The Golden Talks: 2025 Year in Reviews | Best and Worst Horror Movies of 2025

2025 Golden Talk Awards Listen to the episode for our top five and bottom five horror movies we reviewed this year as well as the top and bottom five new horror movie new releases.

Synopsis Bruce Willis plays a well-respected child psychiatrist named Malcolm living in Philadelphia. After a disgruntled old patient breaks into his home to confront him for his failure to cure him, Malcolm’s life of success comes crashing down around him. As he tries to pick up the pieces, he takes on a new client, Cole, an isolated child who claims to see the spirits of dead people. Through helping this child, Malcom slowly starts to learn more about himself.  Review of The Sixth Sense The Sixth Sense is one of my all-time favorite movies directed by M. Night Shyamalan. While the movie centers around paranormal activity and Cole’s connection to the afterlife, it really feels more like a drama than a horror movie. The characters are compelling and feel real, and the acting is knocked out of the park by Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, and Toni Collette. Willis and Osment are truly the perfect duo for the film, and their interactions feel heartfelt and at times even tear-jerking. Though I didnt find myself crying on this watch, this movie has had a profound impact on me on several other occasions. When I was a kid, it was one of the very first horror movies I ever watched and has stuck with me ever since. There is truly nothing I can say bad about this movie. Score 10/10

Synopsis Strange darling opens with title cards that explain the movie is about a nationwide serial killer’s final murders told in six parts. From there we jump into part three in media res with a chase scene with a frantic woman in a pinto is being chased by Kyle Galner in a pickup truck with intent to kill. told non-linearly, you will be quickly be asking yourself are the filmmakers fucking with me? The answer is yes, the filmmakers are fucking with you, so sit back and appreciate it, Review of Strange Darling The first time I heard about this movie was from a Red Letter Media video lauding Kyle Galner. Our patrons have suggested it several times and it finally won the vote. I had high hopes going in and was prepared for a good movie, so I was pleasantly surprised when that is actually what I got. this is a tense and smart thriller that plays with not only the timeline of the plot, but the assumptions of the audience. It explores the themes of consent, trust, sado-masochism, pride, and prejudice. The film is written and directed by JT Mollner who most recently wrote the screenplay for The Long Walk. He does a great job here manipulating audience alliances and revealing just enough information to keep us on our toes. The film looks great, and I was shocked to see that it was shot by a first time cinematographer Giovanni Ribisi. From the dramatic lighting to the old school film techniques, it is a beautiful movie. Kyle Gallner and Willa Fitzgerald lead the movie and although they aren’t famous names, they bring top tier performances that highlight the subtlety in the script and sell the misdirections well. Overall, this movie is thoroughly worth your time and I think is one of the best thrillers that I have seen in the last decade. Score 9/10

Synopsis This film is another installment in the Creepshow universe, showcasing an anthology of spooky short films based on Stephen King stories. Review of Creepshow 2 I have to admit that I have not seen the first Creepshow, or understand what any of this is supposed to be about, but I am greatly assuming that the first movie is a lot better than this garbage. It seems as though in the first movie they found the best and spookiest Stephen King tales to put to screen, and then for this one they really phoned it in for the cash grab?  There are three tales, which thank god there are only three. We’ll get into the contents of each tale in spoilers, but the way that this movie starts off with the most boring and pointless and downright racist story baffles me. Don’t you wanna hook your viewers? Don’t you want to keep butts in seats? Because that story would have made me walk out of the theater, if not for its content, then for its horrible acting. I wish I could say this was even fun to watch how bad it was, but it wasn’t. I slightly enjoyed the last story more than the first two but slightly is the operative word here. The in-between sections with the creep and the kid work well, I like how it switched from real life to animated, and I was a lot more invested in that kid’s story than I was with any of the anthology. It was a great idea to add that animation, and it got me excited for the film. I was let down greatly. The fact that this is a Stephen King and George Romero collaboration is shocking. They can, and have, done better. Score 3/10

