Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primordial evil, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing Oct 2025 on major streaming services

A unnerving supernatural nightmare movie from creator / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an prehistoric terror when foreigners become instruments in a dark maze. Hitting screens this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a intense narrative of staying alive and archaic horror that will revamp terror storytelling this ghoul season. Created by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and cinematic thriller follows five characters who suddenly rise locked in a hidden lodge under the aggressive sway of Kyra, a female presence haunted by a legendary sacred-era entity. Prepare to be gripped by a audio-visual spectacle that intertwines soul-chilling terror with mystical narratives, debuting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a legendary tradition in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is radically shifted when the spirits no longer descend externally, but rather internally. This portrays the darkest corner of each of them. The result is a edge-of-seat spiritual tug-of-war where the conflict becomes a unforgiving confrontation between virtue and vice.


In a bleak outland, five individuals find themselves caught under the ominous grip and possession of a unknown female presence. As the cast becomes paralyzed to deny her dominion, left alone and chased by entities unnamable, they are driven to encounter their inner demons while the doomsday meter brutally draws closer toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension builds and links fracture, urging each character to examine their personhood and the integrity of volition itself. The intensity rise with every fleeting time, delivering a fear-soaked story that fuses supernatural terror with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to explore primal fear, an curse born of forgotten ages, influencing our weaknesses, and testing a presence that tests the soul when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra asked for exploring something outside normal anguish. She is oblivious until the evil takes hold, and that metamorphosis is shocking because it is so deep.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for digital release beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—ensuring customers no matter where they are can enjoy this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first trailer, which has attracted over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, exporting the fear to thrill-seekers globally.


Experience this heart-stopping path of possession. Confront *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to explore these fearful discoveries about inner darkness.


For bonus footage, behind-the-scenes content, and promotions from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursed across fan hubs and visit our spooky domain.





U.S. horror’s watershed moment: the 2025 cycle American release plan integrates archetypal-possession themes, indie terrors, in parallel with legacy-brand quakes

Across survival horror inspired by legendary theology and onward to series comebacks paired with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is tracking to be horror’s most layered combined with intentionally scheduled year in ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. major banners are anchoring the year via recognizable brands, even as streaming platforms pack the fall with new perspectives alongside archetypal fear. On the independent axis, horror’s indie wing is carried on the backdraft of a banner 2024 fest year. Since Halloween is the prized date, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The fall stretch is the proving field, distinctly in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are targeted, thus 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: High-craft horror returns

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal banner lights the fuse with a bold swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in an immediate now. Steered by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. arriving mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Steered by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. Pictures delivers the closing chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re engages, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: old school creep, trauma as theme, and eerie supernatural logic. This time the stakes climb, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The new chapter enriches the lore, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It bows in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Offerings: No Budget, No Problem

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a body horror chamber piece featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

In the mix sits Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable featuring Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is a clever angle. No puffed out backstory. No continuity burden. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Brands: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, led by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Signals and Trends

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror returns
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

What’s Next: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The new scare season: continuations, original films, plus A jammed Calendar aimed at shocks

Dek: The arriving scare calendar lines up up front with a January crush, thereafter spreads through summer, and far into the festive period, braiding marquee clout, creative pitches, and tactical calendar placement. Major distributors and platforms are doubling down on cost discipline, theatrical leads, and social-driven marketing that pivot these offerings into national conversation.

The landscape of horror in 2026

This category has emerged as the most reliable option in release plans, a pillar that can accelerate when it resonates and still cushion the downside when it underperforms. After the 2023 year proved to strategy teams that responsibly budgeted pictures can own pop culture, the following year sustained momentum with signature-voice projects and sleeper breakouts. The head of steam translated to the 2025 frame, where revived properties and awards-minded projects demonstrated there is appetite for many shades, from sequel tracks to filmmaker-driven originals that export nicely. The result for the 2026 slate is a programming that looks unusually coordinated across companies, with defined corridors, a balance of established brands and first-time concepts, and a sharpened eye on cinema windows that fuel later windows on paid VOD and streaming.

