This past December marked the end of one of the more tumultuous years in recent times. If 2024 promised a year full of horrifying prospects, 2025 delivered. Perhaps that is why our top 15 best movies list this year reflects a reckoning with the difficult present. But this reckoning isn’t hopeless. Rather, it betrays a hidden strength. The best films of 2025 demand us to look directly at the terrors of our time.

There are many kinds of fear one may encounter in their life, but the most chilling kind may be the one where you’re afraid of yourself....