The year 2025 ushered in a fresh wave of horror to the screen. Filmmakers are pushing boundaries this year, delivering unsettling stories that truly get under your skin. From intense psychological thrillers that mess with your mind to brutal slasher flicks and chilling supernatural tales, the horror scene is vibrant and varied.
For those ready to face their fears, we’ve put together a list of the best horror movies of 2025. Discover your next scream-inducing watch and find out exactly where to stream the most gripping and gut-wrenching releases of 2025 across Australia.
What are the best movies horror of 2025?
Compiling our list of this year’s top horror films involved a clear and consistent approach, ranking each movie by their international fame and enduring popularity to ensure you’re always seeing the greatest scares at the top. Beyond just the order, we provided essential details for each entry.
For every film, you’ll find the director behind the terror and where it’s currently available on streaming services in Australia. We also included a concise title and synopsis to give you a quick overview without spoilers. This comprehensive data offers a complete picture, helping you decide what to watch next.
28 Days Later
Horror •Sci-fi •Drama •Mystery •Thriller
Overview
Twenty-eight days after a killer virus was accidentally unleashed from a British research facility, a small group of London survivors are caught in a desperate struggle to protect themselves from the infected. Carried by animals and humans, the virus turns those it infects into homicidal maniacs — and it’s absolutely impossible to contain.
Director
Danny Boyle
Cast
Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson, Megan Burns, Christopher Eccleston
Duration
118 minutes
Jaws
Thriller •Horror •Mystery
Overview
When the seaside community of Amity finds itself under attack by a dangerous great white shark, the town’s chief of police, a young marine biologist, and a grizzled hunter embark on a desperate quest to destroy the beast before it strikes again.
Director
Steven Spielberg
Cast
Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw, Murray Hamilton, Lorraine Gary
Duration
124 minutes
Smile 2
Horror •Mystery •Thriller
Overview
About to embark on a new world tour, global pop sensation Skye Riley begins experiencing increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events. Overwhelmed by the escalating horrors and the pressures of fame, Skye is forced to face her dark past to regain control of her life before it spirals out of control.
Director
Parker Finn
Cast
Naomi Scott, Kyle Gallner, Rosemarie DeWitt, Lukas Gage, Miles Gutiérrez-Riley
Duration
127 minutes
Hellboy
Fantasy •Sci-fi •Action •Horror •Adventure
Overview
In the final days of World War II, the Nazis attempt to use black magic to aid their dying cause. The Allies raid the camp where the ceremony is taking place, but not before they summon a baby demon who is rescued by Allied forces and dubbed “Hellboy”. Sixty years later, Hellboy serves the cause of good rather than evil as an agent in the Bureau of Paranormal Research & Defense, along with Abe Sapien – a merman with psychic powers, and Liz Sherman – a woman with pyrokinesis, protecting America against dark forces.
Director
Guillermo del Toro
Cast
Ron Perlman, John Hurt, Selma Blair, Rupert Evans, Jeffrey Tambor
Duration
117 minutes
World War Z
Horror •Action •Adventure •Sci-fi •Mystery •Thriller
Overview
Life for former United Nations investigator Gerry Lane and his family seems content. Suddenly, the world is plagued by a mysterious infection turning whole human populations into rampaging mindless zombies. After barely escaping the chaos, Lane is persuaded to go on a mission to investigate this disease. What follows is a perilous trek around the world where Lane must brave horrific dangers and long odds to find answers before human civilization falls.
Director
Marc Forster
Cast
Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz, James Badge Dale, Ludi Boeken
Duration
111 minutes
No Escape Room
Horror •Mystery •Thriller
Overview
A father and daughter check out a small town escape room and discover there is something sinister about the place.
Director
Alex Merkin
Duration
86 minutes
Abigail
Horror •Thriller •Mystery •Comedy •Crime •Action •Adventure
Overview
A group of criminals kidnaps a teenage ballet dancer, the daughter of a notorious gang leader, in order to obtain a ransom of $50 million, but over time, they discover that she is not just an ordinary girl. After the kidnappers begin to diminish, one by one, they discover, to their increasing horror, that they are locked inside with an unusual girl.
