10 Great Modern Horror Movies to Watch This Halloween (That We Think You’ve Never Seen) – 2025 Edition
For the sixth year in a row, we want to talk about modern horrors we think you should definitely be checking out this Halloween season. Movies that you may have missed, movies that delighted us and movies we think are good enough to recommend. Now, our definition of modern is ‘released’ in the last 5 to 6 years. Some might be brand-new (released this year), others may be a couple of years old, and we’ve just got round to mentioning them now.
In 2020, we recommended Dinner Party, Stairs, The Night Eats the World, We Are the Missing, Room for Rent, The Good Things Devils Do, Racoon Valley, Terrifer, The Void and Butterfly Kisses. You can read that full article here.
In 2021, we recommended Till Death, Slashorette Party, Bloody Hell, Paintball Massacre, Don’t Look Back, After Midnight, Yummy, Oxygen, Killer Rack and Savageland. You can read that full article here.
In 2022 we recommended Torn Hearts, Hellarious, Vicious Fun, Broadcast Signal Intrusion, Knocking, No One Gets Out Alive, Horror in the High Desert, Slumber Party Massacre – Remake, Becoming Death, and Anything for Jackson. You can read that full article here.
In 2023 we recommended Tailgate, Scare Package, Brain Freeze, Scare Package II: Rad Chad’s Revenge, Virus:32, Glorious, Deadstream, Mind Leech, Craving, and Older Gods. You can read that full article here.
In 2024 we recommended Compression, Im Wald, Schism, Stupid Games, Blight, The People in the Walls, Infested, MadS, When Evil Lurks, and Chompy and the Girls. You can read that full article here.
So, what are we recommending for 2025? Read on to find out!
Good Boy (2025)
Have you ever wondered why your dog is staring at a corner of the room? Have you ever felt a sense of unease as your dog barks at seemingly nothing? Have you ever felt like your dog is protecting you from the bottom of your bed?
That is what Good Boy explores as Indy and his owner, Todd (Shane Jensen) move into an old and isolated family house that may be home to something demonic. If this wasn’t a big enough issue for Indy to deal with, Todd is sick, and this illness makes him easy fodder for the evil that lives in the cold walls that once belonged to his grandfather.
Indy has no idea what is going on, he just knows that something is out to get Todd, and he will do anything it takes to save him, even if it makes him a target too.
Good Boy is a film that will be remembered not for its supernatural scares and horror, but for its portrayal of the relationship between a person and a dog, and the star-making performance of its lead, Indy. Not just a good boy, but the best boy.
Read the full review here.
Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare (2025)
A brutal watch, Martin Portlock stars as Peter Pan, who likes nothing better than to snatch little boys and take them away to Neverland, alongside his ‘fairy’ Tinker Bell (Kit Green). Horribly scarred after a violent incident when a mother tried to stop him taking her son (the bloody opening of the film that sets the bar high), Pan simply won’t take no for an answer and woe betide anyone that gets in his way. Even Tinker Bell is afraid of him, but as long as he keeps giving her ‘pixie dust’, she goes along with his twisted plans.
The latest boy to be snatched is Michael Darling (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney), something that devastates the family. Refusing to believe that he is dead, his older sister, Wendy (Megan Placito) sets to find him and stop Pan once and for all. To do this she will have to enter his world and take on the horrors that await her.
Don’t roll your eyes. Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare is a very good film.
Read the full review here.
825 Forest Road (2025)
Chuck and Maria Wilson are married and have uprooted their city life to go live in a quiet town with his younger sister, Isabelle. The family have suffered a significant tragedy recently, and it’s got Chuck and Maria very concerned about Isabelle. So, not only is this move a way to help them all deal with the tragedy, but it’s a chance for the brother and sister to reconnect, even if it has put a strain on Chuck and Maria’s marriage, with the latter dealing with her own mental health issues.
Putting it bluntly, they’re a family in crisis, but they’ve arrived in a town that has its own share of tragedy. Tragedies that few will speak of openly, not out of respect, but out of fear. This town has a very dark past and it’s one that constantly returns to haunt them.
Offering up very little fresh elements, especially within the paranormal world of horror, 825 Forest Road isn’t a film you will remember long term. That being said, as far as modern paranormal horror goes, it delivers a tight and interesting story, ok characters, and some really great scares. Which is more than enough to make it a recommendation, even if what it does has been done before.
Read the full review here.
Popeye the Slayer Man (2025)
From Robert Michael Ryan comes Popeye the Slayer Man, the dumbest example of the current ‘child-friendly public domain characters being turned into villains’ horror trend, but also one of the best. Yes, you read that right. A horror film that turns the lovable Popeye the Sailor Man into a hulking beast of a killer is actually pretty damn good.
