Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons antediluvian malevolence, a nightmare fueled horror thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

An frightening paranormal suspense film from creator / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an mythic curse when unrelated individuals become proxies in a fiendish maze. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing chronicle of living through and mythic evil that will revolutionize genre cinema this October. Guided by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and moody motion picture follows five young adults who wake up stuck in a wilderness-bound lodge under the dark manipulation of Kyra, a haunted figure overtaken by a ancient holy text monster. Be warned to be drawn in by a filmic adventure that melds bodily fright with ancestral stories, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a classic tradition in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is challenged when the spirits no longer descend from an outside force, but rather through their own souls. This mirrors the most terrifying element of the group. The result is a edge-of-seat cognitive warzone where the conflict becomes a brutal contest between right and wrong.


In a haunting wilderness, five characters find themselves trapped under the sinister grip and infestation of a obscure entity. As the ensemble becomes submissive to deny her dominion, detached and stalked by beings beyond reason, they are obligated to confront their raw vulnerabilities while the hours unforgivingly draws closer toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease escalates and partnerships splinter, demanding each figure to examine their values and the structure of self-determination itself. The hazard magnify with every short lapse, delivering a cinematic nightmare that connects supernatural terror with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to uncover primal fear, an force from prehistory, working through emotional vulnerability, and challenging a entity that forces self-examination when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra meant channeling something unfamiliar to reason. She is innocent until the demon emerges, and that transformation is harrowing because it is so visceral.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for audiences beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing subscribers around the globe can enjoy this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its original clip, which has received over 100K plays.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, presenting the nightmare to horror fans worldwide.


Mark your calendar for this soul-jarring journey into fear. Join *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to acknowledge these terrifying truths about mankind.


For director insights, behind-the-scenes content, and reveals from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across social media and visit the movie portal.





Contemporary horror’s inflection point: 2025 for genre fans American release plan braids together archetypal-possession themes, Indie Shockers, paired with series shake-ups

From grit-forward survival fare rooted in legendary theology and including installment follow-ups paired with focused festival visions, 2025 appears poised to be the most variegated as well as intentionally scheduled year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. major banners lock in tentpoles with known properties, while digital services front-load the fall with new perspectives set against archetypal fear. In parallel, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is propelled by the backdraft from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween stays the prime week, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The fall stretch is the proving field, but this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are exacting, and 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: The Return of Prestige Fear

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal camp fires the first shot with a confident swing: a modernized Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Directed by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. targeting mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Steered by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

When summer fades, the Warner Bros. banner unveils the final movement from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. While the template is known, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

After that, The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re boards, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: 70s style chill, trauma explicitly handled, with ghostly inner logic. This run ups the stakes, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The continuation widens the legend, thickens the animatronic pantheon, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It arrives in December, pinning the winter close.

Platform Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

More contained by design is Together, a body horror chamber piece fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also rising is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in 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. It looks like sharp programming. No overstuffed canon. No sequel clutter. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy IP: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, guided by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Season Ahead: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The next scare Year Ahead: entries, standalone ideas, plus A loaded Calendar engineered for Scares

Dek: The brand-new horror season lines up from the jump with a January pile-up, subsequently spreads through June and July, and pushing into the year-end corridor, weaving franchise firepower, inventive spins, and calculated alternatives. Studio marketers and platforms are focusing on lean spends, big-screen-first runs, and buzz-forward plans that turn these films into cross-demo moments.

Horror momentum into 2026

Horror filmmaking has established itself as the sturdy move in studio calendars, a lane that can accelerate when it connects and still protect the drag when it fails to connect. After 2023 showed studio brass that disciplined-budget chillers can command the zeitgeist, the following year sustained momentum with buzzy auteur projects and under-the-radar smashes. The energy rolled into 2025, where legacy revivals and premium-leaning entries proved there is demand for multiple flavors, from continued chapters to filmmaker-driven originals that play globally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a slate that reads highly synchronized across the market, with defined corridors, a blend of legacy names and untested plays, and a revived eye on theatrical windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on paid VOD and subscription services.

Studio leaders note the space now works like a schedule utility on the calendar. Horror can bow on a wide range of weekends, yield a simple premise for spots and vertical videos, and overperform with ticket buyers that come out on early shows and stay strong through the week two if the film pays off. After a production delay era, the 2026 plan shows faith in that dynamic. The slate launches with a crowded January window, then plants flags in spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while saving space for a late-year stretch that flows toward spooky season and into November. The program also includes the expanded integration of specialty arms and streaming partners that can nurture a platform play, build word of mouth, and move wide at the inflection point.

