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

A haunting otherworldly terror film from scriptwriter / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an forgotten malevolence when foreigners become puppets in a satanic contest. Launching this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful depiction of continuance and timeless dread that will reshape the horror genre this autumn. Brought to life by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and shadowy suspense flick follows five young adults who suddenly rise caught in a secluded dwelling under the hostile dominion of Kyra, a tormented girl possessed by a time-worn sacrosanct terror. Arm yourself to be hooked by a screen-based spectacle that harmonizes intense horror with arcane tradition, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a recurring concept in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is twisted when the dark entities no longer originate beyond the self, but rather through their own souls. This echoes the haunting shade of the victims. The result is a edge-of-seat internal warfare where the events becomes a soul-crushing fight between heaven and hell.


In a forsaken backcountry, five young people find themselves isolated under the unholy aura and overtake of a mysterious woman. As the companions becomes submissive to break her power, left alone and chased by unknowns mind-shattering, they are required to face their deepest fears while the doomsday meter coldly winds toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion swells and partnerships erode, urging each character to contemplate their identity and the nature of liberty itself. The pressure surge with every minute, delivering a terror ride that marries occult fear with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to extract primitive panic, an curse that existed before mankind, operating within emotional fractures, and examining a evil that tests the soul when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra meant evoking something rooted in terror. She is unaware until the spirit seizes her, and that conversion is shocking because it is so emotional.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for audience access beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—allowing streamers in all regions can face this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its first trailer, which has collected over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, giving access to the movie to international horror buffs.


Mark your calendar for this haunted voyage through terror. Join *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to survive these dark realities about the psyche.


For featurettes, extra content, and press updates from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursed across your socials and visit our film’s homepage.





Current horror’s inflection point: 2025 across markets U.S. lineup fuses legend-infused possession, festival-born jolts, and Franchise Rumbles

Running from grit-forward survival fare suffused with primordial scripture through to brand-name continuations and keen independent perspectives, 2025 stands to become the most dimensioned plus strategic year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. leading studios set cornerstones with known properties, as SVOD players front-load the fall with new perspectives in concert with ancestral chills. On the independent axis, horror’s indie wing is riding the kinetic energy from a record 2024 festival run. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, notably this year, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are surgical, therefore 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Premium dread reemerges

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal Pictures opens the year with a marquee bet: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in a clear present-tense world. Directed by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. set for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Guided by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

When summer fades, Warner’s slate launches the swan song of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson is back, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: period tinged dread, trauma in the foreground, plus otherworld rules that chill. This run ups the stakes, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, stretches the animatronic parade, speaking to teens and older millennials. It drops in December, buttoning the final window.

Platform Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a two hander body horror spiral including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend starring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is a clever angle. No bloated mythology. No brand fatigue. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They are more runway than museum.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

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

Heritage Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, led by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trends to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

The Road Ahead: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

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. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The forthcoming 2026 terror season: returning titles, non-franchise titles, paired with A loaded Calendar tailored for nightmares

Dek: The new terror season loads early with a January wave, from there carries through midyear, and deep into the holiday stretch, braiding name recognition, creative pitches, and strategic counterprogramming. Studios with streamers are embracing efficient budgets, big-screen-first runs, and influencer-ready assets that convert the slate’s entries into mainstream chatter.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This space has grown into the sturdy release in release plans, a lane that can spike when it catches and still mitigate the drag when it stumbles. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for greenlighters that responsibly budgeted genre plays can dominate mainstream conversation, the following year held pace with buzzy auteur projects and under-the-radar smashes. The tailwind extended into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and awards-minded projects signaled there is space for a spectrum, from continued chapters to filmmaker-driven originals that play globally. The sum for 2026 is a grid that presents tight coordination across distributors, with obvious clusters, a blend of established brands and fresh ideas, and a refocused attention on theatrical windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium video on demand and platforms.

Studio leaders note the space now slots in as a versatile piece on the rollout map. The genre can debut on virtually any date, create a quick sell for previews and UGC-friendly snippets, and outpace with crowds that appear on opening previews and hold through the sophomore frame if the picture pays off. Following a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 configuration underscores assurance in that logic. The slate opens with a stacked January band, then plants flags in spring and early summer for audience offsets, while saving space for a September to October window that pushes into the fright window and into November. The arrangement also shows the ongoing integration of indie arms and SVOD players that can platform and widen, spark evangelism, and expand at the proper time.

