opened in London, showing underground films such as The Greasy Strangler, a classic adaptation and the modern reinterpretation of the expressionist icon.

The fresh acclaim of this “raw and chaotic” genre is, according to the theater owner, a straightforward answer to the formulaic productions 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 explains.

“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.”

Horror films continue to challenge the norm.

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

Besides the re-emergence of the mad scientist trope – with two adaptations of a literary masterpiece on the horizon – he predicts we will see scary movies in 2026 and 2027 reacting to our current anxieties: about AI’s dominance in the near future and “monstrous metaphors in power structures”.

Meanwhile, “Jesus horror” The Carpenter’s Son – which depicts the events of holy family challenges after Jesus’s birth, and includes celebrated stars as the divine couple – is set for release in the coming months, and will certainly cause a stir through the faith-based groups in the US.</