Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons antediluvian malevolence, a chilling horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on top streamers

One unnerving spiritual shockfest from writer / director Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an primeval evil when unknowns become puppets in a demonic contest. Available October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking portrayal of endurance and mythic evil that will reimagine fear-driven cinema this cool-weather season. Directed by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and cinematic suspense flick follows five unacquainted souls who wake up trapped in a cut-off hideaway under the unfriendly dominion of Kyra, a possessed female overtaken by a timeless religious nightmare. Brace yourself to be gripped by a immersive journey that unites bodily fright with spiritual backstory, unleashing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demonic control has been a long-standing concept in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is challenged when the forces no longer descend from external sources, but rather within themselves. This portrays the most terrifying shade of the group. The result is a psychologically brutal inner struggle where the suspense becomes a intense struggle between innocence and sin.


In a bleak woodland, five teens find themselves confined under the malicious sway and spiritual invasion of a obscure woman. As the characters becomes incapable to withstand her influence, marooned and tracked by evils ungraspable, they are required to face their deepest fears while the seconds brutally edges forward toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety mounts and alliances splinter, prompting each soul to reflect on their self and the concept of independent thought itself. The stakes surge with every fleeting time, delivering a chilling narrative that combines ghostly evil with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to explore instinctual horror, an entity that predates humanity, emerging via psychological breaks, and examining a entity that dismantles free will when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra meant channeling something unfamiliar to reason. She is clueless until the evil takes hold, and that flip is gut-wrenching because it is so personal.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for worldwide release beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—making sure horror lovers everywhere can dive into this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its original promo, which has attracted over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, giving access to the movie to viewers around the world.


Join this unforgettable spiral into evil. Face *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to see these terrifying truths about the soul.


For behind-the-scenes access, production news, and announcements directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across fan hubs and visit the movie’s homepage.





Current horror’s watershed moment: 2025 across markets U.S. calendar integrates myth-forward possession, independent shockers, paired with series shake-ups

From endurance-driven terror grounded in biblical myth to canon extensions set beside sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is shaping up as horror’s most layered combined with carefully orchestrated year in a decade.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. the big studios set cornerstones with franchise anchors, as subscription platforms front-load the fall with emerging auteurs in concert with archetypal fear. On another front, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is drafting behind the uplift from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. With Halloween holding the peak, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, yet in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are surgical, which means 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 scales the plan.

the Universal banner opens the year with a marquee bet: a reconceived Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, but a sharp contemporary setting. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. targeting mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. From director Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer eases, the Warner Bros. banner launches the swan song inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Although the framework is familiar, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re engages, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: period tinged dread, trauma as theme, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The bar is raised this go, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The next entry deepens the tale, stretches the animatronic parade, reaching teens and game grownups. It arrives in December, pinning the winter close.

Platform Plays: No Budget, No Problem

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a two hander body horror spiral fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

On the docket is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is an astute call. No bloated canon. No brand fatigue. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, from Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Trend Lines

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror reemerges
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

The Road Ahead: Fall stack and winter swing card

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

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

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The coming 2026 Horror lineup: returning titles, standalone ideas, and also A Crowded Calendar tailored for frights

Dek The emerging scare year lines up at the outset with a January crush, subsequently rolls through June and July, and far into the holiday frame, fusing brand heft, untold stories, and strategic counter-scheduling. Major distributors and platforms are focusing on mid-range economics, exclusive theatrical windows first, and shareable marketing that shape genre releases into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The field has become the consistent move in studio slates, a lane that can lift when it hits and still hedge the floor when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year reassured executives that mid-range fright engines can drive social chatter, the following year extended the rally with buzzy auteur projects and quiet over-performers. The tailwind rolled into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and filmmaker-prestige bets made clear there is demand for several lanes, from ongoing IP entries to original one-offs that travel well. The sum for 2026 is a programming that is strikingly coherent across the industry, with clear date clusters, a harmony of established brands and fresh ideas, and a re-energized strategy on theatrical windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium digital and streaming.

Marketers add the space now behaves like a fill-in ace on the distribution slate. Horror can premiere on many corridors, supply a grabby hook for marketing and reels, and outperform with audiences that appear on previews Thursday and sustain through the second frame if the offering lands. On the heels of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 cadence underscores belief in that setup. The year launches with a heavy January window, then targets spring into early summer for balance, while leaving room for a fall corridor that flows toward Halloween and into post-Halloween. The gridline also underscores the continuing integration of indie arms and OTT outlets that can nurture a platform play, spark evangelism, and broaden at the inflection point.

