JAN 3 — While I do enjoy the cerebral and intellectual challenge of watching arthouse films, which often take up most of the space in my annual favourite films of the year list, when it comes to cinematic junk food, there’s nothing that can even come close to replacing the pleasure that I get from enjoying the often extreme and bizarre sights that are on offer in genre films, whether they’re horror films, action flicks, sci-fi headscratchers or gonzo shockers.

There’s a particular kick that these films offer that can rarely be found in other movies, and if I’m being honest, at least half of my annual movie-watching time is spent watching genre films, which is why I think they deserve a separate list all on their own. 

Some of the films on this list are pretty obvious by virtue of being big box-office hits, but I hope you’ll discover a few new favourites here among the lesser-known ones.

Weapons

Without a doubt the most talked about horror film of 2025, Weapons is a deserved box-office hit for writer-director Zach Cregger, banking around US$269 million (RM1.09 billion) worldwide from a pretty modest budget of US$38 million. 

An unthinkable mash-up of Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia and George Romero’s The Crazies, Cregger builds the film from an almighty hook (17 kids wake up at 2.17am and mysteriously disappear from a normal suburban neighborhood, running out of their houses with arms outstretched) and goes to some really crazy and disturbing places with it. 

Fun, scary and chilling, this is a new horror classic from a very, very promising horror talent.

Deathstalker

Remember when the Conan movies became huge hits and suddenly everyone wanted to make their own sword and sorcery epic as well? 

Remember how cheesy those movies were? Also, remember how fun they were, despite (or because) of all that cheese? 

Well, my favourite Canadian nutjob, writer-director Steven Kostanski (responsible for the immortal classic that is Psycho Goreman, Father’s Day and Frankie Freako), has decided that now is the time to bring back the glory days of sword and sorcery movies by remaking an old classic from 1983, Deathstalker. 

Except, that this is a remake in name only, meaning that Kostanski is using only the name and character of Deathstalker, but is telling a totally different story. And it rocks!

28 Years Later

Never in my wildest dreams would I think that I would cry buckets when watching a movie in the 28 Days Later franchise, but a scene towards the end of this first film in a planned new trilogy, had me sobbing like a baby. 

If you expected more of the same raw, handheld zombie horror that made 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later the hits they were back then, you’ll be deeply disappointed with this one. 

But if you’re open to a new adventure, this coming-of-age film wrapped around a zombie apocalypse film is one of the most earnest, emotional and deeply affecting viewings you will have. I can’t wait for the new film to arrive this year.

Ghost Killer

Kensuke Sonomura is one of my favourite action directors currently, and it’s quite thrilling to see him try his hand at a new element with his new film, Ghost Killer, as he tries to deliver a supernatural action comedy in which the high concept is that a hitman, who was betrayed and murdered, finds himself able to possess the body of a young woman, which leads them to work together to avenge his death and also take down a gang of criminals. 

It’s a pretty slight plot, but the real reason anyone wants to watch a new Sonomura movie is the action set-pieces, and there are plenty of outstanding ones here, with lead actress Akari Takaishi (of Baby Assassins fame, if you’re an action film geek) proving truly up to the task. 

Both funny and exciting, this is a low budget action gem that more people need to discover.

Jimmy & Stiggs

By now, writer-director Joe Begos has carved a singular niche in the American indie horror scene, producing gore-soaked, practical effects driven love letters to horror sub-genres from the 1980s with enough knowledge, technical expertise and personality to make the films instantly recognisable as a Joe Begos film. 

Jimmy & Stiggs is no different, a neon soaked gorefest (like his film Bliss) that now pays tribute to all those paranoid alien abduction movies from the 1980s, but infused with the sturdy, John Carpenter-like action set-pieces that made his films VFW and Christmas Bloody Christmas such a blast.

Final Destination: Bloodlines

The most brilliantly conceptualised horror franchise in cinema history returns after a 14-year absence with Final Destination: Bloodlines, and it’s like the franchise never left. 

This latest film feels every bit as fresh, exciting and fun as the franchise’s first film, and it is definitely also down to directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein (who made the outstanding Freaks a few years back), who understand the beauty and simplicity of this franchise’s concept and the crucial need to not meddle with things too much. 

People come to these movies expecting a standout opening set-piece where a series of gruesome deaths are avoided, courtesy of a group of main characters, and then enjoy the rest of the movie witnessing how death catches up with these characters (or in this film, their bloodlines).

Influencers

When a low budget indie flick, especially when it’s a low budget horror movie, hits two home runs in a row after producing a sequel that nobody expected, one simply has to take notice. 

Influencer was just another movie streamed on Shudder a few years back, albeit with a brilliant enough concept (psychotic girl takes over an influencer’s life and accounts while on holiday in Thailand) to have gained enough of a cult following to enable a sequel being made. 

Now set in France, the US and Thailand, writer-director Kurtis David Harder returns with a bigger and badder sequel, featuring the same characters as the first movie. 

An even more savage critique of influencer culture, this has so many twists, turns and catfights that it’s a blast from start to finish.

The Exit 8

First person video games very rarely get translated well into a feature film, but this Japanese film from director Genki Kawamura definitely makes it look easy. 

If we’re talking about purgatory movies this year, for me it’s a toss-up between this one and It Ends, and The Exit 8 wins by virtue of being a bit more inventive, and a bit more disturbing than its competition. 

It’s a simple concept, a man is lost in a labyrinthine Japanese subway tunnel, and the only way out is by spotting its anomalies, and Kawamura brilliantly stages the whole thing so that the audience can’t help but to also obsessively look out for these anomalies as the film goes on, and on, and on. Brilliant.

Baby Assassins 3: Nice Days

What started as a cute and slight film about two cute girls hanging out, trying to earn their keep as contract killers has now, by the third film, evolved into a legit action movie powerhouse, armed with a series of jaw-dropping action set-pieces that would even make the John Wick franchise blush, with the chemistry being built in the first two films effortlessly making us feel cozy with the two main characters, as if we’re hanging out with them now. 

After two pleasant films, I did not expect the kind of excellence on offer here, whether in the form of the superb fight scenes or the emotional depth on offer from the two main characters. 

I guess third time’s the charm after all.

Predator: Killer of Killers

Who even knew that there’d be an animated Predator movie one day? And who would even expect that animated movie, Predator: Killer of Killers, to be one of the finest Predator movies we’ve seen yet in the franchise’s long life? 

I know there’s another film, Predator: Badlands being released in 2025 as well, but as much I enjoyed that one, Predator: Killer of Killers is the easy winner. 

An anthology of three stories that shows three humans — a Viking woman, a ninja and a WWII pilot — facing off against the Yautja, the movie tops this all off with a rousing climax that ties all these different plot strands together, and I just can’t wait to see where director Dan Trachtenberg takes the franchise after this.

* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.