Age-old Evil Rises in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked horror thriller, bowing October 2025 across top streaming platforms

A bone-chilling supernatural fright fest from scriptwriter / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an ancient terror when outsiders become proxies in a diabolical ordeal. Available this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a intense story of survival and old world terror that will transform the fear genre this harvest season. Helmed by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and gothic suspense flick follows five figures who arise caught in a far-off lodge under the ominous rule of Kyra, a cursed figure possessed by a 2,000-year-old sacred-era entity. Arm yourself to be enthralled by a immersive adventure that blends primitive horror with mystical narratives, hitting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a mainstay pillar in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is reversed when the monsters no longer descend from a different plane, but rather from their core. This marks the most primal corner of the group. The result is a edge-of-seat emotional conflict where the events becomes a brutal fight between innocence and sin.


In a wilderness-stricken backcountry, five souls find themselves isolated under the possessive grip and curse of a enigmatic entity. As the protagonists becomes unable to break her rule, abandoned and tormented by presences beyond reason, they are confronted to stand before their emotional phantoms while the clock unceasingly ticks toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread rises and friendships splinter, demanding each protagonist to doubt their personhood and the idea of free will itself. The threat mount with every breath, delivering a chilling narrative that marries otherworldly suspense with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to uncover elemental fright, an force born of forgotten ages, emerging via soul-level flaws, and highlighting a presence that erodes the self when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra required summoning something darker than pain. She is unseeing until the possession kicks in, and that pivot is bone-chilling because it is so personal.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for streaming beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—delivering audiences worldwide can watch this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its first preview, which has attracted over 100K plays.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, making the film to a global viewership.


Be sure to catch this heart-stopping voyage through terror. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to face these fearful discoveries about inner darkness.


For featurettes, set experiences, and insider scoops from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit youngandcursed.com.





Horror’s major pivot: 2025 for genre fans U.S. lineup fuses ancient-possession motifs, art-house nightmares, stacked beside IP aftershocks

Spanning last-stand terror rooted in ancient scripture as well as returning series set beside acutely observed indies, 2025 is coalescing into the richest and intentionally scheduled year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. the big studios set cornerstones with known properties, at the same time platform operators load up the fall with unboxed visions together with old-world menace. On the festival side, independent banners is riding the kinetic energy from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, however this time, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are intentional, which means 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s schedule sets the tone with a confident swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a clear present-tense world. Led by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. set for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Eli Craig directs and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer wanes, Warner’s pipeline unveils the final movement from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re boards, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: 70s style chill, trauma as text, and eerie supernatural logic. Here the stakes rise, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It posts in December, pinning the winter close.

Platform Originals: Economy, maximum dread

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, an intimate body horror unraveling anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is virtually assured for fall.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable featuring Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with 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.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, 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 threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is a clever angle. No overinflated mythology. No canon weight. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, 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 debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, steered by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Dials to Watch

Old myth goes broad
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror swings back
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Forecast: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The next scare lineup: installments, filmmaker-first projects, and also A brimming Calendar engineered for Scares

Dek: The new genre calendar stacks at the outset with a January pile-up, then carries through the mid-year, and far into the holiday stretch, blending IP strength, creative pitches, and smart counter-scheduling. Studio marketers and platforms are doubling down on tight budgets, theatrical leads, and social-driven marketing that position genre releases into national conversation.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has emerged as the steady swing in release plans, a category that can break out when it hits and still buffer the drawdown when it misses. After the 2023 year showed leaders that low-to-mid budget entries can shape mainstream conversation, 2024 continued the surge with high-profile filmmaker pieces and under-the-radar smashes. The momentum rolled into 2025, where reawakened brands and elevated films showed there is a lane for many shades, from series extensions to filmmaker-driven originals that export nicely. The upshot for 2026 is a schedule that shows rare alignment across the field, with planned clusters, a balance of established brands and new pitches, and a revived attention on exclusive windows that boost PVOD and platform value on PVOD and streaming.

Executives say the category now works like a flex slot on the grid. The genre can kick off on a wide range of weekends, deliver a clean hook for promo reels and TikTok spots, and outstrip with viewers that arrive on Thursday previews and stick through the second frame if the entry works. Post a work stoppage lag, the 2026 pattern demonstrates assurance in that equation. The slate kicks off with a crowded January block, then targets spring into early summer for alternate plays, while holding room for a fall run that extends to late October and past Halloween. The schedule also features the expanded integration of specialized labels and OTT outlets that can develop over weeks, grow buzz, and broaden at the timely point.

