75 Favorite New-To-Me Films of 2025
74 movies 1 TV show
At one point, this list was hovering around 120 movies long - about half of all the movies I watched this year! Try as I might to cut this down to a reasonable number, I just don't have it in me to cut any more.
And I may have cut too many; this was a great year for me watching movies.
(I'd like to give a special shout-out to all of <I>The Trips</I>, though. While I'd watched them all in movie-form over the years, the <b>Criterion Channel</b> had them all in their full, six-episode series-form over the summer; that was my first time watching them that way and so those were also kinda first-time watches in a sense. So to speak. More or less.)
Movie
Shin Godzilla (2016)
シン・ゴジラ WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban Bangumi Eggplant.place Skybridge +4
other title:
신 고질라
/
シン・ゴジラ
…
When a massive, gilled monster emerges from the deep and tears through the city, the government scrambles to save its citizens. A rag-tag team of volunteers cuts through a web of red tape to uncover the monster's weakness and its mysterious ties to a foreign superpower. But time is not on their side - the greatest catastrophe to ever befall the world is about to evolve right before their very eyes.
Movie
Shanks (1974)
Shanks WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
威廉·卡斯尔
actor:
马塞尔·卡尔内
/
Tsilla Chelton
…
other title:
长腿人
/
Jogando Com a Vida e a Morte
…
Malcolm Shanks is a sad and lonely man, deaf, mute and living with his cruel sister and her husband, who delight in making him miserable. His only pleasure, it seems, is in making and controlling puppets. Thanks to his skill, he is offered a job as a lab assistant to Dr. Walker, who is working on ways to re-animate dead bodies by inserting electrodes at key nerve points and manipulating the bodies as if they were on strings. When the professor suddenly dies one night, Shanks gets the idea to apply their experimental results to a human body, and then to start exacting some revenge.
Movie
Cure (1997)
キュア WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban Skybridge +2
Kiyoshi Kurosawa
actor:
Koji Yakusho
/
Masato Hagiwara
…
other title:
큐어
/
CURE
…
A detective starts spiraling out of control when a wave of gruesome murders with seemingly similar bizarre circumstances is sweeping Tokyo.
Movie
Splitsville (2025)
Splitsville WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
迈克尔·安盖洛·科维诺
actor:
阿德里娅·阿霍纳
/
达科塔·约翰逊
…
other title:
分居
/
스플릿츠빌
…
After Ashley asks for divorce, Carey turns to friends Julie and Paul, learning their happy marriage is open. But when Carey crosses a line, chaos ensues for all relationships.
Movie
One Battle After Another (2025)
One Battle After Another WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban Min reol ReviewDB Skybridge +4
保罗·托马斯·安德森
actor:
缇雅娜·泰勒
/
莱昂纳多·迪卡普里奥
…
other title:
一战再战
/
一戰再戰
…
When their evil enemy resurfaces after 16 years, a group of ex-revolutionaries reunite to rescue the daughter of one of their own.
Movie
Black Cat from the Grove (1968)
藪の中の黒猫 WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
other title:
黑猫
/
藪の中の黒猫
…
In the Sengoku period, a woman and her daughter are raped and murdered by soldiers during a time of civil war. Afterwards, a series of samurai returning from the war through that area are found mysteriously dead with their throats torn out. The governor calls in a wild and fierce young hero to quell what is evidently an Onryō ghost. He encounters the two beautiful women in an eerie, beautiful scene. After spiritual purification, he meets the demon in a thrilling fight.
Movie
That Cold Day in the Park (1969)
That Cold Day in the Park WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
罗伯特·奥特曼
actor:
桑迪·丹尼斯
/
迈克尔·伯恩斯
…
other title:
공원에서의 차가운 나날들
/
Aquele Dia Frio no Parque
…
Frances Austen, a young, wealthy spinster, invites a mute teenager into her apartment after finding him freezing in the park next to where she lives. Despite her best efforts, their lack of communication only increases her sense of loneliness, as her possessiveness spirals into frightening new realms.
Movie
Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982)
Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
Movie
The Wages of Fear (1953)
Le salaire de la peur WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban Min reol +2
other title:
恐惧的代价
/
Le salaire de la peur
…
In a run-down South American town, four men are paid to drive trucks loaded with nitroglycerin into the jungle through to the oil field. Friendships are tested and rivalries develop as they embark upon the perilous journey.
Movie
The Mastermind (2025)
The Mastermind WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban ReviewDB Eggplant.place Skybridge +4
凯莉·莱卡特
actor:
乔什·奥康纳
/
Alana Haim
…
other title:
主谋
/
마스터마인드
…
In a sedate corner of Massachusetts circa 1970, an unemployed carpenter turned amateur art thief plans his first big heist. When things go haywire, his life unravels.
Movie
The Devils (1971)
The Devils WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban Skybridge +2
other title:
卢丹的恶魔
/
鲁登的恶魔
…
In 17th-century France, Father Urbain Grandier seeks to protect the city of Loudun from the corrupt establishment of Cardinal Richelieu. Hysteria occurs within the city when he is accused of witchcraft by the sexually repressed Sister Jeanne.
Movie
Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror (1922)
Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban Bangumi Eggplant.place Min reol Skybridge +5
F.W. Murnau
actor:
Max Schreck
/
Gustav von Wangenheim
…
other title:
诺斯费拉图
/
Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens
…
The mysterious Count Orlok summons Thomas Hutter to his remote Transylvanian castle in the mountains. The eerie Orlok seeks to buy a house near Hutter and his wife, Ellen. After Orlok reveals his vampire nature, Hutter struggles to escape the castle, knowing that Ellen is in grave danger. Meanwhile Orlok's servant, Knock, prepares for his master to arrive at his new home.