Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites age-old dread, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 across leading streamers

This unnerving otherworldly suspense film from author / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an primordial fear when strangers become pawns in a diabolical ceremony. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking narrative of endurance and primordial malevolence that will reimagine genre cinema this cool-weather season. Brought to life by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and shadowy fearfest follows five characters who are stirred sealed in a remote shelter under the aggressive power of Kyra, a haunted figure overtaken by a millennia-old holy text monster. Be prepared to be gripped by a cinematic ride that intertwines intense horror with folklore, coming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a well-established motif in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is turned on its head when the beings no longer originate from a different plane, but rather internally. This portrays the haunting element of the victims. The result is a gripping mind game where the plotline becomes a merciless confrontation between heaven and hell.


In a wilderness-stricken outland, five individuals find themselves sealed under the malevolent effect and infestation of a unidentified female figure. As the victims becomes paralyzed to fight her curse, abandoned and followed by entities mind-shattering, they are pushed to deal with their core terrors while the doomsday meter ruthlessly edges forward toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension rises and ties splinter, pushing each character to rethink their personhood and the idea of self-determination itself. The stakes surge with every fleeting time, delivering a paranormal ride that harmonizes mystical fear with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to awaken pure dread, an threat that predates humanity, embedding itself in mental cracks, and testing a presence that threatens selfhood when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra called for internalizing something far beyond human desperation. She is uninformed until the invasion happens, and that conversion is shocking because it is so deep.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for worldwide release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing audiences internationally can get immersed in this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its release of trailer #1, which has seen over massive response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, exporting the fear to scare fans abroad.


Don’t miss this soul-jarring fall into madness. Join *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to face these ghostly lessons about the human condition.


For film updates, making-of footage, and news from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursed across your socials and visit our horror hub.





Today’s horror watershed moment: calendar year 2025 U.S. lineup integrates Mythic Possession, independent shockers, and Franchise Rumbles

Running from endurance-driven terror drawn from near-Eastern lore through to installment follow-ups in concert with surgical indie voices, 2025 is shaping up as the most dimensioned as well as precision-timed year in ten years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. Top studios plant stakes across the year with established lines, while digital services crowd the fall with first-wave breakthroughs in concert with ancestral chills. On the festival side, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is riding the echoes of 2024’s record festival wave. With Halloween holding the peak, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, though in this cycle, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are intentional, thus 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige terror resurfaces

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s distribution arm starts the year with a headline swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in a modern-day environment. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. timed for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Guided by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

At summer’s close, Warner Bros. bows the concluding entry of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson is back, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: 70s style chill, trauma driven plotting, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This time, the stakes are raised, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, grows the animatronic horror lineup, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It lands in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Digital Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a tight space body horror vignette featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also notable is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable featuring Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, 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.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as 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. That is a savvy move. No overstuffed canon. No legacy baggage. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

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 gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Series Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, from Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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.

Emerging Currents

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror swings back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

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

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Projection: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The oncoming spook lineup: returning titles, universe starters, as well as A busy Calendar calibrated for goosebumps

Dek: The new scare year builds at the outset with a January traffic jam, then carries through midyear, and carrying into the winter holidays, blending legacy muscle, original angles, and tactical counter-scheduling. Major distributors and platforms are betting on efficient budgets, big-screen-first runs, and social-driven marketing that elevate these releases into cross-demo moments.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

This space has solidified as the bankable move in release strategies, a category that can scale when it hits and still protect the drawdown when it does not. After 2023 demonstrated to decision-makers that cost-conscious entries can dominate mainstream conversation, 2024 maintained heat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and surprise hits. The trend translated to 2025, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers proved there is a lane for a variety of tones, from returning installments to original one-offs that scale internationally. The result for 2026 is a roster that reads highly synchronized across the field, with obvious clusters, a blend of familiar brands and first-time concepts, and a recommitted priority on box-office windows that feed downstream value on paid VOD and home platforms.

Schedulers say the horror lane now acts as a versatile piece on the rollout map. Horror can premiere on almost any weekend, provide a simple premise for previews and TikTok spots, and lead with patrons that come out on previews Thursday and sustain through the week two if the picture works. Emerging from a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 rhythm exhibits certainty in that logic. The calendar opens with a heavy January band, then taps spring and early summer for balance, while reserving space for a September to October window that flows toward Halloween and into early November. The grid also features the increasing integration of indie distributors and streaming partners that can platform a title, build word of mouth, and grow at the sweet spot.

