Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primordial evil, a nerve shredding chiller, streaming October 2025 across major platforms

One eerie ghostly thriller from storyteller / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an primordial fear when unrelated individuals become puppets in a satanic contest. Dropping October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping episode of continuance and old world terror that will reshape the fear genre this harvest season. Created by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and eerie screenplay follows five unknowns who suddenly rise locked in a isolated house under the aggressive will of Kyra, a tormented girl dominated by a legendary ancient fiend. Steel yourself to be immersed by a big screen presentation that combines instinctive fear with folklore, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a historical theme in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is inverted when the forces no longer arise from beyond, but rather inside their minds. This portrays the shadowy part of all involved. The result is a relentless cognitive warzone where the intensity becomes a brutal tug-of-war between light and darkness.


In a barren landscape, five characters find themselves caught under the malicious rule and possession of a enigmatic entity. As the team becomes unresisting to evade her will, cut off and chased by beings unfathomable, they are driven to wrestle with their darkest emotions while the moments brutally winds toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety amplifies and friendships disintegrate, compelling each cast member to scrutinize their true nature and the nature of decision-making itself. The cost intensify with every fleeting time, delivering a fear-soaked story that intertwines supernatural terror with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to extract ancestral fear, an spirit rooted in antiquity, emerging via inner turmoil, and confronting a entity that dismantles free will when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra involved tapping into something beneath mortal despair. She is blind until the demon emerges, and that evolution is emotionally raw because it is so emotional.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for on-demand beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—giving audiences no matter where they are can face this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its original promo, which has earned over massive response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, delivering the story to lovers of terror across nations.


Join this life-altering spiral into evil. Join *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to uncover these ghostly lessons about the human condition.


For cast commentary, filmmaker commentary, and reveals from the story's source, follow @YACMovie across fan hubs and visit youngandcursed.com.





Today’s horror tipping point: the 2025 cycle U.S. release slate interlaces legend-infused possession, microbudget gut-punches, alongside legacy-brand quakes

From endurance-driven terror grounded in near-Eastern lore and stretching into installment follow-ups alongside surgical indie voices, 2025 looks like the most dimensioned together with carefully orchestrated year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. top-tier distributors plant stakes across the year with franchise anchors, as OTT services stack the fall with unboxed visions as well as primordial unease. In the indie lane, indie storytellers is carried on the backdraft of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween holding the peak, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, notably this year, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are methodical, therefore 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal starts the year with a confident swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a crisp modern milieu. Directed by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. timed for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Guided by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer winds down, the Warner lot unveils the final movement within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Despite a known recipe, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson resumes command, and the memorable motifs return: vintage toned fear, trauma centered writing, along with eerie supernatural rules. This time, the stakes are raised, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The continuation widens the legend, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, courting teens and the thirty something base. It posts in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a two hander body horror spiral led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale led by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a clever angle. No puffed out backstory. No canon weight. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

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

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Brands: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, under Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Dials to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

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
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival glow translates to 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.

Big screen is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forecast: Autumn density and winter pivot

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. 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 aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The next fear release year: continuations, fresh concepts, plus A Crowded Calendar aimed at nightmares

Dek: The current genre year builds at the outset with a January traffic jam, and then flows through the warm months, and well into the late-year period, balancing brand equity, creative pitches, and shrewd calendar placement. The major players are leaning into smart costs, theatrical exclusivity first, and short-form initiatives that turn genre releases into culture-wide discussion.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The horror marketplace has become the steady tool in studio calendars, a corner that can lift when it performs and still mitigate the drag when it stumbles. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for top brass that lean-budget chillers can drive pop culture, 2024 sustained momentum with signature-voice projects and word-of-mouth wins. The momentum pushed into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and premium-leaning entries made clear there is a market for varied styles, from franchise continuations to director-led originals that export nicely. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a lineup that seems notably aligned across studios, with clear date clusters, a equilibrium of legacy names and new packages, and a tightened strategy on big-screen windows that fuel later windows on premium digital rental and subscription services.

Schedulers say the horror lane now operates like a plug-and-play option on the calendar. The genre can arrive on most weekends, deliver a clean hook for promo reels and platform-native cuts, and exceed norms with moviegoers that respond on previews Thursday and sustain through the second weekend if the entry lands. On the heels of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 layout demonstrates assurance in that equation. The year commences with a heavy January window, then plants flags in spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while making space for a late-year stretch that runs into spooky season and into November. The calendar also includes the increasing integration of specialized imprints and platforms that can stage a platform run, create conversation, and go nationwide at the inflection point.

