Most anticipated horror of 2025 💀, DRKLGHT Clothing's 'The Sigil' delivers occult magic ✨, & more!

If you're reading this, then you survived 2024 in all its glory, and are ready for another (what is expected) incredible year for the horror genre.

Let's begin with this year's Golden Globes. Demi Moore won a Golgen Globe for her performance in The Substance, and we're looking forward to seeing if the film itself will be nominated for an Academy Award. That'd be incredible!

2024 aside, what are we expecting in 2025? Bee Delores has their eyes set on a number of films (the same for me, to be exact) that they're excited for. From Final Destination: Bloodlines to M3GAN 2.0 (they forgot that one!), maybe even The Collected (I will do anything to see it released this year!), things are really shaping up for another exciting slate of films to grace both the small and big screen.

As for Horrorverse, this new year has us excited for a number of new features we plan on featuring in the coming months, including enhancing some of the current sections you see below.

So, with our first issue for the new year now in in the books, we look forward to your continued support as we continue to serve up the latest news, scares, etc.

Issue 028’s Letterboxd list can be found here

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Over the years, we’ve watched many horror films that feature incredible body transformations, from An American Werewolf in London to Splinter, and Fried Barry to Sleepwalkers, so we put together a list on Letterboxd featuring our favorites. Let’s hope you can keep your food down. Check out the list here.

My Most Anticipated Horror of 2025

It's hard to concentrate these days. The horrors of this country make it near impossible to care about anything. It all feels so frivolous. But it's horror that has kept me sane the past two months. I find myself returning to a well of comfort films (Halloween H20, Elvira Mistress of the Dark, Tremors, etc.) for solace. Looking ahead, I have hope that the genre will be bigger and bolder during these uncertain socio-political times in the coming 12 months. 2025 is already shaping up to become another banner year. Despite it all, or maybe in spite of everything, perhaps horror will be the thing that burns down the establishment. It's long overdue anyway...

Speaking of burning it down, Dread Central EIC Mary Beth McAndrews' rape-revenge film Bystanders sits at the top of my most anticipated list. The synopsis reads: "A group of murderous frat boys get more than they bargained for when they cross paths with a couple coming home from a wedding." Judging by the official trailer, it looks like we're in for quite a treat. The triller/horror lands on VOD in just over a week on January 21st, a day after the inauguration. It'll be the match to get the fire started; that's for sure.

If you know me, you know how much I love slashers. For a genre that likes its holiday themes, there's a surprising lack of Valentine's Day slashers. There are a few here and there - the 1981 My Bloody Valentine and its 2009 remake, and 2001's Valentine spring to mind immediately, as well as Lovers Lane. Fortunately, we've got the forthcoming Heart Eyes to look forward to. Directed by the one and only Josh Ruben, the film follows the Heart Eyes Killer who has "wreaked havoc on Valentine's Day by stalking and murdering romantic couples" the past several years. And this year, no couple is safe, the synopsis promises. With a glorious call back to the 2003 Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake (check out the trailer to get a taste!), it's sure to satiate my bloodlust and squelch my jaded heart on February 7th.

Pulsating with possibility, Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Bride (a new take on The Bride of Frankenstein) stars Christian Bale and Jessie Buckley, two rare talents that will surely inject some charm and heart into the story. The synopsis has me HOOKED: "A lonely Frankenstein travels to 1930s Chicago to seek the aid of a Dr. Euphronius in creating a companion for himself. The two reinvigorate a murdered young woman and the Bride is born. She is beyond what either of them intended, igniting a combustible romance, the attention of the police and a wild and radical social movement." COLOR ME INTRIGUED. October 3rd can't come soon enough.

That's just scraping the surface on what horror has in store for us this year. A few others I'm hyped for include Leigh Whannell's Wolf Man (opening next weekend!), Presence, Grafted, The Monkey, Drop, Final Destination: Bloodlines, and the I Know What You Did Last Summer reboot/requel. I'm sure there will be more popping up as the year progresses; we've certaintly got our work cut out for us here at Horrorverse.

What films are you most excited about this year?! Let me know on Bluesky!

One of our favorite films from 2024, The Substance, which is now streaming exclusively on Mubi and features Golden Globe winner Demi Moore, was an incredible success at the box office (and now on streaming), so we thought it would be a great idea to share films that we believe you’ll enjoy watching (if body horror is your thing). Check out the list on Letterboxd here.

After getting together with family for the holidays, which I had a great time at and with, I was, for some reason, thinking about the dinner scene in The Invitation, the 2015 film (not that disastrous 2022 film of the same name). Oh, and not in the way that I thought that the people I was with had any bad intentions - It was just a fun dinner, but the setting was similar. As for the film, the incredible acting mixed with a tense setting gives off is-it-happening or -is-it-not-happening vibes, but each character gives off such incredible performances that it’s hard to tell what the purpose of the film’s gathering is all about… until it all starts to come together. I don’t want to spoil it, but this is one of those films that sticks with you well after the credits roll (and in a good way0. You can also listen to me talk about the film on The Letterboxd Show (October 2023). [Written by Brett]

It seems fitting then that Bloodthirsty, directed by Amelia Moses with a script from Wendy Hill-Tout, be released amidst such an iron-hot cultural moment. You see, pop star Grey’s (Lauren Beatty) biggest fear is her second album flopping. The sophomore slump is a very well-documented myth (there has been plenty of evidence to both support the trend and disprove it). So, the indie-pop artist turns to Vaughn Daniels (Greg Bryk), a prolific producer who had his own artistic hey-day in the ’90s during the boy band craze. Now, Daniels lives mostly as a recluse, you could say, squirreling away his days and nights in his lavish estate and state-of-the-art home studio. He has his own demons, of course, and how could he not within such a parasitic business. [Read Bee's review and essay]

Filmmaker Joe Begos situates his new film, Bliss, his third feature, in a hellish realm. Dezzy, played by Dora Madison Burge, is ballsy and abrasive, a true bohemian artist who soothes her creative block with drugs, booze, and sex. She combs dirty downtown Los Angeles for her next fix, a vampire in her own way, slithering through dark alleyways, orgies, and sunken hotel rooms to satiate a deep, animalistic appetite. Her rockstar lifestyle may soon be catching up with her, though – she’s late on her rent again, her would-be lover Clive (Jeremy Gardner) has had just about enough of her shit, and her latest artwork (for which she was paid a $10,000 advance) is just not going anywhere. [Read Bee's review]

Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare scares theaters for a limited time on January 13-15, 2025. See if it's playing in your area here.

On February 7th exclusively in theaters, watch the latest film, Heart Eyes, from director Josh Ruben (Werewolves Within, Scare Me).

If you missed it in the theaters, Steven C. Miller's Werewolves howls its way to Blu-ray on February 4, 2025.