Ancient Evil Emerges within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling horror feature, streaming Oct 2025 on major platforms

A bone-chilling ghostly terror film from dramatist / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an forgotten dread when newcomers become puppets in a hellish conflict. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish saga of perseverance and archaic horror that will redefine terror storytelling this season. Crafted by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and emotionally thick film follows five figures who wake up ensnared in a unreachable shack under the unfriendly will of Kyra, a female lead haunted by a legendary Old Testament spirit. Be warned to be captivated by a immersive venture that combines soul-chilling terror with spiritual backstory, unleashing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a iconic concept in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is inverted when the demons no longer appear from beyond, but rather within themselves. This illustrates the most primal side of the cast. The result is a psychologically brutal internal warfare where the events becomes a intense contest between righteousness and malevolence.


In a unforgiving natural abyss, five figures find themselves caught under the sinister rule and domination of a enigmatic apparition. As the survivors becomes vulnerable to resist her curse, abandoned and followed by beings unnamable, they are obligated to encounter their darkest emotions while the deathwatch unceasingly edges forward toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust swells and bonds splinter, coercing each protagonist to challenge their essence and the idea of liberty itself. The cost accelerate with every passing moment, delivering a horror experience that harmonizes supernatural terror with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to explore ancestral fear, an entity before modern man, channeling itself through inner turmoil, and questioning a force that erodes the self when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra needed manifesting something unfamiliar to reason. She is blind until the control shifts, and that pivot is harrowing because it is so private.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for worldwide release beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing streamers worldwide can watch this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first preview, which has earned over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, spreading the horror to viewers around the world.


Avoid skipping this life-altering journey into fear. Join *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to see these evil-rooted truths about inner darkness.


For exclusive trailers, set experiences, and announcements from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your favorite networks and visit youngandcursed.com.





Contemporary horror’s sea change: the 2025 cycle stateside slate interlaces old-world possession, underground frights, paired with returning-series thunder

Moving from last-stand terror suffused with legendary theology and stretching into brand-name continuations and acutely observed indies, 2025 is shaping up as the most textured plus tactically planned year in a decade.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio majors plant stakes across the year via recognizable brands, simultaneously premium streamers crowd the fall with fresh voices paired with ancient terrors. On the independent axis, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is riding the afterglow of a banner 2024 fest year. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, however this time, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are disciplined, which means 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: The Return of Prestige Fear

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

Universal’s distribution arm starts the year with a headline swing: a modernized Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a sharp contemporary setting. Guided by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Booked into mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. From director Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

At summer’s close, Warner Bros. releases the last chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re boards, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: throwback unease, trauma driven plotting, and eerie supernatural logic. This pass pushes higher, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The return delves further into myth, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It arrives in December, pinning the winter close.

Streaming Firsts: No Budget, No Problem

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a tight space body horror vignette pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story with Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Conceived and directed 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 the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in 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 a smart play. No puffed out backstory. No legacy baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy IP: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror comes roaring back
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Forecast: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The coming 2026 Horror lineup: installments, non-franchise titles, as well as A stacked Calendar designed for Scares

Dek: The current genre calendar packs early with a January pile-up, from there unfolds through the warm months, and running into the festive period, combining name recognition, untold stories, and data-minded offsets. Distributors with platforms are doubling down on tight budgets, theatrical leads, and social-driven marketing that convert genre releases into national conversation.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

Horror has shown itself to be the sturdy move in annual schedules, a lane that can expand when it resonates and still safeguard the exposure when it does not. After the 2023 year proved to buyers that lean-budget genre plays can galvanize pop culture, the following year continued the surge with high-profile filmmaker pieces and slow-burn breakouts. The carry pushed into the 2025 frame, where reboots and festival-grade titles demonstrated there is a lane for multiple flavors, from ongoing IP entries to fresh IP that resonate abroad. The end result for 2026 is a roster that is strikingly coherent across distributors, with planned clusters, a harmony of established brands and novel angles, and a tightened priority on release windows that fuel later windows on premium digital and SVOD.

Marketers add the space now functions as a flex slot on the release plan. The genre can kick off on open real estate, provide a clear pitch for teasers and shorts, and outpace with ticket buyers that appear on first-look nights and keep coming through the second weekend if the movie delivers. On the heels of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 pattern underscores comfort in that logic. The year opens with a crowded January schedule, then exploits spring through early summer for balance, while making space for a fall corridor that reaches into spooky season and afterwards. The layout also includes the stronger partnership of boutique distributors and streamers that can nurture a platform play, grow buzz, and move wide at the right moment.

