Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primordial evil, a nerve shredding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 on top streamers

A spine-tingling ghostly terror film from narrative craftsman / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an prehistoric fear when guests become victims in a diabolical maze. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking narrative of continuance and ancient evil that will redefine scare flicks this cool-weather season. Crafted by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and gothic cinema piece follows five unknowns who come to trapped in a wilderness-bound shelter under the hostile manipulation of Kyra, a mysterious girl inhabited by a timeless Old Testament spirit. Prepare to be immersed by a narrative event that integrates soul-chilling terror with timeless legends, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a well-established foundation in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is redefined when the fiends no longer appear from external sources, but rather internally. This embodies the most terrifying part of all involved. The result is a relentless moral showdown where the emotions becomes a soul-crushing contest between divinity and wickedness.


In a bleak natural abyss, five figures find themselves confined under the ghastly presence and overtake of a elusive person. As the cast becomes helpless to escape her control, stranded and chased by terrors unfathomable, they are made to battle their greatest panics while the hours harrowingly winds toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread mounts and connections crack, coercing each cast member to reconsider their true nature and the idea of conscious will itself. The hazard accelerate with every passing moment, delivering a frightening tale that connects mystical fear with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to evoke basic terror, an entity rooted in antiquity, embedding itself in fragile psyche, and wrestling with a force that questions who we are when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra demanded embodying something far beyond human desperation. She is clueless until the possession kicks in, and that transformation is bone-chilling because it is so close.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for home viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—making sure households from coast to coast can survive this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its release of trailer #1, which has earned over six-figure audience.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, making the film to horror fans worldwide.


Be sure to catch this heart-stopping descent into darkness. Stream *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to witness these unholy truths about free will.


For previews, director cuts, and news straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across online outlets and visit youngandcursed.com.





Contemporary horror’s pivotal crossroads: calendar year 2025 U.S. lineup weaves myth-forward possession, microbudget gut-punches, in parallel with series shake-ups

Ranging from pressure-cooker survival tales steeped in legendary theology and stretching into brand-name continuations alongside sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is emerging as the genre’s most multifaceted plus strategic year in recent memory.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. the big studios set cornerstones with familiar IP, as SVOD players pack the fall with debut heat and archetypal fear. At the same time, the art-house flank is surfing the backdraft of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween holding the peak, the other windows are mapped with care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, though in this cycle, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are intentional, so 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s slate opens the year with an audacious swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Steered by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. arriving mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Helmed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

When summer fades, the WB camp sets loose the finale from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, 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. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson is back, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: throwback unease, trauma explicitly handled, along with eerie supernatural rules. 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 release that travels on brand alone. The next entry deepens the tale, stretches the animatronic parade, courting teens and the thirty something base. It hits in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Plays: Slim budgets, major punch

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a two hander body horror spiral starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is destined for a fall landing.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend featuring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. 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 canny scheduling. No bloated canon. No canon weight. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy IP: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, steered by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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 lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror comes roaring back
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
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. 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. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Near Term Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The upcoming genre year to come: entries, non-franchise titles, And A loaded Calendar calibrated for Scares

Dek The arriving scare year lines up at the outset with a January glut, thereafter extends through the summer months, and pushing into the festive period, fusing marquee clout, inventive spins, and savvy calendar placement. Studios and streamers are betting on right-sized spends, cinema-first plans, and social-fueled campaigns that convert the slate’s entries into all-audience topics.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

This category has grown into the consistent counterweight in distribution calendars, a vertical that can break out when it resonates and still buffer the exposure when it does not. After 2023 proved to leaders that cost-conscious horror vehicles can shape social chatter, the following year extended the rally with festival-darling auteurs and word-of-mouth wins. The carry translated to 2025, where reboots and critical darlings signaled there is demand for different modes, from ongoing IP entries to standalone ideas that export nicely. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a calendar that looks unusually coordinated across the industry, with purposeful groupings, a mix of marquee IP and new pitches, and a reinvigorated attention on exhibition windows that feed downstream value on premium digital rental and home streaming.

Studio leaders note the genre now works like a fill-in ace on the schedule. Horror can arrive on most weekends, generate a easy sell for spots and social clips, and punch above weight with demo groups that show up on advance nights and continue through the second weekend if the picture hits. Exiting a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 configuration underscores confidence in that setup. The calendar gets underway with a busy January stretch, then uses spring and early summer for counterweight, while saving space for a September to October window that carries into All Hallows period and into November. The program also spotlights the deeper integration of arthouse labels and streaming partners that can stage a platform run, grow buzz, and broaden at the right moment.

