Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primordial evil, a nerve shredding chiller, streaming Oct 2025 across top streaming platforms

A spine-tingling occult nightmare movie from literary architect / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an mythic terror when unrelated individuals become victims in a demonic experiment. Going live October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a intense story of overcoming and primordial malevolence that will reconstruct terror storytelling this ghoul season. Directed by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and shadowy screenplay follows five individuals who arise caught in a hidden structure under the sinister rule of Kyra, a young woman dominated by a millennia-old sacrosanct terror. Anticipate to be captivated by a visual ride that combines bodily fright with ancient myths, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a long-standing trope in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is challenged when the dark entities no longer descend externally, but rather from deep inside. This mirrors the most hidden facet of the cast. The result is a psychologically brutal identity crisis where the narrative becomes a unyielding face-off between right and wrong.


In a remote wilderness, five young people find themselves isolated under the unholy control and spiritual invasion of a secretive character. As the characters becomes unresisting to fight her curse, abandoned and preyed upon by forces mind-shattering, they are forced to reckon with their raw vulnerabilities while the countdown harrowingly counts down toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension mounts and relationships splinter, coercing each participant to challenge their core and the idea of autonomy itself. The threat intensify with every tick, delivering a nightmarish journey that intertwines otherworldly panic with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to explore ancestral fear, an curse that existed before mankind, feeding on fragile psyche, and highlighting a being that challenges autonomy when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra was about accessing something far beyond human desperation. She is oblivious until the invasion happens, and that turn is bone-chilling because it is so personal.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for worldwide release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—allowing customers globally can witness this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its first preview, which has seen over 100,000 views.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, taking the terror to global fright lovers.


Make sure to see this heart-stopping path of possession. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to confront these fearful discoveries about the human condition.


For behind-the-scenes access, making-of footage, and news straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across fan hubs and visit the official movie site.





Today’s horror Turning Point: 2025 U.S. Slate Mixes primeval-possession lore, indie terrors, together with series shake-ups

Spanning survivor-centric dread suffused with biblical myth and onward to canon extensions alongside sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 looks like the richest as well as precision-timed year in the past ten years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. the big studios set cornerstones with known properties, even as premium streamers prime the fall with new perspectives alongside legend-coded dread. On the independent axis, the independent cohort is buoyed by the momentum from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A fat September–October lane is customary now, but this year, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are surgical, so 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige fear returns

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 set the base, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s distribution arm begins the calendar with an audacious swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a crisp modern milieu. Directed by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. arriving mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Guided by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

When summer tapers, the Warner lot launches the swan song from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson is back, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: throwback unease, trauma explicitly handled, along with eerie supernatural rules. The stakes escalate here, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The continuation widens the legend, broadens the animatronic terror cast, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It posts in December, pinning the winter close.

Digital Originals: Economy, maximum dread

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a body horror chamber piece led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is a near certain autumn drop.

In the mix sits Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. From writer director 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No overstuffed canon. No brand fatigue. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Franchise Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, with Francis Lawrence directing, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Key Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

The big screen is a trust exercise
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Season Ahead: Autumn density and winter pivot

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The coming 2026 chiller year to come: installments, new stories, as well as A stacked Calendar calibrated for chills

Dek The current terror calendar crams at the outset with a January bottleneck, before it spreads through midyear, and deep into the festive period, marrying franchise firepower, fresh ideas, and calculated alternatives. Major distributors and platforms are focusing on responsible budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and social-fueled campaigns that frame these releases into culture-wide discussion.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror marketplace has shown itself to be the predictable counterweight in programming grids, a pillar that can surge when it performs and still mitigate the drawdown when it falls short. After 2023 reminded executives that low-to-mid budget genre plays can dominate cultural conversation, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with high-profile filmmaker pieces and quiet over-performers. The run translated to 2025, where revived properties and premium-leaning entries underscored there is space for a spectrum, from returning installments to original features that resonate abroad. The combined impact for 2026 is a grid that feels more orchestrated than usual across the industry, with clear date clusters, a pairing of established brands and original hooks, and a re-energized strategy on big-screen windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium home window and OTT platforms.

