SFFWorld End of the Year 2025 Part 4
Welcome to our now-traditional look over what we at SFFWorld have enjoyed this year. Our last part looks at the TV and Films that we have enjoyed (or not!) this year. There is no order in this part, just thoughts of what we watched.
Part 1: Fantasy Books
Part 2: Horror Books
Part 3: Science Fiction Books
Part 4: Film and TV.
The staff involved in this last part are Rob Bedford and Mark Yon.
Rob Bedford:
Film/TV
Genre had a pretty strong year overall. One of the highlights for me was Superman, the reboot of the Kryptonian as told by filmmaker James Gunn. A stark contrast to the Zack Snyder DC movies, the David Coronswet starring film gives us a Superman who feels, who exudes hope in move that is bright and revels in its comic book roots. Gunn gets comic books and understands Superman as good as storytellers over the years who excelled with the character (Richard Donner/Christopher Reeve) and better than most. The only other superhero film I was able to see this year was Thunderbolts which took some of the c-level Marvel characters, put them together along with the mysterious character The Sentry for a great “found-family” sort of film. Much more enjoyable than I expected it to be.
Horror across TV and Film had another strong year. Sinners was all the rave early in the year and for good reason, it is a landmark vampire movie that tells a gripping, emotional story and is extremely well-acted. Ryan Coogler has been making great films for years (Black Panther and Creed) and he brought frequent acting collaborator Michael B. Jordan to this film in two roles that demanded notice. One of the other big horror films was Weapons the second film from Zach Cregger of Barbarian fame. The theme (kids go missing in then middle of the night) is not an easy subject for many to consume, but everything about this movie – the storytelling, the acting, the camera-work, all come together. What starts as something that feels like it could easily be a crime thriller immediately takes an even darker turn when Aunt Gladys (portrayed by Amy Madigan in what is a career-defining performance) to take the film to darker places.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Black Phone 2, which turned out to be one of my favorite horror sequels of all time. A slightly shift in protagonist, an expansion of the supernatural horrific elements and a deepening of the lore introduced in the first film mad for an outstanding movie.
Bring Her Back was one of the darkest horror films I’ve ever experience. Sally Hawkins stars as a woman who takes in orphaned children but since this is a horror movie, does so for maybe not the most loving reasons. From the storytelling duo behind Talk to Me, Bring Her Back is one of those movies that impressed the hell out of me but dammit I don’t think I could watch it again.
Adam Cesare’s Clown in a Cornfield was adapted as a limited release, then Shudder (the US-based Horror streaming service) release. The book was a lot of fun and the translation from page to screen was equally fun. There were quite a few Shudder-releases I enjoyed:
Night of the Reaper – a wonderful throwback to 1980s slasher films
Dead Mail – a grainy, intriguing look at those undelivered mail that sits in most post offices
The Ugly Stepsister – a dark and gory look at the Cinderella story from Denmark
Perhaps my favorite film of 2025 was Guillermo del Toro’s long-gestating adaptation of Frankenstein, a gorgeous movie with a wonderful cast. Oscar Isaac was incredible as the titular doctor and Jacob Elordi should be a household name thanks to what is an award-caliber performance as the creature.
Stephen King adaptations continue to roll out to mostly positive response. One of his short stories formed the basis of Osgood Perkins’ The Monkey a bloody, funny tale of a cursed object. On the TV-Front the first season of IT: Welcome to Derry concluded, which expanded on some of the stories referenced in the novel and film to a larger degree. The start was a little rough, but by the end of the series, I was thoroughly enjoying it.
Continuing with TV, a fun little show called The Bondsman starring Kevin Bacon lasted only a season. Bacon’s character is a bounty hunter/bondsman brought back from the dead to recapture souls for hell.
The Alien franchise transitioned to the small screen with Alien: Earth, showing the Xenomorph (among other creatures) arrive on Earth for the first time I can recall in the series. The acting in this series was fantastic and helped to carry the chaotic story. One of the episodes came across as good as the original or first sequel in the film series.
Another HBO series was a highlight, the second season of The Last of Us. The video-game adaptation kept the tension and horrors quite high even if it was as slight dip from the first season.
All of that having been written/said, perhaps the biggest “TV Event” show in the genre is the finale of Netflix’s premier series Stranger Things. I’ve had issues over the years with some of the storytelling choices (I don’t think anybody who likes the show enjoyed the Russian storyline), but I was completely sucked back into the show with the set of episodes released at Thanksgiving to the point that I cannot wait to see how the final three episodes (which after you add up their length, works out to maybe 2 or 3 movies) brings the show to its conclusion.
Mark Yon:
Must admit that I disagree with my friend Rob here a little: I wasn’t too impressed with the number of cinema offerings this year. My cinema visits were down significantly on normal years. Having said that, it has for me really been a year for the rise of the streamers, and there’s a few movies I’ve seen this year that I might have once upon a time been persuaded to see on a cinema screen.
