The 15 Worst Movies of the Year: 2025 Edition

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Ignacio Weil

Entertainment - December 18th 2025, 23:00 GMT+1

Shadow force 2025 cropped processed by imagy — 15. Shadow Force

There’s a certain flavor of action thriller that plays like it was designed for “background noise” and then accidentally wandered into theaters anyway, and *Shadow Force* caught that kind of heat in 2025. The setup has all the ingredients for slick fun with elite operatives, a romantic complication, shadowy employers with sharp suits and sharper morals, yet the execution has been widely criticized as generic and oddly weightless. Instead of punchy set pieces that build momentum, the action often feels like it’s going through the motions, as if the movie is checking boxes rather than escalating tension. Even the globetrotting vibe can come off muted, which is a little tragic for a story that wants you to feel chased across the world. When people talk “worst movies of 2025,” this one tends to show up as the emblem of wasted potential: a strong cast, a serviceable premise, and a final product that never really sparks. | © Made with Love Media

Juliet Romeo 2025 cropped processed by imagy — 14. Juliet & Romeo

Turning Shakespeare into a pop musical sounds like the sort of swing that could either be deliriously fun or deeply embarrassing, and *Juliet & Romeo* got tagged by many critics as the second option. The modernized vibe and glossy staging aim for big emotions, but the most common complaints point at thin storytelling and songs that feel more like filler than fireworks. It doesn’t help that the tone can wobble – one minute it wants earnest romance, the next it wants wink-wink spectacle – without ever finding a stable rhythm. Even if you’re open to a fresh take on a classic, this one has been criticized for feeling try-hard, like it’s begging you to be impressed instead of actually earning it. Add the rough word-of-mouth and a box office performance that barely registered, and you get a 2025 release that people cite as a cautionary tale: the concept isn’t the problem, the follow-through is. | © Rainmaker Films

Alarum cropped processed by imagy — 13. Alarum

The cast shows up looking ready to carry an action thriller on their backs, and then the movie hands them a script that seems determined to stay forgettable. *Alarum* has been described by reviewers as one of those “sure, it exists” 2025 releases: competent enough to finish, but rarely exciting enough to remember. The plot leans into familiar spy-and-crime beats, and while it tries to sprinkle in twists, a lot of reactions circle back to the same complaint and nothing here feels sharp or distinctive. Action scenes, the part that should be doing the heavy lifting, have been criticized as lacking punch, which is basically the cinematic version of serving soda with no fizz. It’s not a disaster in the loud, chaotic sense; it’s a quieter disappointment, the kind that earns a spot on worst-movies-of-2025 lists because it never finds a personality beyond “generic thriller, please proceed.” | © Convergence Entertainment Group

The Strangers Chapter 2 cropped processed by imagy — 12. The Strangers: Chapter 2

If you ever wanted proof that “more of the same” can be its own kind of horror, *The Strangers: Chapter 2* offered a very earnest demonstration. The franchise’s whole deal is raw dread and simple cruelty, but the sequel’s reception in 2025 leaned heavily negative, with critics calling it tired, predictable, and weirdly low on genuine tension. Some viewers found it a mild improvement over the previous chapter, yet that’s faint praise when the complaint is still that the story feels lazy and the scares feel pre-packaged. The set pieces are staged with enough competence to function, but a lot of reactions argue the film misunderstands what made *The Strangers* frightening in the first place – less mystery, less menace, more running in circles. It ends up on “worst movies of 2025” roundups because it doesn’t crash spectacularly; it just drains suspense scene by scene until you’re watching the clock, which is the one thing a home-invasion movie really shouldn’t encourage. | © Lionsgate Films, Fifth Element Productions

Five nights at freddys 2 movie cropped processed by imagy — 11. Five Nights at Freddy’s 2

Sometimes a sequel arrives and you can practically hear the studio yelling “bigger!” from off-camera, and *Five Nights at Freddy’s 2* got roasted for exactly that vibe. Critics in 2025 largely panned it as overstuffed and messy, complaining that it buries whatever scares it has under exposition, lore dumps, and a plot that keeps adding ingredients without ever tasting the soup. The animatronics are still the main attraction (because of course they are) but even that can’t always compensate for pacing that lurches and a tone that struggles to feel genuinely creepy. The funny twist is that audience reactions have been much warmer than the critics, which makes this one a classic “fans ate, reviewers spat it out” situation. Still, for a list focused on the year’s worst movies, the critical consensus is hard to ignore: as a theatrical horror sequel, it’s been treated as louder, busier, and somehow less scary than it should be. | © Blumhouse Productions

