Ancient Malevolence Awakens in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling horror feature, launching October 2025 across top streamers

This terrifying occult thriller from writer / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an age-old force when strangers become tokens in a hellish ritual. Releasing on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish saga of survival and archaic horror that will revolutionize the horror genre this season. Brought to life by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and tone-heavy motion picture follows five young adults who come to locked in a secluded hideaway under the ominous grip of Kyra, a tormented girl haunted by a biblical-era biblical demon. Be warned to be captivated by a cinematic adventure that integrates primitive horror with mythic lore, coming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a recurring foundation in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is inverted when the spirits no longer emerge beyond the self, but rather from deep inside. This depicts the grimmest shade of the players. The result is a emotionally raw internal warfare where the emotions becomes a unyielding clash between purity and corruption.


In a haunting forest, five adults find themselves trapped under the sinister influence and inhabitation of a unknown spirit. As the companions becomes unresisting to reject her grasp, severed and pursued by evils unfathomable, they are driven to endure their deepest fears while the final hour without pity ticks onward toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension mounts and connections break, driving each figure to challenge their values and the idea of free will itself. The consequences rise with every fleeting time, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that harmonizes paranormal dread with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to awaken instinctual horror, an spirit that existed before mankind, manifesting in emotional fractures, and wrestling with a power that erodes the self when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra required summoning something deeper than fear. She is unseeing until the control shifts, and that metamorphosis is soul-crushing because it is so visceral.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—providing users in all regions can experience this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its intro video, which has attracted over notable views.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, giving access to the movie to global fright lovers.


Make sure to see this life-altering journey into fear. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to see these nightmarish insights about the human condition.


For bonus footage, director cuts, and press updates via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your socials and visit our film’s homepage.





Current horror’s inflection point: the 2025 cycle U.S. Slate weaves old-world possession, art-house nightmares, in parallel with legacy-brand quakes

Running from pressure-cooker survival tales steeped in ancient scripture all the way to brand-name continuations paired with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 appears poised to be the most stratified as well as tactically planned year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio powerhouses plant stakes across the year with familiar IP, simultaneously platform operators front-load the fall with unboxed visions alongside archetypal fear. At the same time, independent banners is riding the uplift of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and now, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are exacting, so 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

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

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal banner leads off the quarter with a headline swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, instead in a current-day frame. Led by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. landing in mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Directed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. drops the final chapter inside its trusty horror universe: 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. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson resumes command, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: vintage toned fear, trauma centered writing, and eerie supernatural logic. This run ups the stakes, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, broadens the animatronic terror cast, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It arrives in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Digital Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a sealed box body horror arc featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, 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.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. That is a savvy move. No bloated canon. No legacy baggage. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Long Running Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, led by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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 dread mainstreams
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror comes roaring back
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

What’s Next: Autumn overload with a 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 including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. 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 goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The coming 2026 terror season: returning titles, universe starters, paired with A busy Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek The incoming horror season builds immediately with a January cluster, following that extends through June and July, and deep into the year-end corridor, braiding brand heft, creative pitches, and well-timed counterprogramming. Distributors with platforms are committing to lean spends, theatrical exclusivity first, and social-fueled campaigns that frame the slate’s entries into cross-demo moments.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The genre has become the bankable move in release plans, a pillar that can accelerate when it connects and still safeguard the risk when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year showed leaders that efficiently budgeted horror vehicles can drive the discourse, 2024 kept energy high with high-profile filmmaker pieces and surprise hits. The momentum pushed into 2025, where legacy revivals and filmmaker-prestige bets signaled there is demand for many shades, from returning installments to non-IP projects that translate worldwide. The net effect for 2026 is a grid that reads highly synchronized across companies, with mapped-out bands, a balance of established brands and untested plays, and a revived emphasis on release windows that fuel later windows on PVOD and home platforms.

Distribution heads claim the space now serves as a flex slot on the rollout map. Horror can premiere on almost any weekend, offer a clear pitch for previews and shorts, and lead with audiences that lean in on early shows and hold through the week two if the feature connects. Coming out of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 cadence demonstrates belief in that approach. The slate rolls out with a busy January window, then uses spring and early summer for audience offsets, while clearing room for a late-year stretch that flows toward the fright window and past Halloween. The layout also illustrates the tightening integration of specialty distributors and streamers that can grow from platform, create conversation, and grow at the sweet spot.