A further high-level trend is IP stewardship across connected story worlds and long-running brands. The studios are not just making another return. They are moving to present brand continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a title treatment that broadcasts a refreshed voice or a casting pivot that ties a next entry to a first wave. At the simultaneously, the creative leads behind the headline-grabbing originals are doubling down on real-world builds, physical gags and concrete locations. That mix affords the 2026 slate a smart balance of trust and surprise, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount marks the early tempo with two prominent plays that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the heart, marketing it as both a baton pass and a classic-mode character-first story. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance hints at a roots-evoking approach without going over the last two entries’ family thread. Watch for a push anchored in legacy iconography, character previews, and a staggered trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will feature. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will seek large awareness through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick shifts to whatever leads genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three discrete lanes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is tidy, somber, and concept-forward: a grieving man sets up an synthetic partner that evolves into a deadly partner. The date positions it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to recreate eerie street stunts and short-cut promos that interlaces intimacy and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a title reveal to become an marketing beat closer to the initial tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. The filmmaker’s films are set up as signature events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a later creative that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The pre-Halloween slot offers Universal room 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, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has consistently shown that a tactile, on-set effects led treatment can feel high-value on a middle budget. Expect a hard-R summer horror rush that centers foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio deploys two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, carrying a consistent supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is calling a reimagined restart 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 sharper mandate to serve both franchise faithful and fresh viewers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build assets around setting detail, and practical creature work, elements that can lift deluxe auditorium demand and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by textural authenticity and period speech, this time focused on werewolf legend. The imprint has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is robust.

Streaming windows and tactics

Windowing plans in 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s genre entries head to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a pacing that optimizes both first-week urgency and subscription bumps in the back half. Prime Video pairs catalogue additions with cross-border buys and select theatrical runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in deep cuts, using well-timed internal promotions, spooky hubs, and staff picks to prolong the run on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix films and festival deals, scheduling horror entries closer to launch and framing as events premieres with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a one-two of limited theatrical footprints and prompt platform moves that monetizes buzz via trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to invest in select projects with prestige directors or headline-cast packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for monthly engagement when the genre conversation ramps.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is curating a 2026 lane with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is no-nonsense: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, recalibrated for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, useful reference with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a traditional cinema play for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the October weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then working the holiday slot to expand. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-first horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception warrants. Watch 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 partners, using precision theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their audience.

Brands and originals

By number, 2026 bends toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on fan equity. The caveat, as ever, is brand wear. The preferred tactic is to brand each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is elevating character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-flavored turn from a buzzed-about director. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a island-set survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the configuration is anchored enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and early previews.

Comps from the last three years help explain the model. In 2023, a exclusive window model that respected streaming windows did not obstruct a hybrid test from hitting when the brand was compelling. In 2024, director-craft horror outperformed in premium formats. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they rotate perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, builds a path for marketing to relate entries through personae and themes and to leave creative active without doldrums.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 entries forecast a continued tilt toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that underscores grain and menace rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and medieval diction, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft coverage before rolling out a tone piece that withholds plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for red-band excess, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a self-referential reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster aesthetics and world-building, which align with convention floor stunts and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel must-have. Look for trailers that spotlight pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that land in big rooms.

Annual flow

January is packed. 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 quiet contrast amid big-brand pushes. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the mix of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth spreads.

Late Q1 and spring tee up summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

August into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a transitional slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited disclosures that stress concept over spoilers.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and holiday gift-card burn.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s artificial companion evolves into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete 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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: 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 face a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: tone-first game 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 hard-edged boss work to survive on a remote island as the hierarchy shifts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to nightmare, shaped by Cronin’s practical craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting setup that interrogates the unease of a child’s shaky perceptions. Rating: TBA. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that teases of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime obsessions. Rating: not yet rated. Production: filming slated 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 detonates, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a unlucky family entangled with residual nightmares. Rating: to be announced. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A new start designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-core horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: TBA. Production: advancing. 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 historical diction and ancient menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the moment is 2026

Three workable forces define this lineup. First, production that slowed or migrated in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and compressed schedules. 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 outpaced straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage bite-size scare clips from test screenings, metered scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, making room for genre entries that can capture a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will compete across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, 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 cadence and diversity. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, tight deployments, 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 materiality, audio design, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Ready To Roar

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand gravity where needed, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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, edit tight trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the shocks sell the seats.