Smurfs 2025 cropped processed by imagy — 10. Smurfs

If “Rihanna is Smurfette” is your strongest selling point, the movie has already told on itself a little, and the 2025 reboot of *Smurfs* didn’t exactly beat the allegation. The musical angle should’ve been a free win with its bright songs, comic-book energy and kid-friendly chaos, yet the reception leaned negative, with a lot of criticism aimed at how noisy and padded the whole adventure feels. It’s weirdly exhausting for something that’s supposed to be breezy, like the script is sprinting while the story is jogging in place. Even the visual playfulness can come off like decoration rather than personality, the kind of “look, it’s moving!” approach that doesn’t replace actual momentum. When a family film lands on “worst movies of 2025” lists, it’s usually because adults feel trapped; here, the trapped feeling shows up fast. The end result is a big, shiny, brand-powered ride that many people walked out of thinking, “So… that was it?” | © Paramount Animation

Kinda Pregnant cropped processed by imagy — 9. Kinda Pregnant

Jealousy is a relatable emotion; building a whole comedy around it is a gamble, and *Kinda Pregnant* (Netflix, 2025) is the kind of gamble that got a lot of side-eye. The premise is simple and intentionally ridiculous: Amy Schumer’s character fakes a pregnancy and then has to keep the lie alive, and the movie does squeeze out a few solid bits from that setup. The problem is how often it slides into familiar rom-com grooves: predictable turns, soft-edged conflicts, and jokes that feel like they’ve been reheated just enough to be warm. It’s also one of those “critics vs. streaming reality” cases: plenty of viewers hit play, but the critical response was rough in a way that stuck to the title all year. That clash is exactly how a movie ends up on worst-movies-of-2025 conversations despite being widely watched as popular doesn’t always mean beloved. By the time it wraps, you can sense the idea of a sharper comedy hovering nearby, watching this version unfold like it’s mildly disappointed in its own clone. | © Happy Madison Productions

Popeyes Revenge cropped processed by imagy — 8. Popeye’s Revenge

Public-domain horror has become its own mini-genre, and *Popeye’s Revenge* is what happens when the pitch is basically “What if your childhood had a knife?” The 2025 slasher twist is committed to grime and cheap thrills, but the feedback that followed it was not gentle when people hammered the acting, the thin plotting, and the overall feeling of a quick cash-in wearing a sailor hat. That might sound harsh, yet it’s hard to argue when scenes that should build tension often land like awkward pauses between louder sound effects. The kills aren’t inventive enough to justify the nastiness, and the movie’s connection to the *Popeye* people actually recognize can feel more like a legal technicality than a creative reinterpretation. Horror fans will forgive a low budget if the movie is clever; this one got stuck in the “low budget and also not clever” lane. If you’re ranking the worst movies of 2025, this is the sort of title that earns its spot by being exactly what you fear it will be the moment you read the name. | © ITN Studios

Gunslingers cropped processed by imagy — 7. Gunslingers

A Western with Nicolas Cage and Stephen Dorff sounds like it should at least be entertainingly unhinged, but *Gunslingers* mostly inspired the less fun kind of unhinged: confusion. Reviews often pointed to hyper-edited shootouts, muddy geography in the action, and a story that gestures at big genre swagger without actually delivering the intensity. It’s the cinematic equivalent of a bar fight where the camera keeps looking at the ceiling, and by the time it cuts back down, you’re not sure who’s winning or why anyone started swinging. Cage does what Cage does – sometimes that’s the whole meal, sometimes it’s just hot sauce on bland food – and here it wasn’t enough to rescue the pacing. The movie also has that “everyone is dressed for different films” energy, where the vibe never fully settles into a confident tone. Worst-movies-of-2025 lists love a title like this because it has recognizable names, a classic genre, and the kind of execution that makes you wonder how the final cut got approved. It’s not a complete void, but it is a strangely forgettable tumble through bullets and bravado. | © ZTA Entertainment

Cropped Snow White — 6. Snow White

Disney’s live-action remakes have a specific challenge: you’re not just making a movie, you’re rewriting someone’s childhood while they watch with their arms crossed. The 2025 *Snow White* didn’t escape that trap, and it spent the year getting talked about as much for the messy discourse as for the actual film – never a great sign if you’re trying to be a feel-good musical fantasy. Beyond the noise, the most consistent knocks were creative: a tone that feels oddly cautious, stretches of pacing that drag, and a sense that the reimagining doesn’t always justify why it exists beyond “because we can.” Some performances got praise, but the overall package still landed as underwhelming for a project with that kind of budget and legacy attached. And when the box office and critical chatter both skew disappointed, the internet basically files it under “big swing, bruised landing” and moves on to the next argument. Worst movies of 2025 lists don’t include this because it’s tiny or obscure, they include it because it’s a high-profile remake that a lot of people found less magical than it needed to be. It’s a polished apple that, once you bite in, doesn’t taste like much. | © Walt Disney Pictures

