LOS ANGELES, Dec. 16 (UPI) — The worst movies of every year inevitably include the most egregious missteps by major corporate franchises. In 2025, fewer than half the worst movies belonged to franchises and only two were sequels per se.
The majority of 2025’s worst movies came from established filmmakers courting acclaim, or studios wildly miscalculating the charm of their premise. Links direct readers to full reviews of the movies where available, but some made the list after their theatrical release or streaming premieres.
10. ‘Freaky Tales’
The directors of Captain Marvel returned to their indie roots but forgot the distinct voice that made their films Half Nelson and Mississippi Grind memorable. Freaky Tales is based on true events from Oakland, Calif., in 1987 but feels derivative when all of its anthology stories lead to the same sort of violence. Its unmotivated stylistic choices and homages that cross the line didn’t make much of an impact at Sundance 2024 as it took a year and a half for Lionsgate to ultimately give it a limited release this year.
9. ‘Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere’
It’s gotten too easy to mock bad musician biopics, but they keep making the same mistakes like this year’s Blue Moon and upcoming Song Sung Blue. Even focusing on one album, Springsteen is laughable when Bruce (Jeremy Allen White) translates inspiration into famous songs and the film assumes audiences already know things it should be illuminating. This film does its subject the biggest disservice, turning Springsteen’s real life mental health struggles into plot points.
8. ‘The Hand That Rocks the Cradle’
This remake should just disappear into the streaming ether, but before it does, here’s why. A modern update of the