2025 has been a big year for horror and a surprisingly successful one, with many more movies to look forward to. Major hits like Sinners, Bring Her Back, and Final Destination Bloodlines have restored faith in the horror genre. However, there were a few that ended up being huge disappointments.
1. Wolf Man
I had pretty high hopes for Wolf Man especially because I like Leigh Whannell as a director. He directed 2020's The Invisible Man and that was very well received. Wolf Man was supposed to be the next successful installation in the Universal Monsters Universe but it didn't quite deliver.
There are good things about Wolf Man, such as the cinematography, the acting, and the sound design. The biggest disappointment was the lackluster werewolf transformation. I expected a big hairy wolf-like monster but got nothing of the sort. I can understand Whannell wanting to stray from tradition but it didn't pay off and left fans unsatisfied.
2. Death of a Unicorn
This was one movie i didn't have high expectations for but still ended up disappointed. A24 misses with Death of a Unicorn despite a star studded cast including Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Will Poulter, and Richard Grant. The movie was presented as a horror comedy but only accomplished the comedy aspects.
Death of a Unicorn has a unique idea and an interesting story behind unicorn lore but didn't explore it's potential enough. This could have been a really fun folklore horror but it really missed the mark and leaned too much into jokes that weren't very funny. I saw the potential but it just fell completely flat for me.
3. Opus
Another movie that I had high expectations for was A24's Opus, especially with another great cast. Ayo Edebiri and John Malkovich carried the movie on their back but it still wasn't enough to distract from the mess of a storyline.
Opus piggy-backed off of movies like Midsommar and Get Out but failed to add anything new to the weird cult side of horror. The story was really quite predictable and in some parts pretty boring. The kills weren't anything unique and were overall forgettable.
4. Until Dawn
I have never played the game Until Dawn, but I am usually all for adaptations. I knew nothing going into this movie but quickly realized it was going to be a Hollywood cash grab. The movie is nothing like the game, it doesn't follow the same story or characters but picks and chooses random things from the game to sprinkle in the movie.
Until Dawn is another horror movie that falls victim to cheap jump scares and no real tension. The movie has nothing of substance to it and just does Groundhog Day but 'scary', The kills were fun at times but were getting a little too repetitive for me. I think Until Dawn would've faired better if it was an actual adaptation to the game.
5. M3GAN 2.0
Alright, to be completely fair here, I knew M3GAN 2.0 wasn't going to be a masterpiece. I did like the first M3GAN because of its campy nature, but then they took it too far. The trailer alone should've been hint enough that it was going to be a bad movie.
M3GAN 2.0 knew that the first movie became popular because of the campy horror that didn't take itself too serious. They decided to amplify that and really lean into the cringe but it just didn't work this time. I wasn't laughing with the movie, I was laughing at the movie.