Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primordial evil, a nerve shredding chiller, streaming Oct 2025 on major streaming services

A hair-raising spiritual horror tale from creator / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an archaic curse when newcomers become vehicles in a demonic maze. Launching this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving chronicle of perseverance and primordial malevolence that will revolutionize the horror genre this ghoul season. Visualized by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and moody cinema piece follows five unacquainted souls who find themselves caught in a remote hideaway under the unfriendly grip of Kyra, a possessed female overtaken by a ancient holy text monster. Steel yourself to be ensnared by a narrative display that melds gut-punch terror with timeless legends, streaming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a historical foundation in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is twisted when the monsters no longer arise from elsewhere, but rather from their core. This echoes the deepest dimension of the players. The result is a psychologically brutal mental war where the plotline becomes a ongoing battle between light and darkness.


In a isolated backcountry, five teens find themselves imprisoned under the fiendish sway and curse of a secretive person. As the team becomes vulnerable to deny her manipulation, cut off and tormented by unknowns unnamable, they are confronted to endure their soulful dreads while the seconds relentlessly strikes toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion deepens and ties fracture, urging each character to reconsider their character and the nature of volition itself. The cost amplify with every fleeting time, delivering a cinematic nightmare that connects unearthly horror with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to evoke primitive panic, an threat born of forgotten ages, filtering through soul-level flaws, and highlighting a force that forces self-examination when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra meant evoking something beyond human emotion. She is oblivious until the evil takes hold, and that transition is deeply unsettling because it is so personal.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for worldwide release beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—offering watchers internationally can enjoy this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its first preview, which has seen over a viral response.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, spreading the horror to scare fans abroad.


Mark your calendar for this mind-warping trip into the unknown. Stream *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to confront these haunting secrets about inner darkness.


For teasers, behind-the-scenes content, and promotions from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across fan hubs and visit the movie’s homepage.





Today’s horror watershed moment: 2025 for genre fans domestic schedule melds archetypal-possession themes, microbudget gut-punches, stacked beside Franchise Rumbles

From last-stand terror grounded in primordial scripture and stretching into installment follow-ups set beside sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is emerging as the most variegated along with carefully orchestrated year in ten years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. leading studios hold down the year with known properties, concurrently platform operators stack the fall with debut heat paired with ancient terrors. In the indie lane, independent banners is carried on the kinetic energy of a peak 2024 circuit. Since Halloween is the prized date, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, notably this year, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are exacting, as a result 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 deepens the push.

the Universal camp lights the fuse with a bold swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a sharp contemporary setting. With Leigh Whannell at the helm fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. timed for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Directed by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer wanes, Warner’s pipeline bows the concluding entry from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Although the framework is familiar, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: nostalgic menace, trauma explicitly handled, plus otherworld rules that chill. The ante is higher this round, 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 property whose brand does the lifting. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It drops in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Offerings: Economy, maximum dread

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. 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 reads as sharp positioning. No heavy handed lore. No continuity burden. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Franchise Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, from Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Emerging Currents

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror comes roaring back
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Forward View: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The upcoming chiller cycle: installments, standalone ideas, and also A Crowded Calendar aimed at chills

Dek The brand-new genre slate clusters up front with a January wave, subsequently unfolds through the mid-year, and continuing into the holiday frame, weaving IP strength, fresh ideas, and well-timed alternatives. Studios with streamers are doubling down on mid-range economics, theatrical exclusivity first, and influencer-ready assets that shape these pictures into culture-wide discussion.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror marketplace has shown itself to be the predictable swing in studio slates, a category that can scale when it hits and still insulate the risk when it falls short. After 2023 reminded buyers that low-to-mid budget scare machines can galvanize cultural conversation, the following year held pace with festival-darling auteurs and quiet over-performers. The momentum translated to the 2025 frame, where re-entries and arthouse crossovers highlighted there is appetite for varied styles, from legacy continuations to standalone ideas that translate worldwide. The takeaway for 2026 is a programming that is strikingly coherent across companies, with mapped-out bands, a equilibrium of recognizable IP and new concepts, and a re-energized emphasis on exhibition windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium on-demand and streaming.

