12 Best Films of 2025 That Had Us Obsessed

Finding truly original entertainment—films that fully justify both the filmmaking craft and the storytelling process—has become increasingly rare. Titles like Sinners and One Battle After Another have emerged as major buzz-makers as Golden Globe and Academy Award season approaches.

As the year comes to a close, Movie Insiderz presents an overview of the best films of 2025, spotlighting features with strong potential to dominate this awards season.

Best films of 2025 that completely took over our screens

Weapons

Weapons (2025) is my personal favorite from this year’s releases, sitting comfortably with a 93 percent Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score. Directed by Zach Cregger, the horror masterpiece has already got fans asking for a prequel focusing on Aunt Gladys’ story, to which Cregger confirmed. 

The film is about the disappearance of 17 children one night at 2:17 am, except one kid from the same class. Alex is the boy who has an aunt come over to stay with them. But this is when things take a disturbing turn around the town. 

Only one horror film has been able to receive a Best Picture Oscar to date, which is The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Can Weapons change that? I sincerely wish it does!

Sinners

Sinners is one of the top contenders in early predictions of the Academy Awards, about to take place in March 2026. Directed by Ryan Coogler, it has impressed the critics and audience equally, earning a massive 97 percent RT critics’ score.  

The film is about twin brothers, both played by Michael B. Jordan, who want to leave their turbulent lives behind. They return to their hometown to start anew, but they discover a greater evil that they have to encounter at a cost. 

K-Pop Demon Hunters

While demons continue to terrify us in live-action films, animated portrayals have made us fall in love with them. So why are demons winning hearts in animation? K-pop Demon Hunters broke records on Netflix streaming charts as soon as it was released worldwide. 

Directed by Chris Appelhans and Maggie Kang, the film flaunts an impressive 96 percent critics’ score, while a mega-99 percent audience score! And the music has topped the charts for quite a long time. 

The story is about Rumi, Mira, and Zoey, collectively known as Huntrix. They have secret identities as demon hunters and must seal the Honmoon to protect their fans from the looming threat. 

They face a rival boy band, and all of them are demons. How they do it is the reason you have to watch the entire film. 

Bugonia

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, Bugonia serves the viewers a thinking platform, forcing them to contemplate their life choices and leave them wondering who an alien is. 

Bugonia talks about the power dynamics of the economy and the radical resistance that could lead to the bubble burst and the end of humanity. Teddy and Don are obsessed with the abduction of the pharmaceutical company CEO, who they think is an alien and has come to take advantage of the Earth and its people. 

The film serves as a strong social commentary through a clever use of mythology and symbolism embedded in the name. The Academy and Golden Globe people love such a complex movie that has outstanding lead performances. 

Predator Badlands

Predator Badlands is THE best entry since its 1987 original, gaining the highest RT critics’ score, 86 percent, in the franchise (excluding spinoffs). Directed by Dan Trachtenberg, the film is set on a remote future planet where Dek has challenged himself to prove to his clan. 

His father considers him weak, which invokes in him a desire to bring the most terrifying villain, Kalisk, from one of the most dangerous planets, Genna. 

There, he finds Thia and makes her his ally in finding Kalisk. Surviving the badlands and their unusual ecosystem requires someone like Synthetic Thia and a true ‘alpha’ like Dek to claim the ultimate honor. 

Frankenstein

Directed by Guillermo del Toro, Frankenstein is based on Mary Shelly’s 1818 classic novel, where Victor Frankenstein is a mad scientist fixated on making something out of death.

The film has changed some details from the novel, but it’s okay, it certainly gives the typical del Toro touch, making it an irresistible masterpiece that has gained an 85 percent RT critics’ score.  

The reason it’s added to the list of best films of 2025 is not just del Toro’s remagination of Shelley’s classic- it is the realization of humanity intertwined with themes like creation, moral responsibility of a creation, abandonment, and what it truly means to be a human. 