Director
Matt Bettinelli-Olpin
Cast
Alisha Weir, Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton, Angus Cloud
Duration
109 minutes
Hounds of Love
Crime •Drama •Horror •Thriller •Mystery
Overview
When Vicki Maloney is randomly abducted from a suburban street by a disturbed couple, she soon observes the dynamic between her captors and quickly realises she must drive a wedge between them if she is to survive.
Director
Ben Young
Cast
Ashleigh Cummings, Emma Booth, Stephen Curry, Susie Porter, Damian de Montemas
Duration
108 minutes
Lake Mungo
Drama •Horror •Mystery •Thriller
Overview
After 16-year-old Alice Palmer drowns in a local dam, her family experiences a series of strange, inexplicable events centered in and around their home. Unsettled, the Palmers seek the help of psychic and parapsychologist, who discovers that Alice led a secret, double life. At Lake Mungo, Alice’s secret past emerges.
Director
Joel Anderson
Cast
Rosie Traynor, David Pledger, Martin Sharpe, Talia Zucker
Duration
87 minutes
Death Becomes Her
Comedy •Fantasy •Horror
Overview
Madeline is married to Ernest, who was once arch-rival Helen’s fiance. After recovering from a mental breakdown, Helen vows to kill Madeline and steal back Ernest. Unfortunately for everyone, the introduction of a magic potion causes things to be a great deal more complicated than a mere murder plot.
Director
Robert Zemeckis
Cast
Meryl Streep, Bruce Willis, Goldie Hawn, Isabella Rossellini, Ian Ogilvy
Duration
103 minutes
Gremlins
Fantasy •Comedy •Horror
Overview
When Billy Peltzer is given a strange but adorable pet named Gizmo for Christmas, he inadvertently breaks the three important rules of caring for a Mogwai, unleashing a horde of mischievous gremlins on a small town.
Director
Joe Dante
Cast
Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, Frances Lee McCain, Corey Feldman
Duration
106 minutes
Dawn of the Dead
Action •Horror •Adventure
Overview
A group of survivors take refuge in a shopping mall after the world is taken over by aggressive, flesh-eating zombies.
Director
Zack Snyder
Cast
Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Weber, Mekhi Phifer, Ty Burrell
Duration
101 minutes
Split
Thriller •Horror •Mystery •Drama •Documentary
Overview
Though Kevin has evidenced 23 personalities to his trusted psychiatrist, Dr. Fletcher, there remains one still submerged who is set to materialize and dominate all the others. Compelled to abduct three teenage girls led by the willful, observant Casey, Kevin reaches a war for survival among all of those contained within him — as well as everyone around him — as the walls between his compartments shatter apart.
Director
M. Night Shyamalan
Cast
James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Betty Buckley, Haley Lu Richardson, Jessica Sula
Duration
112 minutes
Get Away
Horror •Comedy
Overview
A family’s vacation to a remote getaway takes an unexpected turn when they discover the island they’re on is inhabited by a serial killer.
Director
Steffen Haars
Duration
86 minutes
Speak No Evil
Horror •Thriller •Mystery •Drama
Overview
When an American family is invited to spend the weekend at the idyllic country estate of a charming British family they befriended on vacation, what begins as a dream holiday soon warps into a snarled psychological nightmare.
Director
James Watkins
Cast
James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis, Scoot McNairy, Alix West Lefler, Aisling Franciosi
Duration
110 minutes
The Meg
Sci-fi •Thriller •Action •Adventure •Horror •Mystery
Overview
A deep sea submersible pilot revisits his past fears in the Mariana Trench, and accidentally unleashes the seventy foot ancestor of the Great White Shark believed to be extinct.
