Two of my favorite movies this year are Sinners and 28 Years Later. Sure, both were some of the most anticipated films on the 2025 movie schedule, but both are horror movies, and that is, let’s just politely say, not my favorite genre. I typically don’t get excited about horror movies, and though I obviously don’t avoid them completely, I don’t run right out to the theater to see them.
I did run right out for 28 Years Later. As a huge fan of both writer Alex Garland, director Danny Boyle, and of the first collaboration, 28 Days Later, this was the kind of horror movie I do get excited about. Sinners was a different story. Not only are horror movies typically not my jam, but vampire movies fall in that same bucket. They just don’t do anything for me. So, I waited to watch with my HBO Max subscription, and that was a mistake. Here’s why I’m changing my mind on horror movies this year.
28 Years Later Is So Much More Than A Zombie Movie
Ultimately, what these two movies have in common is that they are great stories at heart. The “horror” element isn’t a distraction from the story in either movie, and both have wonderful characters and plots that pull you right in without relying on cheap jump scares or ultra-violent gore. 28 Years Later is, of course, a zombie movie. It’s also a movie about family and about hope in a hopeless situation.
The zombies are important and scary, but they aren’t the heart of the story. The story is about Spike (Alfie Williams) growing into adulthood and all that entails in the wasteland that the United Kingdom has become, 28 years after the Rage virus laid waste to it. He learns about life and death in very real ways, and it ends with him striking out on his own, as any teenager does when they leave home for the first time. I really loved the story here, and that made me appreciate the violence and even the zombies for bringing what they did to Spike’s arc.
Sinners Might Be My Favorite Movie Of The Year
After watching Warfare, I didn’t think a movie would surpass it for my favorite movie of 2025. I especially didn’t think a vampire movie would, but director Ryan Coogler hit it out of the park with Sinners. I’m kicking myself for not seeing it in theaters and waiting until it hit streaming to watch it. It’s an incredible movie and one that I should have known I would love, but those darn vampires… I couldn’t get past it.
First, I love the time period Sinners is set in. 1930s America is so rich in incredible (and often heartbreaking) stories, and a writer like Coogler tapped into that in such a fantastic way. Second, I love the music from the era, both the early blues of guys like Robert Johnson and Son House and the Scots-Irish folk music from the same era. This movie has both, and the music is fantastic.
The fact that it was all brought together in a vampire story actually makes me like it more, as it turns a genre that I generally don’t like into a movie that I really love. The same goes for the zombies in 28 Years Later.
This doesn’t mean I’m going to be first in line for every upcoming horror movie this year, but I am going to keep a much more open mind and not assume I’ll dislike a movie just because of the vampires or the zombies.