Synopsis After the events of FNAF 1, Mike and his not girlfriend Vanessa struggle to move on. Mike, taking a parental role over his sister Abby, constantly worries about her connection to undead animatronics, and Vanessa continues to be plagued by nightmares of her father, William Afton. When dark forces begin to beckon Abby to the original Freddy Fazbear’s location, Mike must confront Vannessa, who is still holding onto secrets from the past.  Review of Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is almost indistinguishable from the first film in my eyes. Yes, I know the stories are technically different, but the viewing experience is the same. The movie is packed full of winks and nods specifically designed to make a fan of the Five Nights at Freddy’s game say, “Hey, I know what that is!” However, to the average person with limited FNAF lore, it doesn’t quite hit the same. When my theater erupted into applause as some YouTuber made a cameo, I was left wondering, “Who the hell is that guy?” The acting feels like both Josh Hutcherson and Elizabeth Lail just couldn’t fully get into their characters, which is a shame because I think they both do a great job in other films. The one person really bringing their A game is Matthew Lillard, who seems to have never phoned in a performance in his life. And if you’re a fan of Scream, technically, we got both the original killers in this movie. FNAF is a movie made for kids who already like FNAF. For adults who are not nostalgic for the games, there is not much to get out of these movies. Score 3/10

Just an FYI to listeners that we have shaken up and consolidated a lot of our Patreon tiers. There has never been a better time to support the show or give a Patreon membership as a gift to fans of the show. https://www.patreon.com/horrormovietalk Current Patreon Tier List Spoopy $4/Month Our undying thanks for your monetary support! A shout out on one of our episodes 2Spoopy4U $6.66/Month A shout out on one of our episodes Unlock access to our “Afterpods” where we leave the mics running and talk about life and behind the scenes  Early Access to episodes once they are edited without Ads Group vote on a movie review Early access of that week’s episode without ads as soon as it is edited   Access to all of our sound drops Spoop Masters $9.99/Month A shout out on one of our episodes Unlock access to our “Afterpods” where we leave the mics running and talk about life and behind the scenes Early access of that week’s episode without ads as soon as it is edited Once monthly you get to suggest a movie for us to review then you can vote on which movie we review Access to past and future pretentious reviews, which are bonus stripped down reviews of older horror movies and cult classics that are too niche for the general podcast feed. Your listing on the supporters page can include a link to a personal project of yours Spoop Lord $666/month Meme tier membership All previous bullshit A personalized artisanal custom commissioned pretentious review of a movie of your choosing that is for your ears only.

Today we review The Blob! No not my midsection, the movie from the 80’s! Synopsis A mysterious space object falls to earth in the sleepy mountain town of Arborville, CA. When a dirty hobo, I’m sorry, unwashed unhoused individual, stumbles upon the resulting crater, he is attacked by a formless gelatinous substance. When the town’s cliché love triangle finds him, the Football player, cheerleader, and motorcycle bad boy take the filthy degenerate, sorry cleanliness-divergent individual experiencing homelessness, to the hospital. There the gelatinous substance quickly consumes several townspeople and becomes, you guessed it, THE GLOB! Review of The Blob (1988) The Blob is one of those movies that I watch and truly don’t understand why it’s not lauded more. With a disrespectful 69% on rotten tomatoes, people may not realize that this is a well crafted monster tale that rivals The Thing and Tremors.  Director Chuck Russell and the young Frank Darabond, who had just come off a successful collaboration A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, show their skill here. The plot features an impressive number of satisfying setups and payoff throughout. There is an excellent mixture of action, horror, and humor throughout that should satisfy fans of any of those genres. The most impressive feature of the film is the practical effects that convincingly portray a formless blob as a real menace. Where the original 50s blob looked like strawberry jelly mashed through miniatures and settling in stationary positions, this 80s incarnation whips out tentacles, surrounds, and digests people with alarming speed. The intention of Russel and Darabond was to portray the blob as an inside out stomach, consuming all it touches, and they convincingly created it through a variety of stop motion, puppetry, and miniature work. It’s a corny monster premise, somehow made actually terrifying by showing, not telling what the monster can do. It’s not deep, but it’s a lot of fun. Score 10/10