I’ll start with the ones that I did see on a cinema screen. I saw Superman (2025) and Fantastic Four:First Steps within a week of each other. On balance I preferred Superman; Fantastic Four started well but seemed to lose its way a little for me. Both were very good, and worth seeing on a big screen, although I still have yet to see a Superman that beats Christopher Reeve in my opinion. (My family would like me to point out how much they liked Henry Cavill, for some reason…) Having said that, how often is it that a dog outshines the human cast in a movie?
I also saw 28 Years Later which was also good, but very odd. The last scenes in particular were a shocker, which I think they would be for anyone British, using an infamous paedophile as an inspiration for a gang. (Don’t want to spoil it, but it was rather like seeing Jeffrey Epstein being given a role in the movie.) The movie generally was deliberately provocative, shocking and very well acted, it was a memorable movie, but not one I’m sure I’d like to watch again soon.
Also like Rob, I did enjoy the gorgeous-looking Frankenstein, although I saw it on Netflix instead of a cinema. Similarly, having also seen Bring Her Back (mentioned by Rob), I’d also agree with his assessment.
Avatar: Fire and Ash I couldn’t drum up enthusiasm to go and watch, despite it being on an IMAX screen in 3D near me. I might watch it in a mere 2D eventually, but I’m not too bothered at the moment. As expected though, at the time of typing it seems to have done very well.
So what did I like? Thunderbolts* was one that I could have seen at a cinema, but saw on a streamer. I think that I may be suffering a little with super-hero fatigue a little. I did like this more than I thought I would though, and I do like Florence Pugh’s acting. Similarly, TRON: Ares would have, I suspect, looked amazing on a cinema screen, even if the plot was pretty predictable. Bringing the world of The Grid to our world in a story of corporate rivalry didn’t really work for me.
Unusually, there’s been some Stephen King movie adaptations that have been pretty good, too. (There’s usually lots of Stephen King adaptations, in my opinion – they’re just not very good.) Rob’s already mentioned The Monkey, which I also liked. For me though, The Life of Chuck was my standout, I think, with a stellar cast, but The Long Walk was also surprisingly good; The Running Man was also good, although one that to me was traditional blockbuster material and didn’t demand too much. (Slight warning: I also made the mistake of rewatching the 1980’s Arnold Schwarzenegger version afterwards – it hasn’t dated well.)
In terms of TV, there was a lot out there. Not all was totally successful for me, though. Although I enjoyed Alien: Earth much, much more than the Alien: Romulus movie of last year, I felt that it started well, but slumped a bit towards the end. Fantastic acting, though, and very impressive, if not icky, special effects.
Similarly, I had high hopes for IT: Welcome to Derry, which had great potential but for me just felt too long in the middle. Cracking last episode though.
Monarch was just dull for me, and I struggled to the end. Predictable plot, uninspiring characters.
I haven’t watched Stranger Things since Season 2 or 3, when it had things happening that I felt were there just to prolong the series. Having said that, the family have enjoyed it (so far.)
But I really enjoyed Murderbot, even when the 30-minute episodes just seemed to get going and then they finished. Foundation finally(!) started to come together for me, even if I felt that the character of the Mule was underused. I also enjoyed Dune: Prophecy, even though (like Foundation!) we are light-years away from the original material.
Marvel Zombies was perhaps my favourite animated series, although again was another series limited by its 30-ish minute length. I enjoyed it as much as DC’s Creature Commandos, which began in December 2024 and ran over into January 2025.
Peacemaker Season 2 also broadened the scope of the characters first met in Season 1. It was very good, but I did feel that there were times when it was trying too hard to be challenging.
However, my favourite TV by far this year was Andor, Season 2. There was a lot riding on this after the occasionally brilliant Season 1 and the rather mixed reception of other Star Wars efforts this year. I’m pleased to say that Season 2 really stepped up its game. Literate, complex and brilliant, it was unmissable television and has set the benchmark for Star Wars series for me.
In summary for me then, I thought that this was an ‘OK year’ for both TV and film, a year of consolidation rather than a year of outstanding material. There was no For All Mankind (next year!), no new film or series that really rocked my boat other than Andor. TV definitely had the upper hand for me this year, but I look forward to seeing how 2026 unfolds.
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And that’s it for another year. We hope you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read over the four parts, and have found things that might be of interest, comments that you’ve agreed or disagreed with!
It just leaves us to say that as 2025 finishes, 2026 is a whole new year (our 29th!) We hope that your 2026 is filled with books that you love and TV and films that you can rave about. Obviously, we’ll be interested to read what you think over in the SFFWorld Forums. Until next year….