An added macro current is brand strategy across brand ecosystems and legacy franchises. Distribution groups are not just rolling another next film. They are working to present lineage with a premium feel, whether that is a brandmark that conveys a fresh attitude or a casting choice that binds a new installment to a classic era. At the concurrently, the creative leads behind the most anticipated originals are favoring tactile craft, practical gags and distinct locales. That mix provides the 2026 slate a robust balance of home base and unexpected turns, which is the formula for international play.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount leads early with two centerpiece pushes that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a succession moment and a classic-mode character-first story. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the authorial approach indicates a throwback-friendly angle without recycling the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Watch for a push centered on brand visuals, first images of characters, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm slated for late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will foreground. As a summer counter-slot, this one will seek mass reach through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format allowing quick shifts to whatever rules horror talk that spring.

Universal has three separate strategies. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is tidy, grief-rooted, and high-concept: a grieving man implements an artificial companion that escalates into a deadly partner. The date nudges it to the front of a crowded corridor, with marketing at Universal likely to echo creepy live activations and short-form creative that mixes love and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a branding reveal to become an earned moment closer to the first trailer. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s work are marketed as auteur events, with a concept-forward tease and a subsequent trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date gives Universal room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has shown that a visceral, practical-effects forward strategy can feel deluxe on a efficient spend. Frame it as a gore-forward summer horror blast that maximizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio lines up two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, maintaining a reliable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is selling as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both longtime followers and newcomers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build assets around narrative world, and monster design, elements that can amplify premium format interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in rigorous craft and period language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The company has already locked the day for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is robust.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform tactics for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s horror titles window into copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a cadence that fortifies both first-week urgency and viewer acquisition in the post-theatrical. Prime Video interleaves third-party pickups with global originals and targeted theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu work their edges in archive usage, using editorial spots, Halloween hubs, and programmed rows to stretch the tail on the horror cume. Netflix keeps optionality about original films and festival pickups, scheduling horror entries tight to release and positioning as event drops drops with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a laddered of selective theatrical runs and prompt platform moves that translates talk to trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a selective basis. The platform has been willing to invest in select projects with established auteurs or marquee packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for retention when the genre conversation intensifies.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 arc with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is no-nonsense: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, elevated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the back half.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, marshalling the project through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday slot to move out. That positioning has worked well for prestige horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception allows. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using small theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Series vs standalone

By tilt, 2026 is weighted toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate fan equity. The challenge, as ever, is viewer burnout. The operating solution is to position each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is underscoring character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-inflected take from a buzzed-about director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and director-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the cast-creatives package is anchored enough to spark pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Recent comps make sense of the playbook. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that kept streaming intact did not hamper a dual release from hitting when the brand was robust. In 2024, director-craft horror popped in PLF. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they pivot perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends 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 shot consecutively, creates space for marketing to connect the chapters through character spine and themes and to keep assets alive without pause points.

Creative tendencies and craft

The production chatter behind 2026 horror suggest a continued preference for hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that elevates creep and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead features and technical spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has performed 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 exports well in red-band trailers and creates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-aware reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature and environment design, which fit with expo activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel key. Look for trailers that elevate his comment is here pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in premium houses.

Release calendar overview

January is loaded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid bigger brand plays. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the spread of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth holds.

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

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Late-season stretch leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a bridge slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a slow-reveal plan and limited pre-release reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and card redemption.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with his comment is here a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s digital partner turns into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: gothic-game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her hard-edged boss scramble to survive on a rugged island as the control balance flips and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

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 renewed take that returns the monster to fright, founded on Cronin’s practical effects and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting chiller that toys with the fear of a child’s fragile senses. Rating: rating pending. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that teases of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fervors. Rating: to be announced. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further reopens, with a fresh family entangled with past horrors. Rating: pending. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on true survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in progress. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and bone-deep menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. 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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 and why now

Three operational forces shape this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or rearranged in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming drops. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage bite-size scare clips from test screenings, curated scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

A fourth factor is programming math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can control a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will stack across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where disciplined-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, audio design, and image-making that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand equity where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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, produce clean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the chills sell the seats.