Distribution heads claim the genre now slots in as a versatile piece on the calendar. Horror can roll out on many corridors, offer a easy sell for spots and vertical videos, and overperform with ticket buyers that arrive on previews Thursday and keep coming through the next weekend if the offering delivers. After a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 mapping telegraphs trust in that equation. The slate rolls out with a heavy January lineup, then exploits spring through early summer for counterprogramming, while reserving space for a autumn stretch that carries into holiday-adjacent weekends and into post-Halloween. The map also includes the deeper integration of indie arms and OTT outlets that can develop over weeks, spark evangelism, and expand at the timely point.

A parallel macro theme is IP stewardship across shared universes and legacy franchises. Big banners are not just mounting another chapter. They are working to present continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a typeface approach that conveys a new vibe or a ensemble decision that binds a next film to a heyday. At the same time, the creative teams behind the most anticipated originals are prioritizing in-camera technique, in-camera effects and concrete locations. That blend affords 2026 a smart balance of familiarity and novelty, which is how the genre sells abroad.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount marks the early tempo with two spotlight pushes that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the focus, presenting it as both a relay and a return-to-roots relationship-driven entry. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture announces a nostalgia-forward framework without rehashing the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Count on a promo wave fueled by iconic art, first-look character reveals, and a staggered trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will lean on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will seek four-quadrant chatter through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick shifts to whatever owns pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three separate bets. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is elegant, melancholic, and high-concept: a grieving man purchases an virtual partner that becomes a deadly partner. The date places it at the front of a thick month, with the Universal machine likely to replay strange in-person beats and brief clips that blurs love and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a final title to become an marketing beat closer to the teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele projects are branded as event films, with a teaser with minimal detail and a follow-up trailer set that define feel without revealing the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor lets the studio to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has established that a visceral, on-set effects led method can feel premium on a lean spend. Position this as a hard-R summer horror jolt that spotlights offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio launches two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, maintaining a consistent supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is describing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both core fans and general audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build assets around lore, and monster design, elements that can drive premium format interest and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror centered on careful craft and linguistic texture, this time focused on werewolf legend. The label has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is supportive.

Where the platforms fit in

Digital strategies for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s releases move to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a sequence that optimizes both debut momentum and viewer acquisition in the after-window. Prime Video interleaves licensed titles with international acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in catalog engagement, using seasonal hubs, spooky hubs, and editorial rows to stretch the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps flexible about original films and festival wins, confirming horror entries near their drops and framing as events drops with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a tiered of focused cinema runs and rapid platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown appetite to acquire select projects with recognized filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for platform stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 pipeline with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is no-nonsense: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, modernized for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late stretch.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas corridor to expand. That positioning has delivered for elevated genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception prompts. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using targeted theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their community.

Known brands versus new stories

By number, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit franchise value. The concern, as ever, is fatigue. The pragmatic answer is to position each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is foregrounding character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-flavored turn from a ascendant talent. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the configuration is comforting enough to build pre-sales and early previews.

Comparable trends from recent years clarify the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive window model that maintained windows did not preclude a hybrid test from succeeding when the brand was strong. In 2024, auteur craft horror punched above its weight in premium formats. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel new when they angle differently and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, provides the means for marketing to link the films through personae and themes and to keep assets in-market without extended gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft conversations behind the year’s horror forecast a continued preference for tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that leans on unease and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in deep-dive features and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and creates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta-horror reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature and environment design, which lend themselves to convention activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel essential. Look for trailers that highlight precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in premium houses.

Calendar cadence

January is busy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid bigger brand plays. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the range of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Late winter and spring stage summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Late summer into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil follows September 18, a pre-October slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a minimalist tease strategy and limited plot reveals that favor idea over plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card redemption.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s artificial companion becomes something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss push to survive on a rugged island as the chain of command turns and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to horror, founded on Cronin’s physical craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film this content (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting narrative that refracts terror through a young child’s unreliable internal vantage. Rating: not yet rated. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed and name-above-title haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A comic send-up that skewers in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fascinations. Rating: undetermined. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites bursts, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further opens again, with a fresh family bound to residual nightmares. Rating: forthcoming. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-driven horror over action spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: underway. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and elemental fear. Rating: TBD. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three grounded forces drive this lineup. First, production that slowed or migrated in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on social-ready stingers from test screenings, select scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will cluster across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where disciplined-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, sonics, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Ready To Roar

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is recognizable IP where it plays, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the screams sell the seats.