A second macro trend is franchise tending across ongoing universes and legacy IP. Big banners are not just turning out another installment. They are working to present lineage with a occasion, whether that is a title treatment that broadcasts a new vibe or a star attachment that binds a new entry to a classic era. At the same time, the directors behind the top original plays are returning to material texture, special makeup and concrete locations. That combination provides 2026 a solid mix of trust and surprise, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount plants an early flag with two centerpiece titles that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the lead, signaling it as both a cross-generational handoff and a back-to-basics character-focused installment. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the story approach conveys a heritage-honoring campaign without replaying the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Look for a marketing run anchored in signature symbols, intro reveals, and a trailer cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also resurrects 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 voices 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 mass reach through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format inviting quick adjustments to whatever defines this website pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three clear plays. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is straightforward, tragic, and premise-first: a grieving man installs an synthetic partner that evolves into a deadly partner. The date sets it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s promo team likely to recreate viral uncanny stunts and snackable content that melds companionship and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a title reveal to become an earned moment closer to the teaser. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele titles are marketed as marquee events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a later creative that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The spooky-season slot opens a lane to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press 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 in the lead. The franchise has consistently shown that a gritty, hands-on effects style can feel cinematic on a disciplined budget. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror rush that embraces overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio mounts two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, holding a consistent supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is describing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both diehards and novices. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign pieces around canon, and creature effects, elements that can amplify IMAX and PLF uptake and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by careful craft and period speech, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is supportive.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on proven patterns. The Universal horror run land on copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a structure that amplifies both opening-weekend urgency and trial spikes in the late-window. Prime Video combines licensed films with global acquisitions and limited runs see here in theaters when the data points to it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in back-catalog play, using featured rows, holiday hubs, and curated rows to extend momentum on the horror cume. Netflix stays nimble about Netflix films and festival acquisitions, scheduling horror entries toward the drop and turning into events premieres with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a paired of selective theatrical runs and swift platform pivots that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has shown appetite to board select Get More Info projects with established auteurs or celebrity-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation swells.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 arc with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is clear: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, refined for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a big-screen first plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn stretch.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, shepherding the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday dates to open out. That positioning has worked well for filmmaker-driven genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception encourages. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using targeted theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Franchises versus originals

By weight, the 2026 slate bends toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use household recognition. The trade-off, as ever, is fatigue. The workable fix is to package each entry as a new angle. Paramount is centering character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-flavored turn from a emerging director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the package is steady enough to spark pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Three-year comps help explain the logic. In 2023, a exclusive window model that kept streaming intact did not deter a same-day experiment from thriving when the brand was compelling. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror hit big in PLF. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reframe POV and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to relate entries through character arcs and themes and to keep materials circulating without lulls.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The creative meetings behind this year’s genre foreshadow a continued emphasis on real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that spotlights aura and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and artisan spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and drives shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-referential reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature design and production design, which favor convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel definitive. Look for trailers that underscore hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that land in big rooms.

The schedule at a glance

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 moody palate cleanser amid macro-brand pushes. 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 thick, but the mix of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Winter into spring set up the summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps 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 playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a early fall window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a peekaboo tease plan and limited disclosures that center concept over reveals.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card burn.

One-sentence dossiers

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s artificial companion evolves into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot 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 comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 prickly boss claw to survive on a uninhabited island as the control dynamic swivels and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to menace, grounded in Cronin’s hands-on craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting narrative that refracts terror through a child’s flickering perspective. Rating: forthcoming. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-built and marquee-led eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that riffs on in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime crazes. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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: TBD. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further reopens, with a fresh family tethered to older hauntings. Rating: undetermined. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-driven horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBA. Production: in progress. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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 era-accurate language and primal menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 and why now

Three practical forces organize this lineup. First, production that downshifted or reshuffled in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work clippable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can command a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will trade weekends across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can use 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 sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where lean-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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, disciplined footprints, 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 Looks Exciting

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is name recognition where it counts, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the shocks sell the seats.