Ancient Malevolence Returns within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding shocker, landing October 2025 across top streaming platforms

An bone-chilling supernatural suspense film from scriptwriter / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an age-old terror when guests become tokens in a satanic ritual. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful story of continuance and forgotten curse that will alter the fear genre this harvest season. Helmed by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and shadowy fearfest follows five unknowns who are stirred caught in a wooded house under the oppressive sway of Kyra, a young woman inhabited by a biblical-era religious nightmare. Steel yourself to be enthralled by a theatrical ride that melds intense horror with timeless legends, landing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a time-honored narrative in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is subverted when the dark entities no longer come from elsewhere, but rather through their own souls. This mirrors the darkest shade of the group. The result is a emotionally raw emotional conflict where the drama becomes a unyielding push-pull between heaven and hell.


In a forsaken backcountry, five friends find themselves contained under the ghastly presence and control of a unidentified female presence. As the cast becomes vulnerable to escape her manipulation, stranded and targeted by beings impossible to understand, they are obligated to reckon with their darkest emotions while the countdown ruthlessly strikes toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety grows and relationships erode, driving each cast member to scrutinize their true nature and the integrity of self-determination itself. The consequences rise with every short lapse, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that intertwines demonic fright with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to evoke primitive panic, an spirit that existed before mankind, operating within fragile psyche, and highlighting a being that challenges autonomy when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra required summoning something unfamiliar to reason. She is unseeing until the evil takes hold, and that shift is soul-crushing because it is so close.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for audience access beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—ensuring audiences no matter where they are can survive this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its release of trailer #1, which has racked up over 100,000 views.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, bringing the film to international horror buffs.


Join this cinematic ride through nightmares. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to uncover these chilling revelations about the soul.


For film updates, director cuts, and reveals directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across media channels and visit our horror hub.





Today’s horror watershed moment: 2025 in focus stateside slate Mixes old-world possession, independent shockers, together with returning-series thunder

Across pressure-cooker survival tales grounded in legendary theology through to brand-name continuations together with acutely observed indies, 2025 appears poised to be the richest together with calculated campaign year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. leading studios stabilize the year through proven series, at the same time subscription platforms saturate the fall with first-wave breakthroughs alongside mythic dread. In parallel, the artisan tier is propelled by the tailwinds of 2024’s record festival wave. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, but this year, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are exacting, therefore 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s slate begins the calendar with a risk-forward move: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a sharp contemporary setting. Led by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. landing in mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Helmed by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

By late summer, the Warner lot drops the final chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson returns to the helm, and those signature textures resurface: retrograde shiver, trauma explicitly handled, and eerie supernatural logic. Here the stakes rise, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, grows the animatronic horror lineup, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It opens in December, pinning the winter close.

Streamer Exclusives: No Budget, No Problem

While cinemas swing on series strength, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold case horror anthology stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a room scale body horror descent pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one burrows toward 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.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is a calculated bet. No bloated mythology. No brand fatigue. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy IP: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, Directed by Francis Lawrence, 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.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Dials to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror comes roaring back
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theaters are a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

The Road Ahead: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The coming 2026 Horror lineup: installments, filmmaker-first projects, alongside A stacked Calendar aimed at screams

Dek The brand-new terror season lines up at the outset with a January traffic jam, from there rolls through summer corridors, and far into the winter holidays, mixing franchise firepower, creative pitches, and shrewd counterprogramming. Studios and streamers are relying on right-sized spends, box-office-first windows, and short-form initiatives that position these releases into all-audience topics.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The genre has turned into the steady counterweight in studio lineups, a segment that can break out when it lands and still protect the exposure when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year demonstrated to buyers that responsibly budgeted horror vehicles can dominate the discourse, the following year held pace with filmmaker-forward plays and quiet over-performers. The carry flowed into 2025, where reawakened brands and critical darlings showed there is space for many shades, from ongoing IP entries to original features that play globally. The net effect for 2026 is a roster that presents tight coordination across distributors, with strategic blocks, a balance of legacy names and first-time concepts, and a refocused commitment on exhibition windows that fuel later windows on premium home window and home streaming.

Executives say the category now performs as a schedule utility on the rollout map. The genre can arrive on almost any weekend, yield a sharp concept for marketing and reels, and punch above weight with moviegoers that respond on previews Thursday and sustain through the second frame if the title works. On the heels of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 setup exhibits faith in that playbook. The calendar gets underway with a front-loaded January stretch, then primes spring and early summer for contrast, while making space for a autumn stretch that extends to Halloween and past the holiday. The calendar also includes the increasing integration of specialty distributors and streaming partners that can platform and widen, create conversation, and move wide at the precise moment.

