Age-old Evil Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling feature, debuting Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

This terrifying ghostly fear-driven tale from writer / director Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an age-old evil when outsiders become conduits in a hellish ritual. Streaming on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing episode of resistance and timeless dread that will transform fear-driven cinema this October. Helmed by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and gothic thriller follows five individuals who suddenly rise stuck in a wilderness-bound house under the ominous will of Kyra, a female presence occupied by a 2,000-year-old scriptural evil. Ready yourself to be captivated by a cinematic presentation that harmonizes gut-punch terror with folklore, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a historical narrative in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is flipped when the demons no longer manifest from elsewhere, but rather from deep inside. This suggests the most sinister aspect of the cast. The result is a gripping inner struggle where the plotline becomes a constant conflict between divinity and wickedness.


In a remote terrain, five characters find themselves isolated under the ghastly force and inhabitation of a unidentified apparition. As the protagonists becomes incapacitated to resist her will, disconnected and followed by presences impossible to understand, they are driven to face their core terrors while the moments unceasingly moves toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease amplifies and bonds erode, compelling each character to examine their personhood and the idea of conscious will itself. The threat amplify with every instant, delivering a cinematic nightmare that merges occult fear with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to dig into elemental fright, an curse from ancient eras, manipulating our fears, and exposing a curse that strips down our being when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra required summoning something beyond human emotion. She is innocent until the control shifts, and that transition is shocking because it is so intimate.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—allowing horror lovers no matter where they are can experience this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first preview, which has seen over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, giving access to the movie to thrill-seekers globally.


Be sure to catch this soul-jarring descent into darkness. Face *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to survive these haunting secrets about the human condition.


For exclusive trailers, filmmaker commentary, and alerts from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across online outlets and visit our horror hub.





American horror’s watershed moment: the 2025 season U.S. Slate fuses primeval-possession lore, underground frights, together with IP aftershocks

From grit-forward survival fare inspired by legendary theology through to IP renewals set beside cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is tracking to be horror’s most layered in tandem with precision-timed year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. Top studios lay down anchors with franchise anchors, concurrently digital services front-load the fall with first-wave breakthroughs paired with ancestral chills. On the festival side, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is carried on the backdraft from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, notably this year, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are targeted, accordingly 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 prepared the terrain, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s slate kicks off the frame with a big gambit: a reconceived Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Led by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. set for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. From director Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s slate drops the final chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. While the template is known, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: old school creep, trauma foregrounded, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. 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 continuation widens the legend, stretches the animatronic parade, speaking to teens and older millennials. It books December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Originals: No Budget, No Problem

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a body horror duet fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative starring Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: 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 Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Authored and directed 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. 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.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No overstuffed canon. No IP hangover. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Series Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, with Francis Lawrence directing, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Dials to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

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

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theaters are a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

The Road Ahead: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The new terror season: entries, original films, together with A packed Calendar tailored for frights

Dek: The current horror year lines up from the jump with a January cluster, and then stretches through summer corridors, and straight through the holiday stretch, fusing series momentum, untold stories, and shrewd counterprogramming. Studio marketers and platforms are betting on smart costs, box-office-first windows, and influencer-ready assets that elevate these releases into culture-wide discussion.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror marketplace has turned into the bankable swing in release strategies, a category that can break out when it clicks and still safeguard the losses when it misses. After 2023 reassured leaders that cost-conscious genre plays can galvanize cultural conversation, 2024 sustained momentum with auteur-driven buzzy films and sleeper breakouts. The upswing flowed into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and filmmaker-prestige bets underscored there is a market for several lanes, from franchise continuations to non-IP projects that travel well. The takeaway for 2026 is a grid that feels more orchestrated than usual across the industry, with planned clusters, a balance of legacy names and new packages, and a renewed attention on cinema windows that increase tail monetization on premium on-demand and home streaming.

Planners observe the category now acts as a flex slot on the programming map. Horror can premiere on numerous frames, create a tight logline for teasers and short-form placements, and over-index with ticket buyers that turn out on opening previews and return through the follow-up frame if the picture lands. Following a production delay era, the 2026 plan indicates assurance in that logic. The year launches with a heavy January lineup, then taps spring and early summer for counterweight, while making space for a autumn stretch that runs into the Halloween corridor and past Halloween. The gridline also features the ongoing integration of indie distributors and platforms that can nurture a platform play, spark evangelism, and roll out at the precise moment.