Jason Robert Stephens plays the pipe-smoking, spinach-guzzling sailor, a legend said to stalk the abandoned Anchor Bay Cannery. Of course, it’s just a legend, but legends have power and Dexter (Sean Michael Conway) wants to make an indie film about it. Heading off to the factory with his best friend, Lisa (Marie-Louise Boisnier), Olivia (Elena Juliano), and a few others who are definitely not going to have their arms pulled off by Popeye.
Read the full review here.
The North Witch (2024)
Combining folklore frights with psychological horror, The North Witch is a compelling watch that nails much of what it is going for. Directed by Bruce Wemple and written by Anna Shields, the basis of this horror tale is a classic, witches.
This is no ordinary camping trip. These people are looking for a mysterious cabin that is linked to the legend of the North Witch. Find the cabin, which no-one has ever done before, and find the truth about those that have gone looking for it and never returned. A legend that is delightfully creepy.
Read the full review here.
The Rule of Jenny Pen (2024)
Written by James Ashcroft and Eli Kent, directed by the former, and based on Owen Marshall’s short story of the same name. The Rule of Jenny Pen can best be described as a psychological horror and thriller. It stars John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush.
Far from a conventional horror film, but horrifying in so many ways, The Rule of Jenny Pen is a film that stays with you long after it ends. Even as the tension that will have been felt throughout finally releases. It is a captivating film, one that embodies the word ‘uncomfortable’, but one that everyone who appreciates thought-provoking horror should see.
Read the full review here.
The Soul Eater (2024)
The Soul Eater (Le Mangeur D’âmes) is a French horror directed by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury, with a story written by Annelyse Batrel, Ludovic Lefebvre, and Alexis Laipsker. It stars Virginie Ledoyen as Elizabeth Guardiano, investigating a horrific murder/suicide that has details that might make you squirm. From the start, The Soul Eater tells you that you’re in for a one hell of an experience.
Her investigation sees her linking up with detective Franck de Rolan (Paul Hamy) who is in town following his own investigation, one related to missing children. While neither case initially seems to be linked, as more details come in, it does seem as though there might a thread worth pulling on. Which is what Franck does, and as much as she is told to say out of it by her superiors, so does Elizabeth.
Just what is the Soul Eater, why are some children so obsessed with it, and why are some adults killing themselves, and others, in horrific acts of violence?
All these questions, and more will be answered by the end, but you won’t like a lot of them. This is a bleak film, one that can be defined as ugly and harsh. While no disrespect is meant by such a statement, it does bear true. The characters are all written to be unlikable in their own way, revealing their own traumatic experiences as the film goes on, but being dictated by them. This does make it hard to root for anyone, but the way the story is told, you’re not really supposed to.
Read the full review here.
Horror in the High Desert 3: Firewatch (2024)
Written and directed by Dutch Marich, Horror in the High Desert 3: Firewatch is the third entry in the found footage/mockumentary series of Horror in the High Desert films. A series that has, so far, delivered smart storytelling with chills and thrills, while also not adhering to the expected drawbacks of the filming style they employ.
Horror in the High Desert 3: Firewatch proves to be a massive step forward for the franchise. Not just expanding on the stories around those who disappeared in the first two films, but offering up explanations for certain events, revealing new details, adding even more horror to things, creating a tone that is tension heavy throughout, and introducing the best character of the series so far, Oscar Mendoza (Marco Antonio Parra). Who, unlike anyone else who has ever tried to find Gary Hinge, knows something nobody else does and that is what the film explores.
However, what makes it so much more enjoyable is that Oscar is a character himself, and this journey he is on, is somewhat spiritual for him. He’s not just trying to find out what happened to Gary, or Minerva, he’s trying to find himself.
Read the full review here.
Bad Fish (2024)
Written and directed by Brad Douglas, Bad Fish is charming blend of modern horror, and folklore thrills. One based around mermaids, but not as we traditionally know them.
John Burton (Jonny Lee) is a marine biologist called to the small coastal town of Brookings, Oregon, to help investigate a series of deadly attacks on local fishermen. The bodies are beginning to pile up, and when you’re a town that lives and dies on the sea, it’s important that this mystery be solved.
Except John might not have been the best person to call in to help as he is dealing with underlying personal problems. An aspect of his character that causes him to unravel as all rational scientific explanations disappear in the face of reality. These killings are being done by a mermaid, and it’s someone in the town.
Read the full review here.
Azrael (2024)
Azrael is a 2024 American action horror film directed by E. L. Katz and written by Simon Barrett. The film stars Samara Weaving, Vic Carmen Sonne and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett though the focus is very much on the character played by Samara Weaving (Ash vs Evil Dead, The Babysitter: Killer Queen), the titular character, Azrael.
A visual feast with a very dark, grim and creepy world enhanced by the colour, or lack of it. Being set mostly in dark, damp woodland, it helps with the creep factor too. It’s not particularly scary, but it does packs some tension. There is also plenty of blood and gore with a couple particularly gruesome death scenes.
Read the full review here.