The Guardian reviewed this film as,

“Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi star as the freethinking anatomist and his creature as Mary Shelley’s story is reimagined with bombast in the director’s unmistakable visual style.” [Source]

One Battle After Another

Paul Thomas Anderson is known for his old and emotional intensity that he pours into his movies, therefore, making One Battle After Another this year. The film is even an early frontrunner for the final Best Picture Oscar nominations. 

The film’s 95 percent RT critics’ score is justified by meticulous direction, flawless storytelling, visual craft, and a plot full of a deeply human tale, flawed and unsettling.

The film stands out as one of the best films this year, as it doesn’t follow a trend or provide easy answers to life’s dilemmas. It challenges the viewers to examine their inner struggles; people who live difficult, damaged, and daring lives, making it personal for the viewers.  

Final Destination: Bloodlines

Adam Stein and Zach Lipovsky have truly done justice to the Final Destination franchise reboot with a banger this year. The message is loud and clear: death should not be messed with. 

The story is about Stefanie, who gets nightmares of her grandmother’s death and somehow finds her grandmother, who defied death back then. But that wasn’t the case, actually, since the same grandmother died brutally in front of Stefanie’s eyes. 

From there, the bloodbath of family deaths- one member after another- continues, and Stefanie is desperate to make this stop. The nerve-wracking death sequences have been well-thought-out, enabling an emotional weight to its characters who have stronger motivations and personal stakes.  

F1 Movie

Joseph Konsinski redefined F1 sport by adding Brad Pitt and Damson Idris. F1 The Movie has rightfully earned an 82 percent RT critics’ score, now creating hype among the early predictions for the Oscars’ final nominations.  

The film is about a retired Formula 1 driver, Sonny Hayes, who survived an almost fatal accident in the 1990s. He is back to mentor a young driver and revive their team. 

The feature film is all about revival and redemption, merged beautifully with razor-thin margins that a car can face to either lose or win the race, the cutting-edge technology for the visuals, and the drivers who push to their limits, giving the audience legitimate intensity to keep their adrenaline rushing till the end. 

Superman

Superman (2025) stands as a testament to James Gunn’s directorial prowess for the DC Studios’ reboot after Gunn and Peter Saran took over. What truly sets Gunn’s version of Superman apart from the previous reimaginations is that he kept the ‘human’ element of the superhero alive.

With an 83 percent RT critics’ score, the story revolves around the superhero who wants to prove to the world that he is their protector and did not come from another planet to take advantage.  

However, the tech billionaire, Lex Luthor, has other plans. With the help of his metahumans, Luthor wants to defeat Superman, but the latter resists and succeeds by allying with Green Lantern, the Hawkgirl, Mister Terrific, and Krypto the dog. 

No Other Choice

Known for The Handmaiden (2016) and Oldboy (2003), Park Chan-wook created a magnum opus that South Korea chose for an official Oscar submission, eyeing the Best International Feature Film award. 

Having worked at the paper company for 25 years, You Man-soo is laid off by the American owners. He has no other choice but to eliminate every candidate for his next job. 

He does not want to appear useless or be humiliated if he can’t provide for his family. He decides to take drastic measures to secure his family’s future. This makes the film disturbingly relevant, as every man of the house is already struggling with the same dilemma every single day of his life. 

It instigates the viewers to confront uncomfortable questions about ethics, dignity, and how far someone can be pushed into a corner, and what could be its consequences. Would you believe if I told you it currently has a stupendous 100 RT critics’ score?

It Was Just an Accident

And finally, France knows why it chose It Was Just an Accident as its Oscar contender for the same category as No Other Choice for the upcoming Oscars. The critics have lauded this one, too, and bestowed a 98 percent RT score.

The film chronicles a family of three travelling when Eghbal hits a dog, and his car gets damaged. He enters a nearby shop to get help, but the shopkeeper mistakenly identifies him as the one who could have tortured him when the shopkeeper was in prison. 

The film then portrays a chain of events, as the name suggests, bringing critical praise for the director, Jafar Panahi, at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was granted Palme d’Or- the most prestigious award at the festival.   

Is there a film not included on our list that you think deserves recognition as a 2025 hit? Add your suggestions in the comments section.