Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens ancient dread, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on major streaming services

An hair-raising mystic nightmare movie from literary architect / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an long-buried malevolence when unfamiliar people become victims in a satanic ordeal. Debuting October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish chronicle of living through and primeval wickedness that will alter the horror genre this Halloween season. Crafted by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and atmospheric tale follows five teens who awaken stuck in a off-grid wooden structure under the menacing manipulation of Kyra, a troubled woman consumed by a timeless Old Testament spirit. Steel yourself to be gripped by a narrative ride that merges bodily fright with folklore, premiering on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a historical concept in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is redefined when the malevolences no longer originate outside the characters, but rather inside their minds. This portrays the deepest aspect of every character. The result is a enthralling psychological battle where the story becomes a merciless struggle between divinity and wickedness.


In a isolated terrain, five campers find themselves marooned under the fiendish control and overtake of a shadowy figure. As the protagonists becomes helpless to break her will, cut off and tracked by forces inconceivable, they are compelled to battle their soulful dreads while the countdown without pause counts down toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion escalates and bonds break, driving each protagonist to reflect on their character and the foundation of self-determination itself. The risk mount with every heartbeat, delivering a scare-fueled ride that fuses unearthly horror with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to awaken primitive panic, an evil older than civilization itself, feeding on emotional vulnerability, and challenging a being that peels away humanity when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra meant channeling something past sanity. She is oblivious until the possession kicks in, and that flip is deeply unsettling because it is so emotional.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for streaming beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—offering fans around the globe can be part of this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its intro video, which has attracted over a viral response.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, delivering the story to a global viewership.


Do not miss this unforgettable fall into madness. Experience *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to dive into these ghostly lessons about free will.


For cast commentary, behind-the-scenes content, and promotions from those who lived it, follow @YACMovie across Facebook and TikTok and visit the official website.





Modern horror’s pivotal crossroads: 2025 across markets U.S. release slate Mixes myth-forward possession, signature indie scares, alongside brand-name tremors

Kicking off with survival horror drawn from mythic scripture all the way to series comebacks paired with focused festival visions, 2025 is emerging as the most variegated paired with blueprinted year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. Major studios hold down the year with familiar IP, concurrently OTT services flood the fall with emerging auteurs together with old-world menace. At the same time, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is riding the afterglow from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, and now, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are methodical, which means 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige fear returns

The majors are assertive. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 capitalizes.

the Universal camp leads off the quarter with a risk-forward move: a modernized Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, instead in a current-day frame. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. arriving mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Eli Craig directs anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer wanes, the Warner Bros. banner sets loose the finale within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re boards, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: 70s style chill, trauma explicitly handled, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This run ups the stakes, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The return delves further into myth, broadens the animatronic terror cast, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It drops in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streamer Exclusives: Economy, maximum dread

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a two hander body horror spiral pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also notable is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable with Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to 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 threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

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 an astute call. No swollen lore. No brand fatigue. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. 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. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Brands: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, steered by Francis Lawrence, 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.

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

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror swings back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Season Ahead: Fall stack and winter swing card

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The oncoming fright slate: next chapters, new stories, paired with A Crowded Calendar optimized for nightmares

Dek The current genre cycle stacks from day one with a January traffic jam, after that unfolds through peak season, and carrying into the winter holidays, combining brand equity, new voices, and savvy counterplay. Studios and streamers are doubling down on smart costs, theatrical leads, and shareable marketing that elevate these pictures into all-audience topics.

Where horror stands going into 2026

Horror has shown itself to be the predictable move in studio calendars, a lane that can scale when it resonates and still mitigate the losses when it underperforms. After the 2023 year re-taught greenlighters that responsibly budgeted scare machines can steer pop culture, the following year continued the surge with high-profile filmmaker pieces and surprise hits. The trend moved into 2025, where legacy revivals and premium-leaning entries proved there is appetite for a spectrum, from series extensions to fresh IP that export nicely. The sum for the 2026 slate is a roster that seems notably aligned across the major shops, with clear date clusters, a mix of familiar brands and novel angles, and a re-energized eye on theatrical windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium rental and subscription services.