Synopsis Justine is a young college student with a big heart. After learning about the horrors of female genital mutilation in foreign countries, she becomes interested in joining a local group of activists. While working with the group to stop deforestation in the Amazon, their airplane crash-lands deep in the forest. Which would be bad enough on its own. However, this forest just so happens to be home to cannibalistic natives who quickly capture the very people who came to protect them. Review of The Green Inferno The Green Inferno is a shocking and disgusting movie. As an homage to Cannibal Holocaust, Eli Roth makes sure to stuff The Green Inferno with plenty of over-the-top kills filled to the brim with blood, guts, and eyeballs. While the first viewing of this movie left me feeling depressed and hollow, years later, on my third watch, some of the horror magic has become somewhat juvenile and silly to me. It’s still enjoyable to watch, but I can’t help but roll my eyes a bit at the way the tribe is depicted as the most evil, bloodthirsty killers imaginable. Such a portrayal might even spark questions as to whether it’s even okay to depict tribal natives as savages in such a crude way; however, learning more about how this movie was filmed kind of brings everything back around to being wholesome fun for me. The cannibals in this movie are played by an actual tribe in the Amazon who apparently had a blast making it. At the end of the day, this is a gross movie that can be scary at times, but is often just a little goofy. Score 6/10

Synopsis After nearly a year of dating, lovebirds Liz and Malcom drive to Malcom’s family cabin for a little getaway. Liz immediately begins to pick up on some strange vibes, both from the cabin and Malcom. Something is definitely off, but at least there is chocolate cake. As Liz learns more about Malcom, she is bombarded by visions of dead women, creepy ghouls, and severed heads. All of this in the name of love, maybe it would have been better to stay single after all. Review of Keeper Keeper’s trailer keeps things pretty ambiguous, and so I had very little knowledge of this film before going in. All I could gather was that this movie was about a woman on a trip with her boyfriend, who is kind of creepy. And honestly, that’s what we get from this movie for the entirety of Act 1 and Act 2. Liz is just mildly bothered by her boyfriend acting strangely, but other than that, there isn’t much to say about it. The director Osgood Perkins is currently making a name for himself with movies like The Blackcoat’s Daughter and Longlegs, but Keeper seems to be something else. While there are mixed reviews for Longlegs (some loving it and others finding it weird and cheesy), what we can all agree on is that Longlegs had some very interesting concepts that make the movie worth checking out. Unfortunately for Keeper, there really just isn’t anything all that interesting about it. It’s a cabin in the woods story, with a domineering, creepy man, and a seemingly helpless yet feisty female protagonist. It almost doesn’t get more cliche than that. I will say that Act Three opens the movie up a little bit more, and the creepy visuals and monster designs were quite scary-looking. But that doesn’t make up for the movie being kind of bland most of the time. Even when it ends up doing something kind of good, the story is still borderline nonsensical. Score 3/10

Synopsis Honestly if you don’t know what Frankenstein is about, I don’t know why you’re listening to a horror movie podcast. Review I heard a lot of mixed reviews about this, but I tried to stay away from as many spoilers as possible, as if this story could really be spoiled. Del Toro does add some new elements to the classic tale, some might say maybe too many new elements. Some might say that. I’m not saying it. But some might. It is kind of long. This movie is beautifully shot, albeit sometimes you can tell it was Made For Streaming (cough cough why is the sunlight in my face cough cough), but for the most part it’s colorful, playful, and imaginative, with backdrops and settings that match the incredible costumes. Mia Goth looks ethereal in all of her elaborate gowns, veils, and feathers. Her wedding dress deserves its own moment of silence. The bandaged look around her arms? So major. The costumes tell their own stories, and they do a wonderful job at that. Oscar Isaac gets hotter every time I see him in a movie. Don’t know how he manages that but he manages it well. Even though he’s pretty evil in this he still looks good. Jacob Elordi does an amazing job as the Creature, he proves himself time and time again, with physical and emotional acting. He captivates and intrigues. He shines.The story is good, it is a bit hammed up at times and Del Toro is quite heavy handed; so much so that it feels like being hit in the head with a hammer. Yes, I understand the story you’re trying to tell Mr. Del Toro, thank you for making sure I do. Also not a big fan of the narration aspect, don’t think it added much to the story. I really could have done without the Danish sailors in their entirety and this would have been a lot better. Christoph Waltz was a pleasant surprise, although his character has little to no narrative impact. I always enjoy seeing him on screen but I felt as though he was a little pointless. All in all I really had a good time watching this. It’s compelling, emotional, gorgeous, and thrilling. And God Damn You Netflix For A Limited Theatrical Release. Score 8/10