An added macro current is brand strategy across shared universes and legacy franchises. Studio teams are not just mounting another next film. They are looking to package story carry-over with a must-see charge, whether that is a logo package that flags a reframed mood or a ensemble decision that ties a incoming chapter to a first wave. At the very same time, the writer-directors behind the headline-grabbing originals are leaning into real-world builds, physical gags and specific settings. That mix produces 2026 a solid mix of trust and discovery, which is why the genre exports well.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount establishes early momentum with two prominent releases that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the lead, marketing it as both a handoff and a foundation-forward character-first story. Production is active in Atlanta, and the tonal posture indicates a fan-service aware strategy without repeating the last two entries’ family thread. Expect a marketing push centered on heritage visuals, character spotlights, and a tiered teaser plan slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 back together, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will feature. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will pursue general-audience talk through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick pivots to whatever owns genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three differentiated releases. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is simple, heartbroken, and commercial: a grieving man activates an virtual partner that escalates into a harmful mate. The date sets it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s campaign likely to renew creepy live activations and short-form creative that interweaves attachment and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a final title to become an event moment closer to the teaser. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele projects are presented as must-see filmmaker statements, with a teaser that holds back and a later creative that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor gives Universal room to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work 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 directs, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has demonstrated that a tactile, practical-effects forward approach can feel premium on a mid-range budget. Look for a blood-soaked summer horror blast that leans into offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio rolls out two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, sustaining a dependable supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is marketing as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both franchise faithful and new audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build marketing units around mythos, and monster aesthetics, elements that can boost premium booking interest 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 follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on rigorous craft and archaic language, this time engaging werewolf myth. The company has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is positive.

Platform lanes and windowing

Windowing plans in 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal titles head to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a ladder that expands both debut momentum and subscriber lifts in the later phase. Prime Video blends third-party pickups with worldwide entries and brief theater runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in catalog engagement, using editorial spots, horror hubs, and collection rows to extend momentum on aggregate take. Netflix stays nimble about internal projects and festival deals, securing horror entries near launch and making event-like arrivals with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a staged of focused cinema runs and short jumps to platform that monetizes buzz via trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a per-project basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to invest in select projects with prestige directors or A-list packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for platform stickiness when the genre conversation ramps.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 sequence with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is clean: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, reimagined for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a standard theatrical run for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, guiding the film through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the Christmas corridor to scale. That positioning has served the company well for director-led genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception encourages. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using targeted theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their user base.

Brands and originals

By skew, the 2026 slate leans toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on brand equity. The challenge, as ever, is fatigue. The preferred tactic is to sell each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is foregrounding character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-flavored turn from a rising filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the bundle is anchored enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday previews.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the approach. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that kept clean windows did not deter a day-date try from paying off when the brand was potent. In 2024, auteur craft horror surged in premium formats. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they angle differently and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, permits marketing to tie installments through relationships and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without long breaks.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the year’s horror point to a continued lean toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that centers unease and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse weblink partnership enabling tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft features before rolling out a initial teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and spurs shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta inflection that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature work and production design, which match well with expo activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel compelling. Look for trailers that spotlight precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that play in premium auditoriums.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is stacked. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the spread of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

February through May build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late-season stretch leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a pre-October slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited advance reveals that favor idea over plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s DNA. 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 sorrowing man’s machine mate evolves into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively 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 comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: gothic-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 tough boss fight to survive on a isolated island as the control dynamic reverses and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to nightmare, driven by Cronin’s physical craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting chiller that plays with the chill of a child’s wobbly perceptions. Rating: TBD. Production: fully shot. 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 involved creatively again. Logline: {A parody return that pokes at in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fixations. Rating: to be announced. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites breaks out, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a unlucky family entangled with long-buried horrors. Rating: pending. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A new start designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival-core horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: undetermined. 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 period-precise speech and bone-deep menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three pragmatic forces frame this lineup. First, production that stalled or shifted in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work clippable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Another factor is the scheduling math. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, freeing space for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will compete across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, 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 sleeper chase 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 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, audio design, and camera work 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, Lined Up To Scare

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand power where it counts, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing 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 late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, keep the secrets, and let the shocks sell the seats.