2025 in Film: Spectacle, Corrections, and the Year Horror Wouldn’t Behave

By the time early 2026 retrospectives started rolling in, one thing about 2025 became clear: cinema didn’t just recover — it reasserted itself. The year was defined by more high-concept spectacles built for theatres, a renewed appetite for scale, and an unusually sharp divide between films that justified their ambition and those that simply advertised it.

It was also a year where auteurs thrived, horror mutated into something genuinely exciting again, and several legacy franchises discovered — too late? — is that recognition is not the same thing as relevance.?

What follows isn’t a victory lap. It’s only an Alt There FlikkiFlakking audit! (add humourous music...)

The Best of 2025

Where ambition and execution briefly aligned

Sinners (Ryan Coogler)

Few films generated quite as much conversation in 2025 as Sinners. Coogler’s Southern Gothic horror — with Michael B. Jordan in a dual role — arrives with an ambitious mix of blues culture, black comedy, and vampire mythology, creating a genre experiment that’s often intriguing and occasionally very effective. The film carries plenty of thematic ideas and some committed performances, with Jack O’Connell in particular bringing a welcome intensity.

At the same time, the film struggles with pacing and focus. The opening act takes its time finding momentum, and the narrative never fully settles on what emotional response it wants from the audience. While there’s clearly a stronger, sharper film somewhere within its ideas, the execution doesn’t quite reach the heights its premise suggests.

What’s perhaps most notable is the scale of the reaction surrounding it. Sinners was widely praised and dissected upon release, quickly taking on the status of a cultural event. Yet stepping back slightly from the discourse, the film feels less like an instant classic and more like an interesting, slightly uneven genre piece that might have benefited from a little less expectation.

Verdict: An ambitious and often compelling film with plenty to admire — even if the surrounding hype occasionally made it sound more definitive than it actually is. Watch out for this film at awards season, as it has captured the viewing publics imagination regardless.

One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)

PTA delivered another ensemble-driven film that reminded audiences why performance, blocking, and rhythm still matter. Less immediately showy than some of his work, but quietly confident and immaculately controlled.

Why it stood out: Craft without spectacle, authority without noise.

Marty Supreme (Josh Safdie)

One of the most consistently praised films of the year, Marty Supreme appeared across nearly every serious Top 10 list. Safdie channelled intensity into something more focused, proving his style could evolve without losing its edge.

Key takeaway: Chaos, but with discipline.

Weapons (Zach Cregger)

If 2025 belonged to any genre, it was horror — and Weapons was its most audacious entry. Cregger followed Barbarian with a nonlinear, deeply unsettling film that trusted atmosphere and structure over cheap shock.

Why it mattered: Horror that felt designed, not manufactured.

Train Dreams (Clint Bentley)

In a year dominated by noise, Train Dreams was a quiet triumph. Adapted from Denis Johnson’s novella, it offered emotional depth without sentimentality.

Impact: Modest, devastating, lasting.

Black Bag

One of 2025’s most under-discussed achievements. A sharply written, quietly intelligent film that rewarded attention rather than demanding it.

Alt There verdict: Brilliant in a way that didn’t feel the need to announce itself. One of the most underhyped films of the year.

A Real Pain

A deceptively small film that landed emotionally harder than expected. Its honesty and restraint made it linger.

The Ballad of Wallis Island

Genuinely lovely. No caveats. A film that remembers kindness is still cinematic. A great, warm watch which we will be going back to.

Horror in 2025: A Year of New and Interesting Nightmares

Beyond Weapons, 2025 delivered a refreshingly unruly horror slate:

• Eddington

• Companion

• Bring Her Back

• The Monkey

• Good Boy

  
  

None of these played it safe. Some worked better than others, but collectively they proved horror remains the genre most willing to experiment — and fail interestingly.

The Surprises of 2025

Where expectations were politely dismantled

KPop Demon Hunters

An animated streaming release that exploded into a cultural phenomenon, clocking over 20.5 billion minutes watched. Proof that originality plus clarity of tone still wins.

F1 (Joseph Kosinski)

Delivered exactly what it promised: visceral, practical-feeling spectacle that justified the big screen.

The Worst of 2025

Symptoms, not scandals

Snow White (Marc Webb)

A remake so overworked it forgot to be coherent. Widely cited as the year’s most dispiriting release.

A Minecraft Movie

Financially successful. Creatively baffling. Frequently cited as one of the year’s worst despite audience numbers.

I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)

A legacy sequel that misunderstood both nostalgia and tone.

The Electric State

A visually expensive failure to understand its own source material.

The War of the Worlds (Remake)

A rare modern remake that managed to feel both outdated and unnecessary.

Jurassic World: Rebirth

Another reminder that familiarity is not innovation.

Americana / The Gorge / The Alto Knights / Drop / Locked

Films that arrived, existed briefly, and left almost no cultural residue.

The Big Franchises & The State of Everything

• Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning: Competent, relentless, and slightly exhausting. Close but yet so far.

• The Fantastic Four: Promising, but under pressure.

• Superman: Cautious optimism, guarded reactions.

• Predator: Badlands: Brutal, efficient, and refreshingly focused, but maybe the focus is just left of screen.

• Ballerina: Stylish, if narratively thin. Fun, enjoyable and well delivered none the less.

• The Running Man: Solid, but overshadowed by expectation.

• Spinal Tap 2: Funnier than expected, still unnecessary.

• Wolf Man: Atmospheric, admirably disjointed.

• Death of a Unicorn: Not The Last Unicorn, but strange enough to be memorable.

The Cultural Oddities

• David Attenborough’s first (and only) narrative film: An unexpected late-career curiosity. And one to be gladly curious about. Watch this.

• Pedro Pascal being in everything: Not a criticism. Just an observation.

• The Naked Gun: Genuinely enjoyed. No notes.

Films Still Casting Long Shadows

• Mickey 17

• The Phoenician Scheme

• If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

• Sentimental Value

• The Smashing Machine

• Frankenstein

• Caught Stealing

• Friendship

• The Long Walk

• The Roses

• Jay Kelly

Some haven’t fully settled yet — but they’re sticking around longer than expected, which says something.

Final Thoughts: What 2025 Actually Was

2025 was loud, uneven, and frequently contradictory. But it was also alive.

Audiences returned to theatres for spectacle — and stayed for films with something to say. Horror thrived by refusing to behave. Auteur cinema reminded the industry what confidence looks like. And franchises learned, slowly, that attention must be earned again.

It wasn’t a classic year. But it was a useful one.

And cinema, at this point, benefits most from usefulness.