Director
Jon Turteltaub
Cast
Jason Statham, Li Bingbing, Rainn Wilson, Cliff Curtis, Ruby Rose
Duration
109 minutes
A Quiet Place: Day One
Horror •Sci-fi •Thriller •Drama •Mystery
Overview
As New York City is invaded by alien creatures who hunt by sound, a woman named Sam fights to survive with her cat.
Director
Michael Sarnoski
Cast
Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff, Djimon Hounsou, Cain Aiden
Duration
99 minutes
Longlegs
Crime •Horror •Mystery •Thriller
Overview
FBI Agent Lee Harker is assigned to an unsolved serial killer case that takes an unexpected turn, revealing evidence of the occult. Harker discovers a personal connection to the killer and must stop him before he strikes again.
Director
Osgood Perkins
Cast
Maika Monroe, Nicolas Cage, Blair Underwood, Alicia Witt, Michelle Choi-Lee
Duration
101 minutes
MaXXXine
Horror •Crime •Mystery •Thriller
Overview
In 1980s Hollywood, adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx finally gets her big break. But as a mysterious killer stalks the starlets of Hollywood, a trail of blood threatens to reveal her sinister past.
Director
Ti West
Cast
Mia Goth, Elizabeth Debicki, Moses Sumney, Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale
Duration
104 minutes
I Saw the TV Glow
Drama •Horror
Overview
Teenager Owen is just trying to make it through life in the suburbs when his classmate Maddy introduces him to a mysterious late-night TV show — a vision of a supernatural world beneath their own. In the pale glow of the television, Owen’s view of reality begins to crack.
Director
Jane Schoenbrun
Cast
Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Ian Foreman, Helena Howard, Lindsey Jordan
Duration
100 minutes
Frequently asked questions
Psychological thrillers in horror mess with your mind more than your guts. They focus on the characters’ unstable mental states, paranoia, and internal conflicts. Expect a slow burn, building suspense through unsettling atmosphere, ambiguous events, and often, a twist that redefines everything you thought you knew. It’s about dread, not jump scares.
Absolutely. 2025 offered some solid slasher action for fans of classic masked killers and gruesome creativity. The standouts deliver on intense chase sequences, memorable villains, and plenty of inventive kills, proving the subgenre is far from dead. You’ll find a fresh take on the formula while still getting that satisfying bloodlust. Meanwhile, popular horror films last year include Longlegs, Abigail, The Watchers, Smile 2, Maxxxine, and many others.
Supernatural horror brings in elements beyond the natural world. Think ghosts, demons, curses, or unexplained phenomena. The fear comes from an unseen, often ancient, force that defies logic. These films often tap into primal fears of the unknown, spiritual threats, and the vulnerability of humanity against overwhelming, otherworldly power.
When we say “”best,”” we’re talking about films that left a significant impact. Our selections consider critical reception, audience buzz, and their ability to deliver on their genre promises – whether that’s sustained tension, shocking scares, or a compelling narrative. We focus on movies that genuinely excel at what they set out to achieve.
While our primary focus is on films readily accessible to an Australian audience, we do highlight significant international releases that have made waves globally and are available on major streaming platforms here. We aim to offer a comprehensive look at the best, regardless of their origin, as long as you can actually watch them.
Our list covers the most impactful psychological thrillers, slashers, and supernatural horror films of 2024, as well as of 2025. If your preferred niche isn’t heavily featured, consider checking out related titles from the directors or actors on our list. Often, great horror extends beyond strict subgenre boundaries.
We recommend checking major platforms like Netflix, Stan, BINGE, and Prime Video, as they frequently update their horror libraries. Keep an eye on new release sections, and consider signing up for free trials if a specific movie is exclusive to one service. Always check the streaming rights for Australia, as they can vary.
Horror continues to be a massive draw for Australian audiences. The genre consistently performs well at the box office and on streaming platforms. Australians love a good scare, whether it’s a chilling psychological breakdown or a gruesome slasher flick. The demand for fresh, terrifying content remains consistently high.
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