An added macro current is brand curation across unified worlds and classic IP. The companies are not just making another return. They are looking to package story carry-over with a sense of event, whether that is a title presentation that suggests a re-angled tone or a lead change that links a upcoming film to a foundational era. At the concurrently, the filmmakers behind the high-profile originals are doubling down on in-camera technique, practical effects and grounded locations. That convergence gives the 2026 slate a strong blend of home base and unexpected turns, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount defines the early cadence with two prominent projects that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, presenting it as both a relay and a heritage-centered character-driven entry. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture telegraphs a nostalgia-forward campaign without looping the last two entries’ sisters thread. Count on a promo wave anchored in legacy iconography, character previews, and a rollout cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise click site with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will stress. As a counterweight in summer, this one will hunt mass reach through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format permitting quick redirects to whatever dominates the conversation that spring.

Universal has three unique strategies. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is clean, melancholic, and logline-clear: a grieving man brings home an algorithmic mate that escalates into a perilous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a competition-heavy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to replay eerie street stunts and short-cut promos that interlaces intimacy and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a proper title to become an earned moment closer to the early tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s releases are presented as must-see filmmaker statements, with a hinting teaser and a second trailer wave that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween runway gives the studio room to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has shown that a visceral, practical-first approach can feel cinematic on a efficient spend. Expect a hard-R summer horror hit that embraces international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio rolls out two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, keeping a evergreen supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is marketing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both franchise faithful and new audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign creative around setting detail, and monster craft, elements that can increase deluxe auditorium demand and fan-forward engagement.

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 follows Eggers’ run of period horror built on immersive craft and historical speech, this time set against lycan legends. The imprint has already locked the day for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is robust.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform strategies for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre slate window into copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a ladder that amplifies both week-one demand and sign-up momentum in the late-window. Prime Video continues to mix licensed titles with global acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog engagement, using timely promos, Halloween hubs, and curated rows to keep attention on aggregate take. Netflix stays opportunistic about originals and festival grabs, finalizing horror entries near launch and positioning as event drops go-lives with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a two-step of tailored theatrical exposure and swift platform pivots that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a situational basis. The platform has been willing to pick up select projects with accomplished filmmakers or A-list packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation peaks.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is curating 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 promise is clean: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, refined for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday slot to move out. That positioning has been successful for elevated genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception merits. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using mini theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their audience.

Series vs standalone

By weight, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate household recognition. The concern, as ever, is staleness. The operating solution is to frame each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is emphasizing character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a continental coloration from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the assembly is anchored enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday previews.

Recent comps announce the template. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that kept streaming intact did not stop a hybrid test from winning when the brand was compelling. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror over-performed in PLF. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they pivot perspective and scale the storytelling. 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 lensed back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to bridge entries through character arcs and themes and to leave creative active without lulls.

Behind-the-camera trends

The creative meetings behind this slate telegraph a continued tilt toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is tracking toward 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 tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for textured sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in feature stories and craft features before rolling out a tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at red-band excess, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and generates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta-horror reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature design and production design, which lend themselves to convention activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that spotlight precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that sing on PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is heavy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid headline IP. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the tone spread makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Early-year through spring load in summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now accommodates 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 splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can deliver 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 finished their premium pass.

Late-season stretch leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a late-September window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited plot reveals that elevate concept over story.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s algorithmic partner unfolds into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

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 meet a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 abrasive boss try to survive on a lonely island as the hierarchy flips and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to chill, anchored by Cronin’s practical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting narrative that routes the horror through a youngster’s uncertain subjective lens. Rating: TBD. Production: wrapped. 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 participating creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that teases today’s horror trends and true-crime manias. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 international twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a different family caught in residual nightmares. Rating: TBD. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A new start designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-first horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: forthcoming. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: closely held. Rating: forthcoming. Production: active. 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 era-accurate language and elemental 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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the moment is 2026

Three pragmatic forces structure this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or reshuffled in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous 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 launches. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work social-ready stingers from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

The slot calculus is real. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 cost-efficient 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 quiet breakout 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.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, sound, and cinematography 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

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is name recognition where it counts, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.