A notable top-line trend is IP stewardship across brand ecosystems and heritage properties. Studio teams are not just producing another next film. They are setting up threaded continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a title presentation that indicates a refreshed voice or a casting pivot that ties a upcoming film to a early run. At the very same time, the visionaries behind the most buzzed-about originals are leaning into practical craft, on-set effects and location-forward worlds. That fusion provides 2026 a smart balance of trust and newness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount fires first with two high-profile projects that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the focus, steering it as both a passing of the torch and a back-to-basics relationship-driven entry. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture signals a fan-service aware treatment without looping the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push leaning on signature symbols, first-look character reveals, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm timed to late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will play up. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will pursue four-quadrant chatter through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick turns to whatever drives pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three distinct bets. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is elegant, soulful, and commercial: a grieving man activates an artificial companion that grows into a killer companion. The date puts it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to iterate on uncanny live moments and micro spots that interlaces love and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a public title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first look. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. His entries are framed as signature events, with a hinting teaser and a later creative that shape mood without giving away the concept. The spooky-season slot allows Universal to dominate 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, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has long shown that a raw, practical-first treatment can feel big on a efficient spend. Frame it as a red-band summer horror hit that centers overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio launches two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, continuing a evergreen supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is presenting as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive Check This Out to serve both fans and curious audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build materials around environmental design, and creature work, elements that can drive premium booking interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by immersive craft and period speech, this time engaging werewolf 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 glowing.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform tactics for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s slate land on copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a cadence that fortifies both FOMO and sub growth in the tail. Prime Video pairs licensed content with worldwide entries and select theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library engagement, using seasonal hubs, spooky hubs, and handpicked rows to lengthen the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays nimble about internal projects and festival acquisitions, securing horror entries tight to release and staging as events debuts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a paired of tailored theatrical exposure and swift platform pivots that translates talk to trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has proven amenable to invest in select projects with acclaimed directors or A-list packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation swells.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 corridor with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is direct: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, recalibrated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a theatrical rollout for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn stretch.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the Christmas corridor to widen. That positioning has paid off for craft-driven horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception warrants. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using targeted theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their membership.

Series vs standalone

By skew, 2026 is weighted toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on legacy awareness. The risk, as ever, is brand erosion. The practical approach is to market each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is underscoring character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-flavored turn from a hot helmer. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and visionary-led titles keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the configuration is known enough to generate pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Recent comps illuminate the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that honored streaming windows did not obstruct a parallel release from winning when the brand was robust. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror over-performed in premium large format. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they reorient and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to bridge entries through relationships and themes and to keep assets in-market without extended gaps.

How the films are being made

The craft rooms behind 2026 horror signal a continued emphasis on real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that emphasizes mood and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft coverage before rolling out a teaser that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and drives shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta pivot that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will live or die on creature and environment design, which lend themselves to convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that center razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that sing on PLF.

Release calendar overview

January is crowded. 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 somber counterpoint amid larger brand plays. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the variety of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth endures.

Pre-summer months seed summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows 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 lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Back half into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a minimalist tease strategy and limited asset reveals that elevate concept over story.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can play the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and holiday card usage.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s genes. 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 widowed man’s synthetic partner turns into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: aura-driven 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 prickly boss scramble to survive on a rugged island as the pecking order swivels and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to terror, built on Cronin’s practical craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. 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 family-home haunting premise that pipes the unease through a youth’s wavering point of view. Rating: TBD. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A spoof revival that teases modern genre fads and true crime fixations. Rating: undetermined. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 flares, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a different family linked to ancient dread. Rating: undetermined. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward pure survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: pending. Production: underway. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and ancient menace. Rating: forthcoming. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three hands-on forces define this lineup. First, production that decelerated or recalendared in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined 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 releases. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify meme-ready beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

A fourth factor is programming math. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, making room for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will coexist across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, 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 stealth-hit search 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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two 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 austere, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, right-sized allotments, 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 grain, soundcraft, and image-making 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 Looks Exciting

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand equity where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.