Another broad trend is brand curation across ongoing universes and established properties. The players are not just pushing another return. They are looking to package continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a brandmark that suggests a refreshed voice or a cast configuration that connects a next film to a initial period. At the in tandem, the filmmakers behind the eagerly awaited originals are celebrating material texture, special makeup and vivid settings. That mix provides 2026 a healthy mix of familiarity and invention, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

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

Paramount establishes early momentum with two marquee titles that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the lead, positioning the film as both a handoff and a rootsy character-focused installment. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture announces a legacy-leaning mode without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive leaning on brand visuals, character spotlights, and a trailer cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will stress. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will hunt wide appeal through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format inviting quick switches to whatever tops the discourse that spring.

Universal has three specific strategies. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is efficient, loss-driven, and commercial: a grieving man installs an artificial companion that grows into a dangerous lover. The date slots it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to renew creepy live activations and brief clips that fuses romance and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title drop to become an marketing beat closer to the first look. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. His entries are branded as director events, with a minimalist tease and a second wave of trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The prime October weekend opens a lane to dominate 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 heads, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has long shown that a visceral, physical-effects centered treatment can feel cinematic on a controlled budget. Position this as a gore-forward summer horror surge that emphasizes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio mounts two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, carrying a evergreen supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is selling as a clean-slate approach 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 well-defined brief to serve both devotees and general audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign creative around world-building, and monster aesthetics, elements that can lift premium format interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by minute detail and period language, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

How the platforms plan to play it

Digital strategies for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s releases transition to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a structure that optimizes both week-one demand and sign-up momentum in the later window. Prime Video combines catalogue additions with international acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library curation, using prominent placements, holiday hubs, and editorial rows to increase tail value on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps optionality about own-slate titles and festival acquisitions, timing horror entries near launch and eventizing arrivals with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a two-step of targeted cinema placements and prompt platform moves that converts WOM to subscribers. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown appetite to buy select projects with acclaimed directors or headline-cast packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for sustained usage when the genre conversation builds.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 corridor with two label plays. 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 somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, upgraded for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a cinema-first plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the autumn weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday frame to expand. That positioning has proved effective for craft-driven horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception encourages. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using targeted theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their user base.

Series vs standalone

By number, the 2026 slate skews toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit name recognition. The potential drawback, as ever, is audience fatigue. The preferred tactic is to position each entry as a new angle. Paramount is foregrounding character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French sensibility from a rising filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and talent-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched 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 focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the team and cast is grounded enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday-night turnout.

Comparable trends from recent years contextualize the logic. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that held distribution windows did not obstruct a day-date try from hitting when the brand was compelling. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror punched above its weight in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they shift POV and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds 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 filmed consecutively, gives leeway to marketing to relate entries through character arcs and themes and to sustain campaign assets without doldrums.

Behind-the-camera trends

The shop talk behind these films forecast a continued turn toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that leans on atmosphere and fear rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in feature stories and department features before rolling out a tease that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and produces shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta pivot that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster realization and design, which are ideal for convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that elevate precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that sing on PLF.

How the year maps out

January is packed. 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 somber counterpoint amid headline IP. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the palette of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Late Q1 and spring seed summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a opaque tease strategy and limited previews that elevate concept over story.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

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 take on a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s intelligent companion shifts into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. imp source 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 difficult boss try to survive on a lonely island as the pecking order upends and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to dread, rooted in Cronin’s hands-on craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting narrative that frames the panic through a youth’s unreliable subjective lens. Rating: to be announced. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that targets contemporary horror memes and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBD. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 breaks out, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: principal photography 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: TBA. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new clan snared by residual nightmares. Rating: pending. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on true survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: TBA. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

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

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and bone-deep menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026 and why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces structure this lineup. First, production that downshifted or re-slotted in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more measured 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 releases. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on bite-size scare clips from test screenings, managed scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, freeing space for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will stack across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 capitalize on those pockets. 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, tight deployments, 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 grain, sound field, and cinematography 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 Is Well Positioned

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand gravity where needed, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the gasps sell the seats.