'Weapons' Courtesy of Warner Bros. Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Send an Email Show additional share options Share on Reddit Post a Comment Share on Whats App Share on Pinterest Share on LinkedIn Print the Article Share on Tumblr We all want to belong to someone or something. Or, to have someone or something that belongs to us. Though of course, like anything, there are levels to it. Desire can all too quickly turn to obsession, companionship to possession, and communal progression to cultural regression. Ownership defined much of 2025. From found families and clans to theft and entrapment, this year in horror circled the notion that survival or ruination isn't entirely in our hands, and that the individual can only do so much to survive the monsters in our midst. We are either placed in the hands of others, or others are placed in ours. Both can be terrifying experiences that test the boundaries of control. What we saw on the screen in horror this year also existed in the atmosphere beyond the screen. With ownership came a real need for us to feel a part of something, even if it came down to simply not being a part of something else. Yes, there was tribalism and labels, which we all felt with even greater intensity this year, but there was also community, a necessary and occasionally desperate attempt for us to be claimed, to find others like us with shared experiences, interests, and desires for the future. But ownership also comes with a desire for some measure of control and acquisition. Be it cult-like tactics of extremist movements, colonialism in its many forms, or corporate acquisitions, ownership comes in the form of a boot as often as it comes as a handshake. We saw explorations of ownership from the positive, but let's be honest, to the mostly negative, across numerous horror movies this year, both critically acclaimed and not. Companion, Bring Her Back, Weapons, Opus, Frankenstein, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Queens of the Dead, The Monkey, Clown in a Cornfield, Good Boy, Control Freak, The Man in My Basement, and The Home, to name just a few, all dealt with ownership on some level. And then of course, there was Sinners, which you can be certain I'll get further into later on. But what an encapsulation of this year's trends on and off the screen! Not only does the narrative and thematics of Sinners come down to ownership, but so does much of the film's production from Ryan Coogler working with long-time friends and collaborators, to his historic rights deal with Warner Bros. Another way of looking at ownership this year also came by way of accountability. Whether it was countries, collectives, or individuals, the patience for excuses ran short and our tolerance, much like that Jacob Elordi's Creature in Frankenstein, wore thin. While our grievances fell short of inciting revolution, there was a palpable distaste both onscreen and off for false martyrs, shrines built on lies, corruption and evil, and fascistic sycophants. From the endings of The Long Walk and HIM to the blood-soaked slaughter of Neo-Nazis in Silent Night, Deadly Night, numerous filmmakers sent out a clear message: own up or get owned. As for surprises this year, Warner Bros. had an exceptionally great year for horror releases with the success of Sinners, Final Destination: Bloodlines, Weapons and The Conjuring: Last Rites. The fourth mainline Conjuring film, directed by Michael Chaves, and bringing Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga's iconic turns as Ed and Lorraine Warren to a close, was the biggest horror hit at the global box office with $494.6 million. A Conjuring prequel focused on younger iterations of Ed and Lorraine is already in the works. Domestically, Sinners was the biggest horror release of the year with $279.6 million, making it a both a huge win for original horror and Black artists. Streaming service Shudder continued to highlight and distribute independent horror from new and fan-favorite directors with films like Grafted, The Rule of Jenny Pen, Night of the Reaper, Good Boy, and plenty more, some found on the list below. But not all surprises were success stories, such as Blumhouse's M3GAN 2.0. It was oddly positioned as a summer blockbuster and bombed with $39.1 million globally, versus the original film's $181.8 million globally. It was an ugly end to what seemed primed to be Blumhouse's newest franchise, and has left the spin-off film Soulm8te in limbo. For what it's worth, M3GAN 2.0 is fun on the whole, but it's missing the horror element that made the first film resonate with younger audiences. Horror fans and industry heads will have their eyes on Blumhouse to make a comeback in 2026 after a rough 2025. I'm still of the opinion that they got off to a howling good start with Wolf Man back in January. There's a thematic ownership link in that film too, but I digress. After some internal discussion there is a pair of films that didn't make this list, for the sole reason of