Schedulers say the horror lane now behaves like a swing piece on the calendar. The genre can debut on a wide range of weekends, generate a clean hook for trailers and social clips, and overperform with audiences that show up on first-look nights and stay strong through the week two if the feature satisfies. After a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 mapping signals certainty in that model. The year rolls out with a stacked January corridor, then turns to spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while clearing room for a autumn stretch that reaches into late October and past the holiday. The calendar also includes the increasing integration of specialized imprints and subscription services that can platform and widen, stoke social talk, and scale up at the right moment.

A further high-level trend is series management across brand ecosystems and legacy IP. Studios are not just making another continuation. They are trying to present continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a title treatment that flags a tonal shift or a casting move that binds a latest entry to a classic era. At the simultaneously, the writer-directors behind the most watched originals are celebrating real-world builds, practical gags and location-forward worlds. That convergence yields 2026 a healthy mix of recognition and invention, which is how the films export.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount fires first with two big-ticket projects that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the spine, angling it as both a handoff and a origin-leaning character-focused installment. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the artistic posture telegraphs a legacy-leaning approach without recycling the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run fueled by brand visuals, first images of characters, and a tiered teaser plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will emphasize. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will pursue wide buzz through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format supporting quick reframes to whatever shapes horror talk that spring.

Universal has three separate projects. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is tidy, heartbroken, and logline-clear: a grieving man purchases an artificial companion that turns into a killer companion. The date places it at the front of a busy month, with the marketing arm likely to renew creepy live activations and brief clips that mixes companionship and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a official title to become an PR pop closer to the initial promo. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. His projects are presented as must-see filmmaker statements, with a concept-forward tease and a follow-up trailer set that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The late-October frame allows Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has shown that a raw, prosthetic-heavy execution can feel cinematic on a mid-range budget. Expect a grime-caked summer horror More about the author surge that leans into international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio launches two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, sustaining a trusty supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is presenting as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both players and general audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build artifacts around narrative world, and creature design, elements that can increase premium screens and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in obsessive craft and textual fidelity, this time set against lycan legends. The label has already set the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is positive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform windowing in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre slate feed copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ladder that enhances both opening-weekend urgency and platform bumps in the after-window. Prime Video will mix outside acquisitions with worldwide entries and brief theater runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in library pulls, using in-app campaigns, genre hubs, and curated rows to lengthen the tail on the horror cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about original films and festival acquisitions, securing horror entries toward the drop and coalescing around go-lives with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a paired of tailored theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has indicated interest to acquire select projects with recognized filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is quietly building this content a 2026 corridor with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is straightforward: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, reimagined for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical-first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then relying on the year-end corridor to scale. That positioning has proved effective for elevated genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception encourages. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using boutique theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Brands and originals

By count, the 2026 slate bends toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage fan equity. The concern, as ever, is overexposure. The standing approach is to package each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is emphasizing character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is floating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French sensibility from a ascendant talent. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and director-driven titles keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the bundle is recognizable enough to spark pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Recent comps make sense of the template. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that honored streaming windows did not block a day-date try from thriving when the brand was robust. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror hit big in large-format rooms. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they shift POV and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to bridge entries through character spine and themes and to keep materials circulating without hiatuses.

How the films are being made

The production chatter behind this year’s genre suggest a continued lean toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that elevates aura and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and technical 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 tuned for red-band excess, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and produces shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta pivot that centers an original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster aesthetics and world-building, which match well with convention floor stunts and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel compelling. Look for trailers that foreground precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in premium houses.

The schedule at a glance

January is jammed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid heavier IP. The month closes 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 credible, but the palette of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Post-January through spring build the summer base. Scream 7 opens February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Back half into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil follows September 18, a pre-October slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event 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 declaration that genre can play the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s digital partner shifts into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 unyielding boss scramble to survive on a isolated island as the control balance turns and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to menace, anchored by Cronin’s practical effects and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting tale that leverages the dread of a child’s mercurial POV. Rating: rating pending. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A genre lampoon that lampoons modern genre fads and true-crime buzz. Rating: not yet rated. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 surges, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further extends again, with a unlucky family linked to lingering terrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A fresh restart designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward true survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: to be announced. Production: continuing. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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 historical diction and bone-deep menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three pragmatic forces organize this lineup. First, production that paused or recalendared in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work social-ready stingers from test screenings, managed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can lead a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will stack across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 dark-horse 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, soundscape, and visuals 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.

A Promising 2026

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand gravity where needed, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not news be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, protect the mystery, and let the shudders sell the seats.