7 Great Movies From 2025 Nobody Talks About

Certain films always dominate the year of their release – and 2025 was no different. This year saw superhero films back at the forefront of pop culture, with new takes on Superman and Fantastic Four causing all kinds of buzz. Horror was no slouch either, with original works like Ryan Coogler’s Sinners and Zach Cregger’s Weapons becoming pop-culture phenomena. Anime shocked the world, with Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle and Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc both conquering the box office and sparking a whole new era of anime features. It was a busy year, for sure – so busy that there were many great films that flew under the radar.

Obviously, we’re not leaning into the awards season films, which always go unseen until the Oscars and Golden Globes buzz is behind them: We’re talking about seven films from 2025 that appeal to fandom, but should’ve had more fans watching them.,

7) Keeper

Osgood Perkins has been building both fame and infamy with his more recent horror films Longlegs (2024) and The Monkey (2025). Keeper was a film that was shrouded in mystery, with the trailer only revealing that Tatiana Maslany (She-Hulk: Attorney at Law) and Rossif Sutherland (ER) play a couple who go to a remote cabin to reconnect, only to find themselves caught up in a strange, supernatural, and/or mystical plot.

Keeper left more than a few critics and viewers scratching their heads. It also sparked debate amongst those who saw it, both about the story and the current state of arthouse horror. It definitely deserves more attention.

6) Primitive War

Every year needs that “so bad it’s good” movie, and Primitive War is certainly in the running to be that for 2025. A Vietnam War movie mashed up with a giant monster survival movie isn’t new (see: Kong: Skull Island), but giving the concept a Jurassic World bend really works.

Australian director Luke Sparke is speculated to have made the film for under $10 million, and still managed to create an entire world of dinosaurs that look well-designed for the screen. The cast includes veterans like Ryan Kwanten (True Blood), Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica), Nick Wechsler (Revenge), Ana Thu Nguyen (Mortal Kombat II), and Jeremy Piven (Entourage) – an impressive ensemble, given the indie nature of the project. If you want that popcorn B-movie goodness, Primitive War is waiting for you.

5) The Life of Chuck

2025 was a milestone year for writer Stephen King, who saw yet another resurgence in adaptations of his many works. However, while the TV spinoff IT: Welcome to Derry became a pop-culture phenomenon, and The Long Walk and Running Man movie adaptations each generated big buzz, The Life of Chuck movie adaptation got far less attention. Which is kind of nuts.

On paper, the movie stars Tom Hiddleston (Marvel’s Loki), one of the most likable leading men of today; it was written and adapted by Mike Flanagan, the filmmaker who has mastered horror, drama, and mysticism in projects like the King Shining sequel Doctor Sleep, or the Netflix series Haunting of Hill Houseand Midnight Mass. Even the supporting cast was a stacked ensemble that included Chiwetel Ejiofor (Doctor Strange), Karen Gillan (Guardians of the Galaxy), Carl Lumby (Captain America: Brave New World), Jacob Tremblay (The Predator), and Mark Hamill (Star Wars). The Life of Chuck is challenging because it is a very surreal take on life and dying, and ideas of spiritual and cosmic unity – told in reverse chronological order, to boot. But it’s a journey more people should be taking.

4) Hell of A Summer

Gen Z is getting to the age of making their own films about their youth culture and perspective, and there was no better embodiment of that than Hell of A Summer. Originally made in 2023 (but only released this year), the film is a satirical comedy-horror story, co-written and co-directed by Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard.

The film takes the familiar camp counselor slasher-killer formula of Friday the 13th, but examines it from the POV of young people who are growing up in the era of true-crime culture, horror as a blockbuster genre, and internet clout as currency. It’s a funny and smart Gen Z horror film, more people should be spotlighting.

3) Dangerous Animals

If you want to make a shark survival movie and a serial killer stalker movie, but you can’t make up your mind about which one, what do you do? Make both, of course!

Dangerous Animals somehow flew under the radar in a year where horror made such big buzz – and it’s almost criminal that it happened. Director Sean Byrne is still making a name for himself, but this film is helping to propel him on his way. Jai Courtney (The Suicide Squad) also puts on a master class of charismatic mania, playing “Tucker,” the boat captain whose shark tours get way too up close and… deadly. This one deserves to be in the conversation about horror’s landmark year in 2025.

2) Last Breath

Survival stories are always a two-punch combo of thrills and heartfelt drama. Director Alex Parkinson was able to perform the rare feat of taking his own 2019 documentary and converting it into a compelling feature film. It deserves more buzz for simply being a good B-movie experience.

The movie stars a small ensemble including Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu (Shang-Chi), Finn Cole (Peaky Blinders), and Cliff Curtis (The Meg). The tense story follows a team of divers working on deep-sea gas lines, who get embroiled in a battle for survival against a ticking clock, when one member of the team gets trapped underwater with a limited air supply. It’s a great thriller for grown-ups, and a great showcase for Liu, who has been tragically underserved by the industry.

1) Black Bag

Convoluted spy-espionage thrillers are a grown moviegoer’s dream when done correctly. Well, Steven Soderbergh (Ocean’s Eleven) to the sub-genre and mashed it up with a sexy romantic drama, starring two of the best actors working today (Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett). The result was Soderbergh’s signature slick and dreamy cinematic storytelling, with a legitimately smart and twisty spy story by David Koepp (Jurassic Park, Spider-Man, Mission: Impossible).

Fassbender and Blanchett play George and Kathryn (respectively), two veteran espionage agents working in cyber defense for the government, who are married to one another. George stumbles onto a plot involving the Russian-Ukrainian War and the leaking of top-secret software – a plot that implicates his wife as a suspect. But as he investigates her professionally, it’s hard to avoid suspicion in their personal life, suddenly making home just as precarious as the world of spies outside. As stated, it’s sleek, smart, and sexy filmmaking from Soderbergh again. It deserves more praise.