Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives age-old dread, a fear soaked thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on major streaming services

A blood-curdling unearthly suspense story from screenwriter / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an archaic curse when drifters become vehicles in a satanic experiment. Launching this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving narrative of endurance and age-old darkness that will remodel the horror genre this spooky time. Created by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and claustrophobic suspense flick follows five lost souls who snap to caught in a secluded shack under the aggressive dominion of Kyra, a haunted figure controlled by a biblical-era scriptural evil. Anticipate to be immersed by a theatrical spectacle that combines bodily fright with ancestral stories, dropping on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a recurring tradition in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is challenged when the forces no longer come outside their bodies, but rather from deep inside. This mirrors the most sinister corner of these individuals. The result is a relentless inner struggle where the suspense becomes a relentless contest between moral forces.


In a wilderness-stricken landscape, five adults find themselves sealed under the ghastly grip and control of a secretive entity. As the victims becomes vulnerable to combat her manipulation, abandoned and preyed upon by forces impossible to understand, they are forced to battle their inner horrors while the timeline ruthlessly draws closer toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease amplifies and friendships implode, forcing each figure to challenge their character and the integrity of personal agency itself. The intensity escalate with every second, delivering a fear-soaked story that integrates supernatural terror with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to draw upon primitive panic, an evil that predates humanity, working through emotional vulnerability, and dealing with a will that forces self-examination when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra asked for exploring something rooted in terror. She is in denial until the curse activates, and that conversion is bone-chilling because it is so internal.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for public screening beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—ensuring audiences everywhere can enjoy this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its initial teaser, which has received over 100K plays.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, giving access to the movie to a worldwide audience.


Be sure to catch this unforgettable voyage through terror. Face *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to confront these evil-rooted truths about the psyche.


For director insights, production news, and press updates directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursed across online outlets and visit the movie’s homepage.





Horror’s Turning Point: the 2025 season U.S. calendar melds legend-infused possession, festival-born jolts, alongside brand-name tremors

Ranging from pressure-cooker survival tales inspired by ancient scripture through to IP renewals paired with pointed art-house angles, 2025 appears poised to be horror’s most layered paired with intentionally scheduled year in the past ten years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. top-tier distributors bookend the months with established lines, at the same time premium streamers flood the fall with discovery plays paired with archetypal fear. In the indie lane, the art-house flank is riding the afterglow of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, yet in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are targeted, and 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: High-craft horror returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s schedule leads off the quarter with a bold swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a modern-day environment. Directed by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. timed for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. drops the final chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson resumes command, and the tone that worked before is intact: retro dread, trauma foregrounded, along with eerie supernatural rules. This time, the stakes are raised, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The follow up digs further into canon, thickens the animatronic pantheon, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It opens in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

As theatrical skews franchise first, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a close quarters body horror study including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga led by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No overinflated mythology. No legacy baggage. 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.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy Brands: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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

Emerging Currents

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror swings back
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Big screen is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Forecast: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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 like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The oncoming genre lineup: Sequels, original films, as well as A packed Calendar designed for jolts

Dek The incoming horror calendar packs early with a January glut, following that flows through peak season, and continuing into the festive period, mixing series momentum, untold stories, and strategic alternatives. Studios and streamers are relying on cost discipline, theatrical exclusivity first, and shareable marketing that transform horror entries into water-cooler talk.

Horror’s status entering 2026

Horror has shown itself to be the predictable option in programming grids, a corner that can grow when it breaks through and still mitigate the floor when it falls short. After 2023 proved to decision-makers that cost-conscious pictures can lead pop culture, 2024 carried the beat with signature-voice projects and stealth successes. The carry fed into 2025, where re-entries and critical darlings underscored there is appetite for varied styles, from continued chapters to standalone ideas that resonate abroad. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a slate that presents tight coordination across companies, with purposeful groupings, a pairing of marquee IP and fresh ideas, and a tightened stance on release windows that feed downstream value on PVOD and streaming.

Executives say the category now acts as a swing piece on the schedule. Horror can kick off on a wide range of weekends, offer a quick sell for marketing and social clips, and over-index with patrons that arrive on Thursday previews and sustain through the sophomore frame if the release delivers. Exiting a production delay era, the 2026 rhythm signals faith in that equation. The slate begins with a front-loaded January window, then plants flags in spring and early summer for audience offsets, while saving space for a October build that flows toward the Halloween corridor and afterwards. The grid also includes the increasing integration of indie distributors and SVOD players that can stage a platform run, generate chatter, and broaden at the strategic time.