Planners observe the genre now slots in as a plug-and-play option on the distribution slate. Horror can bow on numerous frames, offer a sharp concept for spots and platform-native cuts, and over-index with viewers that line up on first-look nights and hold through the next pass if the film satisfies. On the heels of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 mapping underscores assurance in that logic. The slate starts with a thick January schedule, then turns to spring and early summer for audience offsets, while holding room for a late-year stretch that runs into All Hallows period and beyond. The schedule also includes the expanded integration of specialty distributors and platforms that can stage a platform run, create conversation, and move wide at the precise moment.

A reinforcing pattern is IP cultivation across ongoing universes and classic IP. The companies are not just making another return. They are shaping as brand continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a logo package that broadcasts a refreshed voice or a casting pivot that ties a new entry to a heyday. At the in tandem, the filmmakers behind the most buzzed-about originals are leaning into on-set craft, physical gags and vivid settings. That blend delivers the 2026 slate a smart balance of assurance and freshness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

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

Paramount fires first with two front-of-slate releases that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the focus, marketing it as both a cross-generational handoff and a foundation-forward character-first story. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the directional approach signals a fan-service aware mode without covering again the last two entries’ sisters thread. Plan for a rollout driven by signature symbols, character spotlights, and a rollout cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will stress. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will pursue four-quadrant chatter through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format enabling quick adjustments to whatever tops pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three unique releases. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tidy, loss-driven, and high-concept: a grieving man activates an machine companion that mutates into a perilous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a thick month, with marketing at Universal likely to renew eerie street stunts and short-form creative that threads devotion and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a public title to become an earned moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s work are positioned as auteur events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a follow-up trailer set that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor creates space for Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has established that a raw, practical-first strategy can feel high-value on a lean spend. Expect a hard-R summer horror rush that centers worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio mounts two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, extending a proven supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is calling a clean-slate approach 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 fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot allows Sony to build campaign pieces around universe detail, and practical creature work, elements that can drive PLF 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 builds on Eggers’ run of period horror driven by rigorous craft and dialect, this time orbiting lycan myth. The company has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is robust.

Where the platforms fit in

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s releases feed copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a tiered path that expands both FOMO and trial spikes in the later window. Prime Video stitches together licensed titles with global originals and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog engagement, using seasonal hubs, October hubs, and staff picks to increase tail value on the horror cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about original films and festival wins, timing horror entries toward the drop and making event-like premieres with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a two-step of precision releases and accelerated platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a per-project basis. The platform has indicated interest to acquire select projects with name filmmakers or star packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for monthly activity when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 arc with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is clear: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, upgraded for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the back half.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the Christmas window to open out. That positioning has worked well for craft-driven horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception encourages. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using targeted theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Known brands versus new stories

By volume, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit cultural cachet. The concern, as ever, is fatigue. The workable fix is to package each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is spotlighting character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French sensibility from a new voice. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and talent-first projects supply 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, features Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the cast-creatives package is known enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years illuminate the approach. In 2023, a theater-first model that respected streaming windows did not deter a parallel release from delivering when the brand was trusted. In 2024, auteur craft horror exceeded expectations in PLF. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they change perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters filmed consecutively, creates space for marketing to bridge entries through character web and themes and to sustain campaign assets without dead zones.

Technique and craft currents

The craft rooms behind the year’s horror telegraph a continued bias toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that underscores aura and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in craft journalism and guild coverage before rolling out a mood teaser that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and earns shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta recalibration that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will win or lose on monster aesthetics and world-building, which work nicely for convention activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that emphasize razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in premium houses.

Annual flow

January is heavy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid larger brand plays. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the tone spread lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth holds.

Winter into spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps 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 jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic More about the author is tight. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Late summer into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a minimalist tease strategy and limited information drops that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card burn.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genetic code. 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 widowed man’s machine mate becomes something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked 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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively 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 ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 abrasive boss claw to survive on a rugged island as the control balance inverts and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to dread, grounded in Cronin’s material craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. 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 household haunting premise that twists the panic of a child’s tricky perspective. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house 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 parody reboot that needles hot-button genre motifs and true crime preoccupations. Rating: undetermined. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a young family anchored to older hauntings. Rating: TBA. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A fresh restart designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-first horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: forthcoming. Production: moving forward. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 historical diction and elemental fear. Rating: pending. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026, why now

Three operational forces structure this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or migrated in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming placements. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage shareable moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 search for sleepers 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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two 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 cold, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, lean footprints, 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, have a peek here and Werwulf all showcasing detail, acoustics, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand gravity where needed, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, lock the reveals, and let the shocks sell the seats.