The Top 11 Best Independent Horror Movies of 2025 So Far
Hopefully you’ll find something you haven’t seen yet on this list of indie horror favorites.
The year is halfway over, and that means many people are putting out their “best of the half-year” lists. I feel compelled to make my own, but as someone who hates repeating what others have already done, I need to make my list different.
Instead of an all-encompassing list, I thought I’d limit my horror movie selections to only independent films. I’m excluding all movies produced or distributed by major studios. So, even though films like Sinners and Companion are in my overall top ten for the year, they’re not in this list because they were distributed by Warner Bros. I’m not even including A24 or Neon movies, so you won’t find Bring Her Back or Presence here either. The highest profile distributors I’ve included are companies like Shudder, IFC, Vertical, and Quiver.
The movies listed below are the best (i.e. my favorite) indie horror films to be given a wide release in the United States during the first half of 2025. They are presented here in no particular order. If you want to see how I ranked them, check out my overall Best and Worst Horror Movies of 2025 ranking which I update throughout the entire year. A few of these movies haven’t been added to that list yet as of this writing, but they’ll be on there soon as I catch up with updates.
Cannibal Mukbang
When I first saw the trailer for Cannibal Mukbang, I was just hoping for some gross and gory fun. I got that, but to my pleasant surprise I also got a movie with great characters and a wonderfully weird love story. Cannibal Mukbang follows the budding romance between Mark, a shy guy with a metal plate in his head, and Ash, a food-loving woman who makes a living by eating mounds of food for the pleasure of viewers online. Mark has to make some difficult decisions when he finds out what kind of meat Ash uses for her mukbangs.
Dangerous Animals
Dangerous Animals is an example of a simple story crafted to near-perfection. The story is about a surfer, Zephyr (Hassie Harrison), who is abducted by a serial killer, Tucker (Jai Courtney), who uses sharks as his murder weapon of choice. The entire movie focuses on Zephry’s attempts to escape a watery, tooth-filled grave. What makes the film so good are the superb performances by the two lead actors, the gripping suspense of Zephry’s repeated escape attempts, and the tension driven by some surprisingly brutal moments.
Found Footage: The Making of the Patterson Project
Found Footage: The Making of the Patterson Project is like a blending of American Movie, Willow Creek, and The Blair Witch Project. It’s a pseudo-documentary that follows a hopeful filmmaker making a micro-budget found footage movie about Bigfoot. Nothing seems to go right with the production, and things go from bad to worse when the crew stumbles upon a dark supernatural force in the cabin where they’ve set up their base of operations. The movie is funny, quirky, and perfect for anyone who is interested in movies about making movies.
Fréwaka
Fréwaka is steeped in paranoia and suspense. It’s a folk horror movie set in rural Ireland, and it focuses on Shoo (Clare Monnelly), an in-home caregiver sent to look after a woman, Peig (Bríd Ní Neachtain), who believes that the citizens of the nearby community are out to get her. Is she delusional, or is there truth to her story? Shoo, who is suffering from a horrific personal tragedy, gets drawn into Peig’s fears, but her realizations about what is really happening might come too late.
The Death of Snow White
After so many so-so fairy-tale and public-domain-inspired horror movies over the past few years, my expectations for The Death of Snow White were low. My expectations were exceeded by a significant margin. This movie knows exactly what it wants to be, a low-budget re-imagining of the traditional Snow White story with excessive blood and violence. It’s a bit cheesy and silly at times, but it’s not a parody. There’s genuine heart in the story, even if that heart is accompanied by low-budget gore and ren-faire aesthetics. The makers of The Death of Snow White did a lot with a little, and I kind of loved it.
Popeye the Slayer Man
Speaking of exceeding expectations, I present to you Popeye the Slayer Man. I know of at least three Popeye horror movies released this year. I’ve seen two, and I only really enjoyed this one. But boy did I enjoy this one! Popeye the Slayer man is a slasher movie, naturally, but it incorporates Popeye lore in such a fun way. It’s goofy, sure, but the gore is good, the kills are fun, and the story is surprisingly engaging.
Drained
Vampire love stories aren’t uncommon, but when done well they can feel fresh and vibrant. Drained is done exceedingly well thanks to a solid script and pitch-perfect performances from its lead actors Ruaridh Aldington and Madalina Bellariu Ion. In the movie, Thomas instantly falls for a seductive stranger. The stranger is Rhea, and Thomas soon learns that she is a vampire. That’s not necessarily a deal-breaker for him though, and he pursues Rhea even when it becomes clear that any relationship they have can only end in pain. Their “love” is toxic from the start, and watching them navigate their destructive feelings is suspenseful and emotional.
Grafted
Grafted accomplishes the tricky feat of combining good body horror with an effective character-driven story. Wei is the daughter of a scientist who was developing a breakthrough skin-grafting technique, a technique that killed him when he tested it on himself. Wei moves from Hong Kong to live with her aunt and sister in New Zealand, and she hopes to continue her father’s research. But Wei’s cousin doesn’t want her around, and her cruelty makes Wei feel increasingly bad about herself. One thing leads to another, and Wei uses her skin-grafting research to become who she truly wants to be. But will that actually make her happy?
Bloody Axe Wound
If you can get around some of its nonsensical world building, Bloody Axe Wound is a charming mashup of a slasher movie and a teen coming-of-age story. Abbie’s father is Roger Bladecut, a killer whose exploits are packaged into slasher movies and viewed by the public (this is the part that the movie makes no attempt to logically explain). Abbie wants to follow in her father’s footsteps, but when she accidentally makes friends with her intended victims, her entire worldview is changed. Now torn between her love for her father and her growing love for her friends, how can she possibly reconcile her two worlds?
Párvulos: Children of the Apocalypse
Three young brothers survive in a house deep in the woods. The outside world is overrun with monsters. Some of the monsters are people infected with a virus that reduces them to a zombie-like state. The other monsters are the uninfected people who prey on survivors. The older two boys are keeping something in the basement away from the eyes of the youngest brother. When he finds what they’re hiding, it tests their bonds of brotherhood in ways that could tear them apart just as easily as it could bring them closer together. Párvulos is touching, dramatic, funny, and heartbreaking, sometimes all at the same time.
The Devil and the Daylong Brothers
I’m a sucker for a musical. The Devil and the Daylong Brothers combines awesome musical numbers with Southern Gothic charm and a pulpy graphic-novel aesthetic. It’s about a trio of brothers (different mothers, same father) whose souls were sold to the Devil before they were born. They’ve made a deal of their own with the Prince of Darkness: kill enough people who’ve sold their souls, and they’ll be told where their father is currently living. But the Devil’s representative reneges on the deal, sending the Daylong brothers on a music-filled quest of revenge. The music is catchy (I still listen to the soundtrack regularly), the brotherly drama is well portrayed, and the Southern Gothic vibes are immaculate. I love this movie.
