We all want to belong to someone or something. Or, to have someone or something that belongs to us. Though of course, like anything, there are levels to it. Desire can all too quickly turn to obsession, companionship to possession, and communal progression to cultural regression. Ownership defined much of 2025. From found families and clans to theft and entrapment, this year in horror circled the notion that survival or ruination isn’t entirely in our hands, and that the individual can only do so much to survive the monsters in our midst. We are either placed in the hands of others, or others are placed in ours. Both can be terrifying experiences that test the boundaries of control.

What we saw on the screen in horror this year also existed in the atmosphere beyond the screen. With ownership came a real need for us to feel a part of something, even if it came down to simply not being a part of something else. Yes, there was tribalism and labels, which we all felt with even greater intensity this year, but there was also community, a necessary and occasionally desperate attempt for us to be claimed, to find others like us with shared experiences, interests, and desires for the future.  But ownership also comes with a desire for some measure of control and acquisition. Be it cult-like tactics of extremist movements, colonialism in its many forms, or corporate acquisitions, ownership comes in the form of a boot as often as it comes as a handshake.

We saw explorations of ownership from the positive, but let’s be honest, to the mostly negative, across numerous horror movies this year, both critically acclaimed and not. Companion, Bring Her Back, Weapons, Opus, Frankenstein, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Queens of the Dead, The Monkey, Clown in a Cornfield, Good Boy, Control Freak, The Man in My Basement, and The Home, to name just a few, all dealt with ownership on some level.

And then of course, there was Sinners, which you can be certain I’ll get further into later on. But what an encapsulation of this year’s trends on and off the screen! Not only does the narrative and thematics of Sinners come down to ownership, but so does much of the film’s production from Ryan Coogler working with long-time friends and collaborators, to his historic rights deal with Warner Bros.

Another way of looking at ownership this year also came by way of accountability. Whether it was countries, collectives, or individuals, the patience for excuses ran short and our tolerance, much like that Jacob Elordi’s Creature in Frankenstein, wore thin. While our grievances fell short of inciting revolution, there was a palpable distaste both onscreen and off for false martyrs, shrines built on lies, corruption and evil, and fascistic sycophants. From the endings of and to the blood-soaked slaughter of Neo-Nazis in , numerous filmmakers sent out a clear message: own up or get owned.