A second macro trend is franchise tending across unified worlds and long-running brands. Studios are not just mounting another chapter. They are working to present story carry-over with a headline quality, whether that is a title treatment that broadcasts a fresh attitude or a casting move that anchors a latest entry to a early run. At the meanwhile, the directors behind the high-profile originals are leaning into material texture, special makeup and distinct locales. That mix offers 2026 a vital pairing of brand comfort and invention, which is the weblink formula for international play.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount defines the early cadence with two prominent titles that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the front, angling it as both a succession moment and a classic-mode character-centered film. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach hints at a classic-referencing angle without going over the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Look for a marketing run rooted in legacy iconography, first images of characters, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm landing toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reignites 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 in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will stress. As a counterweight in summer, this one will build wide appeal through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format allowing quick switches to whatever drives genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three discrete releases. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is clean, melancholic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man implements an virtual partner that mutates into a killer companion. The date puts it at the front of a stacked January, with the marketing arm likely to recreate off-kilter promo beats and bite-size content that mixes romance and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a name unveil to become an teaser payoff closer to the debut look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. His entries are branded as auteur events, with a teaser that reveals little and a later trailer push that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot offers Universal room to maximize 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, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has proven that a visceral, practical-first style can feel elevated on a controlled budget. Look for a red-band summer horror rush that spotlights international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio deploys two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, extending a consistent supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is calling a reset 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 clearer mandate to serve both diehards and curious audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign pieces around canon, and monster aesthetics, elements that can boost format premiums and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants 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 obsessive craft and linguistic texture, this time driven by werewolf stories. The company has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is enthusiastic.

Platform lanes and windowing

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on stable tracks. The Universal horror run feed copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a structure that optimizes both first-week urgency and viewer acquisition in the after-window. Prime Video continues to mix licensed titles with global acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library pulls, using editorial spots, seasonal hubs, and curated strips to maximize the tail on lifetime take. Netflix stays opportunistic about originals and festival wins, confirming horror entries with shorter lead times and framing as events drops with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a staged of targeted cinema placements and swift platform pivots that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has proven amenable to take on select projects with accomplished filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation surges.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 slate with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is straightforward: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, modernized for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a cinema-first plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the September weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday corridor to go wider. That positioning has been successful for auteur horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception allows. Be ready 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 select theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their community.

Known brands versus new stories

By number, 2026 favors the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap cultural cachet. The challenge, as ever, is diminishing returns. The workable fix is to market each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is underscoring character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a European tilt from a hot helmer. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries add oxygen. 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-thriller premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the deal build is comforting enough to spark pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Rolling three-year comps contextualize the logic. In 2023, a cinema-first model that preserved streaming windows did not deter a parallel release from delivering when the brand was potent. In 2024, precision craft horror outperformed in PLF. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they change perspective and increase ambition. 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot in tandem, enables marketing to cross-link entries through character arcs and themes and to hold creative in the market without long gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The craft rooms behind this slate forecast a continued preference for hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that underscores creep and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the grimmest 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 spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in deep-dive features and technical spotlights before rolling out a preview that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta pivot that centers an original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster realization and design, which lend themselves to con floor moments and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel must-have. Look for trailers that elevate pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that shine in top 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 gloomy counterbalance amid heavier IP. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the tonal variety lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth holds.

Q1 into Q2 seed summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to 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 comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. 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 rolled through premiums.

End of summer through fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a early fall window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a slow-reveal plan and limited pre-release reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s algorithmic partner turns into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively 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 returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a shimmering 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 severe boss battle to survive on a rugged island as the power balance tilts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to horror, rooted in Cronin’s practical effects and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting chiller that leverages the fright of a child’s wobbly POV. Rating: TBD. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal 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 send-up revival that pokes at modern genre fads and true-crime crazes. Rating: TBA. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further ripples again, with check over here a new clan linked to past horrors. Rating: TBD. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A new start designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in pure survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: not yet rated. Production: proceeding. 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 era-faithful speech and elemental fear. Rating: TBA. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. 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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 lands now

Three pragmatic forces frame this lineup. First, production that stalled or reshuffled in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter 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 dumps. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage bite-size scare clips from test screenings, curated scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. 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, clearing 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 line up across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the optimal band. 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where lower and mid-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 maximize those pockets. 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.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, audio design, and visual design 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 Robust 2026 On Deck

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand heft where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the frights sell the seats.