Another broad trend is IP cultivation across brand ecosystems and heritage properties. Major shops are not just producing another next film. They are looking to package ongoing narrative with a premium feel, whether that is a graphic identity that broadcasts a fresh attitude or a talent selection that links a next film to a heyday. At the same time, the filmmakers behind the most buzzed-about originals are leaning into on-set craft, practical gags and grounded locations. That pairing produces 2026 a smart balance of recognition and surprise, which is how the films export.

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

Paramount marks the early tempo with two headline entries that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the core, positioning the film as both a handoff and a rootsy character-focused installment. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture conveys a nostalgia-forward angle without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Expect a marketing push leaning on brand visuals, first images of characters, and a promo sequence targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will lean on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will seek general-audience talk through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format allowing quick updates to whatever dominates genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three differentiated entries. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is tight, melancholic, and premise-first: a grieving man implements an intelligent companion that evolves into a lethal partner. The date sets it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s promo team likely to echo uncanny-valley stunts and short reels that horror hybridizes affection and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a branding reveal to become an fan moment closer to the teaser. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His projects are presented as signature events, with a minimalist tease and a follow-up trailer set that shape mood without giving away the concept. The late-October frame creates space for Universal to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has shown that a visceral, physical-effects centered style can feel big on a disciplined budget. Look for a hard-R summer horror blast that pushes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio lines up two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, holding a steady supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is billing as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both devotees and first-timers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign pieces around canon, and monster design, elements that can boost large-format demand and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in obsessive craft and period language, this time set against lycan legends. The distributor has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is supportive.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform tactics for 2026 run on well-known grooves. The Universal horror run transition to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a sequence that amplifies both initial urgency and sub growth in the later phase. Prime Video stitches together acquired titles with worldwide entries and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in back-catalog play, using well-timed internal promotions, holiday hubs, and staff picks to stretch the tail on the horror cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix originals and festival buys, finalizing horror entries toward the drop and framing as events drops with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a two-step of limited theatrical footprints and accelerated platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has shown a willingness to invest in select projects with accomplished filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 lane with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is straightforward: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, modernized for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late-season weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, managing the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then using the holiday dates to increase reach. That positioning has delivered for auteur horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception supports. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using select theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subs.

Balance of brands and originals

By skew, the 2026 slate favors the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on name recognition. The concern, as ever, is brand wear. The practical approach is to position each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is spotlighting core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a European tilt from a rising filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and director-driven titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the deal build is anchored enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years clarify the approach. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that respected streaming windows did not prevent a day-and-date experiment from hitting when the brand was big. In 2024, auteur craft horror over-performed in premium large format. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they rotate perspective and expand the canvas. 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 linked-chapter plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, allows marketing to cross-link entries through protagonists and motifs and to keep assets in-market without lulls.

Behind-the-camera trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind 2026 horror indicate a continued move toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that emphasizes atmosphere and fear rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in deep-dive features and department features before rolling out a preview that withholds plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for red-band excess, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta inflection that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature craft and set design, which match well with convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel irresistible. Look for trailers that underscore fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that work in PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is loaded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid big-brand pushes. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the tone spread carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Pre-summer months load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Back half into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil follows September 18, a bridge slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a slow-reveal plan and limited advance reveals that trade in concept over detail.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card use.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s digital partner evolves into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens 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 travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: fog-and-fear adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her severe boss claw to survive on a cut-off island as the power balance inverts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 under wraps in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to nightmare, driven by Cronin’s physical craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting piece that toys with the panic of a child’s wobbly POV. Rating: TBD. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-scale and headline-actor led supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that skewers present-day genre chatter and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBD. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new family anchored to returning horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A clean reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-first horror over action spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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 raw menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: Young & Cursed prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 and why now

Three hands-on forces structure this lineup. First, production that downshifted or re-slotted in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and shorter timelines. 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on bite-size scare clips from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, freeing space for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will stack across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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-hit hunt continues in Q1, where value-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 exploit those windows. 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. Anticipate a robust 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 viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, 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 sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, tight deployments, 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 grain, sound, 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.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is franchise muscle where it helps, original vision where it matters, 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, protect the mystery, and let the fear sell the seats.