A further high-level trend is brand strategy across unified worlds and established properties. Studio teams are not just turning out another installment. They are moving to present lore continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a logo package that suggests a new tone or a casting pivot that connects a next film to a original cycle. At the simultaneously, the helmers behind the most watched originals are championing tactile craft, practical effects and place-driven backdrops. That fusion offers the 2026 slate a confident blend of assurance and freshness, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount marks the early tempo with two centerpiece plays that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a baton pass and a classic-mode character-centered film. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the artistic posture signals a roots-evoking bent without rehashing the last two entries’ sibling arc. Watch for a push centered on signature symbols, character-first teases, and a promo sequence arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise 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 partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will feature. As a counterweight in summer, this one will build large awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format inviting quick switches to whatever tops horror talk that spring.

Universal has three specific strategies. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is elegant, grief-rooted, and logline-clear: a grieving man installs an machine companion that mutates into a murderous partner. The date slots it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the studio’s marketing likely to mirror odd public stunts and short-cut promos that threads devotion and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a final title to become an marketing beat closer to the first trailer. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. The filmmaker’s films are treated as auteur events, with a opaque teaser and a next wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween runway allows Universal to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use 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 helms, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has proven that a raw, on-set effects led style can feel top-tier on a lean spend. Expect a splatter summer horror jolt that leans hard into worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio rolls out two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, holding a proven supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is framing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both fans and novices. The fall slot allows Sony to build materials around canon, and creature builds, elements that can lift premium screens and cosplayer momentum.

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 follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by meticulous craft and linguistic texture, this time exploring werewolf lore. The company has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is glowing.

How the platforms plan to play it

Windowing plans in 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s horror titles window into copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a cadence that maximizes both debut momentum and sign-up spikes in the downstream. Prime Video balances catalogue additions with global pickups and short theatrical plays when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library pulls, using editorial spots, fright rows, and programmed rows to increase tail value on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps options open about first-party entries and festival pickups, locking in horror entries toward the drop and staging as events premieres with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a one-two of selective theatrical runs and fast windowing that converts WOM to subscribers. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a curated basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to purchase select projects with name filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 runway with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is no-nonsense: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, upgraded for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a standard theatrical run for the title, an good sign for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the fall weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, escorting the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then using the Christmas window to scale. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-driven genre with broader reach. 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 likely scenario is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception prompts. Anticipate 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 hand in hand, using limited runs to stir evangelism that fuels their community.

IP versus fresh ideas

By count, the 2026 slate skews toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on name recognition. The potential drawback, as ever, is brand wear. The preferred tactic is to frame each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is elevating core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-inflected take from a emerging director. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the assembly is grounded enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Past-three-year patterns clarify the method. In 2023, a exclusive window model that honored streaming windows did not deter a same-day experiment from thriving when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror hit big in PLF. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reframe POV and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters filmed consecutively, lets marketing to thread films through character spine and themes and to keep assets in-market without long gaps.

How the films are being made

The director conversations behind the year’s horror hint at a continued turn toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that highlights atmosphere and fear rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in feature stories and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a preview that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and gathers 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 monster work and world-building, which work nicely for fan conventions and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel must-have. Look for trailers that foreground precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that shine in top rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is heavy. 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 moody palate cleanser amid macro-brand pushes. The month closes 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 stiff, but the tone spread opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late winter and spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The 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 splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can thrive 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 rolled through premiums.

August and September into October leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a bridge slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited previews that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and holiday card usage.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s machine mate mutates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed 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 organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 unyielding boss battle to survive on a uninhabited island as the pecking order upends and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to dread, rooted in Cronin’s hands-on craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting narrative that channels the fear through a little one’s unsteady perspective. Rating: forthcoming. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that targets of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime obsessions. Rating: not yet rated. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 bursts, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new clan anchored to returning horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: pending. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survivalist horror over action fireworks. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: TBA. Production: in progress. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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 time-true diction and primal menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: 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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026, why now

Three execution-level forces structure this lineup. First, production that stalled or recalendared in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate meme-ready beats from test screenings, metered scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, making room for genre entries that can capture a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly navigate here 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 midrange-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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer 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.

Audience rhythm across the year

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

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, right-sized allotments, 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 tactility, aural 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.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand power where it counts, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.