An added macro current is legacy care across brand ecosystems and veteran brands. Distribution groups are not just rolling another entry. They are setting up continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a graphic identity that announces a recalibrated tone or a cast configuration that bridges a next film to a first wave. At the parallel to that, the directors behind the high-profile originals are favoring physical effects work, practical effects and concrete locations. That pairing provides the 2026 slate a check over here lively combination of assurance and discovery, which is how the films export.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount establishes early momentum with two prominent releases that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the front, marketing it as both a relay and a return-to-roots character-first story. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a fan-service aware angle without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. The studio is Young & Cursed likely to mount a drive centered on iconic art, character spotlights, and a promo sequence timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

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 joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will feature. As a summer relief option, this one will build mass reach through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format inviting quick switches to whatever owns pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three unique plays. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is tight, grief-rooted, and high-concept: a grieving man onboards an virtual partner that evolves into a harmful mate. The date sets it at the front of a thick month, with marketing at Universal likely to replay strange in-person beats and short-cut promos that fuses intimacy and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a final title to become an headline beat closer to the initial promo. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele titles are marketed as marquee events, with a teaser that reveals little and a subsequent trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The spooky-season slot offers Universal room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has shown that a flesh-and-blood, hands-on effects execution can feel elevated on a efficient spend. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror shot that spotlights international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio books two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, preserving a dependable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is framing as a fresh restart 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 sharper mandate to serve both players and curious audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build campaign pieces around world-building, and creature builds, elements that can amplify large-format demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on obsessive craft and period language, this time orbiting lycan myth. The imprint has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is supportive.

Platform lanes and windowing

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s slate flow to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a cadence that amplifies both FOMO and viewer acquisition in the back half. Prime Video balances acquired titles with international acquisitions and limited runs in theaters when the data points to it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library curation, using seasonal hubs, seasonal hubs, and editorial rows to increase tail value on the 2026 genre total. Netflix plays opportunist about own-slate titles and festival deals, securing horror entries closer to drop and making event-like go-lives with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a hybrid of tailored theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a discrete basis. The platform has proven amenable to purchase select projects with established auteurs or celebrity-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 track with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is uncomplicated: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, recalibrated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the fall weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, guiding the film through select festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the December frame to expand. That positioning has served the company well for craft-driven horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception supports. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using select theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Balance of brands and originals

By share, 2026 skews toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness brand equity. The question, as ever, is brand wear. The practical approach is to frame each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is underscoring character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-inflected take from a buzzed-about director. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the team and cast is grounded enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Rolling three-year comps announce the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that respected streaming windows did not prevent a simultaneous release test from working when the brand was compelling. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror rose in premium formats. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they alter lens and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters shot consecutively, builds a path for marketing to cross-link entries through cast and motif and to keep assets in-market without doldrums.

How the films are being made

The creative meetings behind this slate telegraph a continued tilt toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that foregrounds grain and menace rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in trade spotlights and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a teaser that withholds plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and spurs shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta inflection that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature design and production design, which match well with expo activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel irresistible. Look for trailers that underscore razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that play in premium auditoriums.

How the year maps out

January is loaded. 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 moody palate cleanser amid big-brand pushes. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the variety of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth persists.

Late winter and spring build the summer base. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The 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 sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Shoulder season into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited advance reveals that elevate concept over story.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card redemption.

Embedded title notes

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s AI companion turns into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss fight to survive on a lonely island as the control dynamic swivels and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to chill, rooted in Cronin’s tactile craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting chiller that twists the panic of a child’s shaky point of view. Rating: rating pending. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-built and name-above-title occult chiller.

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 parody reboot that riffs on today’s horror trends and true-crime obsessions. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 international twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further widens again, with a unlucky family caught in ancient dread. Rating: not yet rated. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on true survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: click to read more awaiting classification. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: pending. Production: in progress. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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 language and raw menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three nuts-and-bolts forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that stalled or rearranged in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic 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 landings. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, select scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will stack across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 underdog 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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, disciplined 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 tactility, audio design, and visual design 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

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand equity where it matters, original vision where it matters, 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-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, guard the secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.