TOP 10 WORSTEST FILMS OF 2025
a review by Evan Landon
Before we get to the list, let's remind ourselves of a few things:
This is just my personal list, so take from that what you will. Or just make your own. Fuck it.
There were a lot of movies that came out last year, so no, I did not see every single one.
If I did a review on it already this year, it will not appear on any lists I make because I already did it. If you think I am missing something, it is most likely somewhere in there.
Most lists have a lot of major studio films on their lists, but they get enough promotion or enough shit from everyone else that they don't need mine. Like I just said, it has already been done.
So, without further ado, let's get to burying some of these 2025 turds because there certainly was a lot. For whatevs reason, my worstest list is much more popular than my bestest, so let's all sit back, relax, and listen to me kick these horrible movies in the balls.
10) MEGAN 2.0 – Much like the other sequels on this list, Hollyweird has a hard time letting a lucrative entity alone, so they just piggyback off the success of the first film thinking it will do just as well. In a lot of cases, it does; in a lot of other cases, it doesn't. That is exactly where this sequel sits: an odd mix of science fiction and action instead of the horror motif of the first film, to which powerhouse horror producer Jason Blum admitted was a stupid idea. Plus, there was no repulsive TikTok dance to go along with it, so no help there. Anyways, if you are a fan of both of these films, I would love to understand why. However, this was hardly the worst sequel of 2025.
2 Out Of 5
9) BLACK PHONE 2 – Director Scott Derrickson has an extensive filmography that has proved to be very profitable, with films such as The Exorcism Of Emily Rose, Sinister, Doctor Strange, and The Black Phone under his belt. Though he co-wrote both with C. Robert Cargill, this one was their original idea as a follow-up to The Black Phone which they had worked closely with the author of the story, Joe Hill, who happens to be the son of Stephen King. Despite this drastic shift in tone, Black Phone 2 actually performed well at the box office for a year when moviegoers decided to stay home. These kinds of cash grabs are a dime a dozen, but since this one did so well, you can bet they are already in the process of producing a script. I hate to say it, but if a third installment is made, it will most likely make my list for that year too.
2 Out Of 5
8) THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME – Whatever abstract sheen that Wes Anderson once had in the Hollywood scene has obviously worn off. Long gone are the days of picturesque wonder and enigmatic tales of situations of the bizarre that was as refreshing as it was disruptive like The Royal Tenenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom, and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. What we are left with now is the shell of such artistic vision with banal, mentally-draining tripe resembling The French Dispatch, Asteroid City, and The Phoenician Scheme. It should be common knowledge by now that Anderson has never cared about how well his movies do or how well they are accepted because of his bottomless pit of Hollywack-soaked money, but there is still a group of wanna-be art aficionado boot-lickers out there who have yet to pick up on that. Benicio del Toro could not even make this thing watchable.
2 Out Of 5
7) HONEY DON'T! – It is hard to say who was looking forward to this because the Coen brothers have already shown that their highest peaks are when they work together. His brother, Joel, made The Tragedy of Macbeth in 2021 that hardly anybody saw, so it seems as if that is what they want to do now. . Which sucks. This is supposedly the second in a trilogy of films by Ethan Coen called his “lesbian B-movie trilogy” with his wife, Tricia Cooke, which is probably the only thing I like about this incoherent nonsense, but not even hot lesbian sex scenes between Margaret Qualley and Aubrey Plaza could make this watchable. Sure, on paper this looks like the kind of movie that I would be gushing for (..giggity), but it is missing that loverly Coen brothers sardonic humor that they pull off almost effortlessly. This being the second in the trilogy after Drive-Away Dolls, there will be a third installment that may or may not make the other two much better in hindsight, so we will just have to see about that.
2 Out Of 5
6) THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 2 – I have no idea why they have made so many sequels and prequels or whatevs for this nonsense movie, but apparently they are not planning on slowing down any time soon. Renny Harlin is a very well-known filmmaker with such releases as Cliffhanger, Cutthroat Island, Nightmare On Elm Street 4: Dream Master, The Long Kiss Goodnight, and Die Hard 2: Die Harder. Now, you may not think any of those films are any good, but you have heard of them, thus allowing Harlin to hitch his golden lasso to The Strangers franchise which is astounding to me how they have made so many. The first one was okay, not good enough for all of the subsequent films, but they are already in post-production for The Strangers: Chapter 3. Might as well believe that it does not matter how well it does, someone is already writing The Strangers: Chapter 4. At least people are getting paid, guess. Whoopty shit.
