This year was packed with heaters well worth checking out right when they dropped. But the problem with having so many good shows and movies is that inevitably, you miss a few. Then you miss a few more. Then you forget about what you missed because you’re focusing on the next new thing. io9 totally gets it: it’s the great dilemma of the streaming era.
With that in mind, here are recommendations of shows and movies that arrived this year (and a couple from years past) that the io9 staff think you should bump up on your “to-watch” list. And don’t forget about them this time!
40 Acres
40 Acres is a post-apocalyptic thriller starring Danielle Deadwyler as Hailey Freeman, whose family has survived on their rural Canadian farm by shooting down any raiders looking to do them harm. While conventional, it’s a solid version of what it sets out to be, with Deadwyler aided by a very real family dynamic with her costars, particularly Kataem O’Connor and Michael Greyeyes. 40 Acres also boasts good direction from R.T. Thorne, including some nicely done action when the time comes for it.
100 Meters
The biggest anime movies of 2025 were based on flashy, popular shonen, which 100 Meters very much isn’t. But the drama about runners at various points of their lives trying to overcome adversity and determine why they love this sport is just as compelling as watching any hero deliver the final strike against their enemy. Equally subdued and constantly charged, the film from Rock ‘n Roll Mountain and Pony Canyon makes track feel like the greatest sport in the world, and like the best sports movies, it’s hard not to fall in love with running after seeing this or hearing its great score.
The Bondsman
Kevin Bacon stars as a good ol’ boy bounty hunter who’s murdered on the job, then comes back from the dead to hunt down escaped demons—only to discover his new gig has shoehorned him smack-dab into a devilish conspiracy. Somehow, even with the charisma-laden Bacon holding its center and a fun tone of smoke, brimstone, and all things country-fried, this Prime Video series (you can still stream it there) failed to catch on. That the cliffhanger at the end will likely never be resolved is a bummer, but The Bondsman is still fun as hell to watch.
City the Animation
While Prime Video has been pretty dogwater about promoting any of its exclusive anime this year without it being steeped in controversy, one gem among the many we received this year was the incomparable Kyoto Animation Co.’s City the Animation. It’s pure joy, comedically sharp, and a throwback to the wholesome slice-of-life shows we don’t get very often anymore.
Dead Mail
A tale of obsession that enfolds kidnapping, murder, electronic synthesizers, and Columbo-level detective work conducted out of a suburban post office, Dead Mail is unlike any other horror movie we saw this year. And that’s visually as well as narratively speaking; it’s filmed in a deliberately grimy, retro style that perfectly brings its oddly compelling tale of some very sick stuff that happens behind closed doors to life. You can stream it on Shudder.
Fuuto PI: The Portrait of Kamen Rider Skull
The prequel movie to the excellent adaptation of Fuuto PI gives a great origin story to Kamen Rider W and Shotaro and Phillip’s relationship while still being a pretty great riff on classic tokusatsu in anime form. That doesn’t necessarily mean you need to have seen either W or Fuuto PI before diving in. Flashy and fun, if Kamen Rider Zeztz ended up being your gateway entry into the world of high-kicking Japanese superheroes, this is a perfect chaser… that leads you into a couple more great TV shows to binge, to boot.
Jaws @ 50
Fifty years have passed since the release of Steven Spielberg’s game-changing film, Jaws, and this year, we got the definitive documentary about it. The film covers everything, from the release of the book, the troubled making of the movie, its unprecedented success, and so much more. You’ll never ever think about going in the water, or Jaws, the same ever again.
The Life of Chuck
The best Stephen King adaptation this year wasn’t a horror movie at all. It was this blink and you miss it film by Mike Flanagan about the end of the world, living life, and a young man named Chuck at the center of it all. Tom Hiddleston, Mark Hamill, and Karen Gillan are among the stars in this unforgettable film you just have to see.
Now You See Me: Now You Don’t
The Now You See Me movies are the right kind of mid-budget films. There’s something about them that’s so charming, and they’re so clearly determined to have a good time that it lets them get away with almost whatever they want. Now You Don’t does enough right with its modest ambitions to make you want another five or six of these
Pee-wee as Himself
We all love Pee-wee Herman, but how much do you know about the man behind him? Pee-wee as Himself is a fascinating documentary about Paul Reubens, the genius performer who created the Pee-wee character and saw it change his life in ways no one would ever forget. If you loved Pee-wee or Reubens before, this will only make you love him more. If you didn’t know much about him, you’ll soon become obsessed.
Queens of the Dead
Tina Romero—yes, the daughter of George A. Romero—made her feature directorial debut with Queens of the Dead, a zombie movie set in Brooklyn’s LGBTQ+ club scene that pays tribute to her father’s horror legacy while also adding glittery new dimensions to the genre. It’s inclusive, heartfelt, and hilarious, and also boasts the most glamorous walking corpses you will ever see. If any movie from 2025 deserves the label of “future cult classic,” it’s this one. It’s streaming on Shudder.
Redline
Sure, Studio Madhouse’s Redline is an oldie. Still, its status as one of the best animated movies of all time and its inclusion on the shortlist of anime featured on the Criterion Channel are reason enough to spin the block and watch this adrenaline-fueled racing anime once more to feel something. You won’t regret it, cherry boy.
Shin Godzilla
Everyone got Godzilla mania with the release of Minus One in 2023, but 2025 gave us the chance to revisit its similarly fascinating predecessor thanks to a lavish new 4K remaster and a theatrical re-run. Hideaki Anno’s take on Godzilla is awesome and kind of hilarious in equal measure, a chillingly monstrous and alien iteration of the King of the Monsters that is starkly contrasted with a biting critique of Japanese bureaucracy and its snaking layers of political showmanship. It’s a fascinating lens to examine a monster movie through and a brilliant entry into the Godzilla canon.
Tojima Wants to Be a Kamen Rider
This absurdist adaptation of the similarly absurd manga gives us a wonderfully silly spin on Kamen Rider as inspirational vigilantism, as we follow the titular tokusatsu super fan channel his love of superheroes into beating the absolute snot out of a seemingly resurgent incarnation of Kamen Rider‘s oldest foes, Shocker. It’s very funny, very silly, and yet sincere in its love of the classic show and its influences, giving us both some fun shonen eye candy alongside a lovingly tongue-in-cheek celebration of Kamen Rider history.
Triangle of Sadness
If you were a fan of the Final Destination films and involuntarily roll your eyes anytime you see news blasts about Fyre Fest trying to be a thing again, Triangle of Sadness is for you. Basically, take the premise of those Netflix disaster documentaries and put a bunch of prissy influencers and models on a ticking time bomb of a cruise ship where everything that could go wrong does—in an art house-y way, but also in a way that rivals the scene in Titanic where that guy does cartwheels off the propellers.
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