Bride Hard 2025 cropped processed by imagy — 5. Bride Hard

There’s a point in an action-comedy where the movie has to decide whether it wants to be funny, thrilling, or at least confidently ridiculous – and *Bride Hard* spends a lot of time hovering in the doorway like it forgot what it came in for. The setup is pure high-concept comfort food: a wedding, a hostage situation, and a maid of honor who’s secretly built for violence (the kind of premise that practically begs for sharp set pieces and clean jokes). Instead, a big chunk of the 2025 backlash centered on how flat it feels: action that doesn’t pop, comedy that often lands with a thud, and a tone that can’t pick a lane. Even with a cast that should be able to sell chaos on charisma alone, the movie’s rhythm keeps slipping, which is how it ends up in “worst movies of 2025” conversations without needing any dramatic scandal. The real kicker is that you can see the version that works – somewhere out there, in a parallel universe where timing exists and the script got one more pass. | © Balcony 9

Playdate cropped processed by imagy — 4. Playdate

A movie called *Playdate* should not involve mercenaries, military trouble, and dads getting dragged into action-movie nonsense… and yet, here we are. On paper, the 2025 premise is actually kind of charming in a shameless way: two very different fathers meet up for a kid hangout, and the day escalates into chaos because one of them isn’t exactly living a normal life. The problem is that the execution has been widely described as clunky, with comedy that leans dated, action that feels more noisy than exciting, and a tone that keeps trying to be “buddy romp” and “serious danger” in the same breath. It’s also one of those streaming-era oddities where visibility doesn’t equal praise – people clearly watched it, but critical responses still slapped it onto worst-movies-of-2025 lists. The end result feels like someone stapled together three different movies and hoped the momentum would distract you from the seams. Sometimes it does; often it doesn’t. | © WideAwake Pictures

Cropped the electric state — 3. The Electric State

Spending an eye-watering amount of money doesn’t automatically buy you wonder, and *The Electric State* became a 2025 case study in that uncomfortable truth. The ingredients look like a guaranteed win: a big sci-fi road adventure, the Russo brothers directing, a cast stacked with recognizable faces, and a robot-filled alternate-history world based on Simon Stålenhag’s work. Then the movie actually plays, and the most common criticism is that it feels strangely hollow – slick, expensive, and oddly disposable, like the film is sprinting through spectacle without stopping long enough to earn emotion or imagination. Critics largely panned it, and the conversation around it kept circling the same grim punchline: Netflix’s huge-budget swing that still couldn’t land a satisfying story. It didn’t help that the visuals can read as overprocessed, with so much digital polish that the world feels less lived-in than curated. When people list the worst movies of 2025, this one shows up because it’s not a small misfire – it’s a very loud one. | © AGBO Films

Cropped hurry up tomorrow — 2. Hurry Up Tomorrow

Some films want you to feel intrigued; *Hurry Up Tomorrow* often made people feel like they were being dared to pretend they understood it. The 2025 psychological-thriller vibe is intense on purpose – The Weeknd playing a fictionalized version of himself, surreal detours, uneasy mood, and a story designed to blur the line between art project and narrative film. That could have been magnetic, but the critical reception leaned brutally negative, with a lot of reviewers calling it incoherent, self-indulgent, and emotionally thin despite the glossy presentation. Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan give it a jolt of presence whenever they’re on screen, yet the movie’s structure can feel like it’s chasing atmosphere at the expense of clarity, then acting offended when you ask what the point was. It’s the kind of title that gets labeled “worst movie of 2025” not because it’s timid, but because it’s so loudly committed to its own haze that it forgets to meet the audience halfway. | © Manic Phase

1. War of the Worlds

If you’ve ever watched a movie and thought, “Am I being advertised to in real time?” – *War of the Worlds* is the one that made that complaint go mainstream. This version leans into a screenlife format (computers, surveillance feeds, messages, dashboards), which can be genuinely gripping when it’s tight and clever, but here it often got mocked for clumsy writing, awkward pacing, and a vibe that feels less like tension and more like scrolling through a stressful workday. The criticism didn’t stop at the storytelling, either: the film was widely dragged for product placement so blatant it becomes part of the plot’s punchline, which is a spectacular way to break immersion in a story about alien invasion. Even the performances caught heat, partly because the movie’s structure doesn’t give emotion much room to build before another window pops up. Worst movies of 2025 lists love this one because it’s not subtly bad – it’s memorably, almost impressively misguided. | © Bazelevs Company

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Every year hands us a few movies that deserve applause, a few that deserve awards-season group chats, and then the ones that make you check if you accidentally sat in on a deleted scene marathon. 2025 had plenty of great releases – no argument there – but it also delivered some spectacular misfires that belong in the “how did this get approved?” hall of fame.

To be fair, “worst” doesn’t always mean “unwatchable.” Sometimes it’s a messy script, a tone that can’t sit still, or a blockbuster budget spent on everything except the plot. We’re counting down the 15 worst movies of 2025 and if you want the pain to continue across mediums, there’s also our roundup of the worst video games of 2025 right here!