1.5 Out Of 5
5) I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER – This one right here is another that just bewilders the shit out of me. I mean, I understand that the original is a classic, but they killed off this franchise decades ago. I suppose that they must have come up with an idea to make a legacy sequel after the short-lived 2021 Amazon series, which obviously did not do very well. Believe it or not, these fairly basic films are based off of a novel of the same name in 1973 by young adult writer Lois Duncan. They pulled Jennifer Love Hewitt out of whatever witness protection program to look like she would rather be anywhere else and I won't even go into what they do with Freddie Prinze Jr. Mike Flanagan was attached to a reboot in 2014, but you would think the reception to I Still Know What You Did Last Summer and I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer would have deterred such a prolific director and it instead fell to young writer/director Jennifer Kaytlin Robinson who may or may not have been out of her depth. Who knows? All I know is these legacy sequels always throw in some weird twist that does not make any sense and this pile of garbage is no different.
1.5 Out Of 5
4) AFTER THE HUNT – For anyone who has yet to see a Luca Guadagnino movie, there is a certain hue to each that somehow creates a dreamlike state for the viewer that is unique. Not in this one. This is one of the most drab, boring, wastes of people's time staring at walls that makes all of his other movies marvels in comparison. This 2 ½ hour slog is well in keeping with his filmography, as this one focuses on a young college student who is allegedly sexually assaulted by a professor, so she gets him fired, or something. Why do I care about any of these people? Good question. Ayo Edebiri is a fucking sponge that soaks up all of the talent of anyone near her and Andrew Garfield is about as appealing as a used napkin. I would say that Julia Roberts did a good job here, but she irks the fuck out of me too. You could spend 2 ½ hours crocheting a hat and have more fun.
1 Out Of 5
3) FLIGHT RISK – This one is kind of weird to put in here because I may watch it again just because of how bad it is. I have no idea how Mel Gibson got this in his inbox, but he should fire that intern immediately. It would make sense if it was Mark Wahlberg himself saying it would be cool if he played his serial killer as a bald man because absolutely nobody has ever thought about it, much less asked for it. Lionsgate says that they spent $20 million on promoting it while Gibson told them nothing about it, so the blame game is strong with this one. It was filmed during the SAG-AFTRA strike, so do not think for a second that anyone else will be showing up in a movie that takes place in one cockpit. I have a feeling that either Mel read this and reminded him of him trying to fly a plane himself, or he just picked whatever movie was at the top of the Hollywood “Black List” and just went with it for tax purposes. Either way, this one is so bad that it somehow fits into a genre all its own.
1 Out Of 5
2) POPEYE: THE SLAYER MAN – I truly was hesitant to put this on my list of the worstest of 2025 because I have slammed these stupid free reign horror movies with children cartoon characters, so I think this will be the last year I pick on movies that intentionally suck. There are way too many movies that try to be decent films and fall flat on their faces, much like every other entry on this list. This is just the latest from a bunch of dorks who want to make a horror movie based off an intellectual property that can now be used for “free use” just because they can. I'm not going to look it up because I don't give enough of a shit about it, but I assume the character “Popeye” just became free to use the likeness of because this was not the only Popeye-themed horror movie from this year. Popeye's Revenge and Shiver Me Timbers both took their shots at who could make the most despicable movie about the spinach-scarfing comic book sailor, so I only chose this one because it is the most popular. I'm not even going to write about it, it annoys me that much. There is still one movie that was exponentially worse to take the cake of worstest in 2025.
0.5 Out Of 5
1) WAR OF THE WORLDS – Maybe a few of you saw this coming, but holy shit. This movie is almost beyond words. It would be difficult to put this one any higher on the list because no other movie this year had such an iconic title attached to it. I heard someone say that this is the closest to the anyone has gotten to the source material, and that could very well be up for discussion, but I hardly doubt H.G. Wells had Ice Cube's stupid face yelling at a computer screen for an hour and a half in mind when he wrote it in 1895. It would have made since if Cube had paid Jeff Bezos off for this to never see the light of day, however, this vehicle is also a straight-up advertisement for Amazon. Hell, they dumped it straight to Prime anyways, so only they know how many people actually watched it. It was shot during COVID, but that does not excuse how short-sighted any of this was; although it is pretty hilarious when Cube finally gets out of his chair and escape his computer room only for the door to be locked and the wall panels shake when it is supposed to be an underground bunker. Again, this will probably end up a cult favorite of some kind because of how horrifically bad it is, but it is not for a lack of trying to cash in on whatever nonsense you have on your company hard drive.
0.5 Out Of 5