Emma Bono ‘30
Staff Writer
This year, the horror movie genre has made quite the splash in the box office, with it making up 31.4% of the current box office total, $7.95 billion. Movies like “Obsession,” “The Backrooms,” and “Resident Evil” all make well over double their budget, as well as being critical successes.
It’s not only horror movies that are making a big impact, with “Widow’s Peak,” an Apple TV original show winning 14 Emmys.
The popularity of the horror genre seems to be a trend in this decade, with last year’s “Sinners,” “Weapons,” and “The Conjuring: Last Rites” also doing very well, and “The Last of Us” winning 8 Emmys in 2023. 2025 was the highest-grossing year for horror movies, making $1.2 million, beating 2017, which had “It”, “Get Out” and “Split”.
Not only has financial success been important, but so has been critical success. “Obsession”s Inde Navaratte is currently the favorite to win Best Actress at the Academy Awards; Curry Baker, its director, is also among the favorites to be nominated for Best Director, as well as getting a Best Picture nomination.
Last year Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” saw a similar critical and financial success, earning 12 nominations, beating the record previously held by “Titanic” as well as giving Michael B. Jordan and Amy Madigan their first win for “Sinners” and “Weapons,” respectively. The year before, “The Substance” got a similar treatment, with Demi Moore winning 3 major awards for her role.
In previous years, the horror genre has always been under-appreciated critically, seeing very little to no critical success, being viewed the same way as Superhero movies. There are exceptions to this rule, of course, with the early 90s seeing Kathy Bates getting a win for “Misery” in 1991, and “The Silence of the Lambs” seeing major success, winning the rare and coveted “Big Five” at the Academy Awards.
So, my question is, why is horror so in right now? My answer: COVID. Yes, yes, I know, everybody blames everything on COVID, but I really think that COVID is linked to this. A lot of these movies are about a sickness that destroys humanity. Sound familiar? While COVID was nowhere near as destructive as the illnesses in the movies, which usually cause the collapse of society as we know it, it does cause lots of panic and distress. It’s not unheard of for people to use historical/important events as inspiration. I also think that people still resonate with the fear of the unknown, being scared of a world that is rapidly changing. There is so much in our world to be scared about that I don’t find it crazy that we’re seeing it reflected in film.
Image Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
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