A notable top-line trend is brand strategy across connected story worlds and legacy franchises. The companies are not just producing another entry. They are shaping as continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a logo package that announces a reframed mood or a talent selection that connects a next entry to a vintage era. At the concurrently, the helmers behind the most buzzed-about originals are prioritizing on-set craft, makeup and prosthetics and distinct locales. That blend produces 2026 a smart balance of brand comfort and freshness, which is what works overseas.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount marks the early tempo with two centerpiece titles that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the spine, presenting it as both a succession moment and a rootsy character-driven entry. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative posture conveys a classic-referencing treatment without covering again the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Watch for a push anchored in legacy iconography, character previews, and a tiered teaser plan hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will play up. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will drive wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format inviting quick shifts to whatever defines the conversation that spring.

Universal has three clear projects. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is tidy, somber, and premise-first: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that becomes a deadly partner. The date slots it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to bring back viral uncanny stunts and brief clips that fuses affection and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a title reveal to become an event moment closer to the debut look. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele projects are positioned as director events, with a hinting teaser and a second beat that define feel without revealing the concept. The prime October weekend creates space for Universal to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has made clear that a gnarly, practical-effects forward strategy can feel big on a mid-range budget. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror rush that embraces global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio launches two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, extending a proven supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is positioning as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both devotees and first-timers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build assets around setting detail, and monster craft, elements that can fuel deluxe auditorium demand and convention buzz.

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 extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by historical precision and dialect, this time orbiting lycan myth. Focus has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is supportive.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform tactics for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal titles flow to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a sequence that optimizes both debut momentum and viewer acquisition in the after-window. Prime Video interleaves licensed films with international acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in deep cuts, using well-timed internal promotions, spooky hubs, and editorial rows to lengthen the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix retains agility about Netflix originals and festival snaps, slotting horror entries closer to launch and positioning as event drops drops with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a two-step of targeted theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown a willingness to take on select projects with accomplished filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for platform stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is curating a 2026 lane with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is no-nonsense: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, updated for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a big-screen first plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late-season weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, piloting the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then relying on the Christmas window to scale. That positioning has helped for filmmaker-first horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if weblink reception encourages. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using targeted theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subs.

IP versus fresh ideas

By share, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness cultural cachet. The risk, as ever, is staleness. The practical approach is to package each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is bringing forward character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is promising a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a continental coloration from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the configuration is familiar enough to drive advance ticketing and preview-night turnout.

Rolling three-year comps make sense of the plan. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that honored streaming windows did not prevent a parallel release from winning when the brand was strong. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror popped in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga demonstrated 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 proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to connect the chapters through character arcs and themes and to leave creative active without lulls.

How the look and feel evolve

The director conversations behind the 2026 entries point to a continued shift toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that leans on aura and dread rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and era-true language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in trade spotlights and artisan spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that plays abroad in navigate here red-band trailers and sparks shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta-horror reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature work and production design, which work nicely for convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that underscore pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that shine in top rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is loaded. 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 brooding contrast amid headline IP. The month caps 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 thick, but the spread of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Late winter and spring seed summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

August into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a early fall window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited information drops that trade in concept over detail.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then using 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 using holiday momentum and holiday gift-card burn.

Project-by-project snapshots

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 face a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s founding notes. 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 machine mate evolves into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: fog-and-fear adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss claw to survive on a remote island as the power dynamic inverts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to fear, shaped by Cronin’s on-set craft and rising 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 chiller that plays with the horror of a child’s uncertain read. Rating: pending. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-scale and headline-actor led supernatural 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 genre lampoon that riffs on in-vogue horror tropes and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBA. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites surges, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further extends again, with a young family bound to older hauntings. Rating: not yet rated. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival-first horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: pending. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 time-true diction and elemental fear. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three grounded forces shape this lineup. First, production that decelerated or migrated in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and shorter timelines. 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 out-earned straight-to-streaming drops. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on turnkey scare beats from test screenings, metered scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, making room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will share space across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where disciplined-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first surprise 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, 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 momentum and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to 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 warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sound field, and picture 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 Shapes Up Strong

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is franchise muscle where it helps, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the frights sell the seats.