SHRINK CHAT: Best Horror of 2025 - Sinners, IT: Welcome to Derry & Our Top Picks of the Year
Terror Talk: True Crime, Serial Killers and HorrorShow Notes
What made horror worth watching in 2025? Two therapists with strong opinions, honest reactions, and no patience for hype without substance have your year-end guide. This is Terror Talk's annual Best of Horror episode - a curated, spoiler-free breakdown of the movies, series, and surprises that defined horror in 2025, with the clinical lens and dark humor you come here for. This episode covers: To kick things off: Cathy's new obsession - Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons, the horror board game that's earned a permanent spot at the table Top horror TV series of 2025: IT: Welcome to Derry - the Pennywise origin story and whether it delivers on the promise of the source material Dexter: Resurrection - the return of TV's most beloved serial killer and the psychology of why we root for him The Hunting Wives - Shannon and Cathy's take on the series everyone was talking about Alien: Earth - the franchise's small screen debut reviewed Zero Day - discussed and dissected Stranger Things - Shannon and Cathy disagree. Strongly. You'll want to hear this one. Top horror movies of 2025: Sinners - the year's most talked about horror film and what it does psychologically that almost no other horror film attempted Frankenstein - the latest reimagining and whether it earns its place in the legacy House of Dynamite - a surprise entry and why it worked Wolfman - reviewed with the clinical lens on monster psychology Companion - the film that caught them both off guard Plus, surprise mentions that didn't make the list but deserve your attention Shannon and Cathy bring their forensic and clinical psychology expertise to the year in horror - not just what was good, but why it worked, what it was doing psychologically, and what it says about where the genre is headed. A female-driven, expert perspective on the best horror 2025 had to offer. Smart recommendations, honest reactions, no spoilers. Two licensed therapists — one forensic psychologist, one clinical marriage and family therapist — reviewing horror so you know exactly what's worth your time. Until then... sleep safe. 😴 🎧 Follow Terror Talk wherever you get your podcasts and join us on Patreon for bonus content and access to the compound. 📸 Instagram: @terrortalkpodcast | 🎥 YouTube: Terror Talk Podcast | 📘 Facebook: Terror Talk Podcast | 🎵 TikTok: @dark.psychology.girls 🎶 Music by Mannequin Uprising
More from Terror Talk: True Crime, Serial Killers and Horror
The Conjuring universe keeps asking one question: why do we need the devil to have done it?
How does James Wan turn an ordinary family home into the scariest place in the movie, and why does it work on audiences who think they've seen everything?
If knowing about cognitive bias could protect you from a cult, why didn't it protect the Zizians?
Why would members of the Order of the Solar Temple kill a three-month-old baby they had never met? ⚠️ Trigger warning: This episode includes discussions of murder, ritual killing, the murder of an infant and of children, mass death, cult trauma and coercive control. Listener discretion is advised. In 1994 the Order of the Solar Temple, led by Joseph Di Mambro and Luc Jouret, killed a baby in Morin-Heights, Quebec because his name made him the Antichrist, then left 53 dead across Switzerland and Canada. Cults Part 2 follows the same question through Adolfo Constanzo's Narcosatánicos in Matamoros, Mexico and Charles Manson's Family in Los Angeles.
Have you ever left a relationship more confused about yourself than about the person you were with? ⚠️ Trigger warning: This episode includes discussions of emotional abuse, coercive control, gaslighting and intimate partner violence. Listener discretion is advised. Therapists Shannon and Cathy open Season 9 with the question everyone asks and almost nobody asks clinically: what does it actually mean to call someone a psychopath, and what does it feel like to be in a relationship with one? This is not a diagnostic checklist for your partner. It is a map of a pattern, from the inside. IN THIS EPISODE: - Why psychopathy is not a DSM diagnosis, and what antisocial personality disorder actually covers - Robert Hare and the PCL-R, the Hare Psychopathy Checklist Revised - Factor 1, the interpersonal and affective traits: glibness, charm, grandiosity, shallow affect, no remorse - Factor 2, the antisocial lifestyle traits: need for stimulation, impulsivity, irresponsibility, early behavioral patterns - Prevalence: under 1% of the general population, roughly 25% of incarcerated populations - Subclinical or "successful" psychopathy, and Snakes in Suits by Paul Babiak and Robert Hare - Why corporate, legal, political and even mental health environments show elevated rates - The honeymoon phase: love bombing, mirroring and future faking - Why mirroring works, and why it is a performance rather than recognition - The shift: devaluation, intermittent reinforcement, gaslighting and isolation - The slot machine effect, and why unpredictable reward builds anxious attachment - What gaslighting actually is, and how "you should get some therapy" gets weaponized - Why an outsider can see it and the person inside cannot - Trauma bonding as a neurobiological response, not a weakness - Why couples therapy is contraindicated, and what to ask a couple's therapist before you start - Safety planning, and why leaving is the most dangerous period even without physical violence - Trauma informed care, somatic approaches, trauma focused CBT and EMDR - Karin Huffer's work on Legal Abuse Syndrome, and litigation as a tool of control - The closing thought: the grief is real, even though the relationship wasn't CLINICAL TERMS: psychopathy, antisocial personality disorder, PCL-R, Hare Psychopathy Checklist, narcissism, sociopathy, coercive control, love bombing, mirroring, future faking, devaluation, intermittent reinforcement, gaslighting, isolation, triangulation, trauma bonding, anxious attachment, betrayal trauma, plausible deniability, safety planning, EMDR RELATED EPISODES: Stalking, Surveillance and Coercive Control Parts 1 and 2 · How to Identify a Narcissist · Spiritual Narcissism: Twin Flames on Fire · CULTS: Heaven's Gate, the Zizians and Jonestown Two licensed therapists, one forensic psychologist, one clinical LMFT, take apart the minds behind the crimes. 🎧 LISTEN TO THE FULL PODCAST APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/terror-talk-true-crime-serial-killers-and-horror/id1435529687 SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/07JEm5Qm7cohukkEUOYt7P PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/cw/terrortalk 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terrortalkpodcast/ 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/newterrortalkpodcast 🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dark.psychology.girls?_r=18_t=ZT-99iWlxm05in 🎶 Music by Mannequin Uprising