Marketers add the horror lane now operates like a swing piece on the calendar. The genre can debut on most weekends, furnish a tight logline for spots and social clips, and outperform with fans that respond on previews Thursday and hold through the subsequent weekend if the picture works. Post a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 setup indicates confidence in that approach. The slate starts with a crowded January window, then leans on spring and early summer for alternate plays, while carving room for a October build that reaches into All Hallows period and into November. The program also underscores the ongoing integration of specialty arms and streamers that can platform and widen, grow buzz, and widen at the timely point.

An added macro current is franchise tending across linked properties and heritage properties. Big banners are not just releasing another installment. They are aiming to frame continuity with a occasion, whether that is a graphic identity that signals a new vibe or a star attachment that threads a next film to a early run. At the same time, the filmmakers behind the most watched originals are championing physical effects work, in-camera effects and concrete locations. That alloy affords the 2026 slate a vital pairing of trust and discovery, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

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

Paramount leads early with two marquee bets that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the lead, framing it as both a handoff and a back-to-basics character study. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture announces a memory-charged angle without looping the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign anchored in legacy iconography, intro reveals, and a tiered teaser plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical through 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 back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will lean on. As a summer contrast play, this one will build wide appeal through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick turns to whatever drives genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three unique lanes. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is crisp, grief-rooted, and premise-first: a grieving man activates an artificial companion that becomes a fatal companion. The date positions it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s campaign likely to echo viral uncanny stunts and snackable content that threads longing and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under internal titles 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 proper title to become an event moment closer to the debut look. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s pictures are set up as must-see filmmaker statements, with a hinting teaser and a second wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot affords Universal to fill 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, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has demonstrated that a gnarly, practical-first style can feel cinematic on a disciplined budget. Position this as a red-band summer horror surge that embraces international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio lines up two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, extending a reliable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is calling a reimagined restart 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 sharper mandate to serve both franchise faithful and first-timers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build campaign pieces around canon, and monster design, elements that can amplify IMAX and PLF uptake and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by obsessive craft and textual fidelity, this time set against lycan legends. Focus Features has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform strategies for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s genre slate feed copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a ordering that amplifies both opening-weekend urgency and trial spikes in the later phase. Prime Video balances licensed content with global pickups and limited cinema engagements when the data backs it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library curation, using featured rows, holiday hubs, and curated rows to lengthen the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps optionality about original films and festival snaps, scheduling horror entries near their drops and staging as events launches with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a laddered of precision releases and speedy platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a discrete basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to take on select projects with established auteurs or name-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for sustained usage when the genre conversation ramps.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is curating a 2026 track with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is clean: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, elevated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a big-screen first plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the back half.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, piloting the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday corridor to increase reach. That positioning has delivered for auteur horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception supports. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using select theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their membership.

IP versus fresh ideas

By volume, 2026 tilts in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on cultural cachet. The caveat, as ever, is brand erosion. The preferred tactic is to frame each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is foregrounding character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a European tilt from a emerging director. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the cast-creatives package is known enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Rolling three-year comps frame the template. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that maintained windows did not prevent a simultaneous release test from working when the brand was strong. In 2024, art-forward horror outperformed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they alter lens and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, permits marketing to connect the chapters through character web and themes and to continue assets in field without lulls.

Creative tendencies and craft

The craft conversations behind this year’s genre foreshadow a continued move toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that centers texture and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English 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 preview this aesthetic in craft journalism and craft features before rolling out a mood teaser that withholds plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and spurs shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta recalibration that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature design and production design, which play well in fan conventions and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel compelling. Look for trailers that spotlight pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that benefit on big speakers.

The schedule at a glance

January is packed. 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 quiet contrast amid headline IP. The month concludes 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 meaningful, but the mix of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Late winter and spring tee up summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can pop 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 cycled through PLF.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident his comment is here Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited advance reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card burn.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s synthetic partner unfolds into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss try to survive on a isolated island as the control balance turns and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to terror, anchored by Cronin’s material craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting piece that pipes the unease through a minor’s shifting internal vantage. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

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 skewers present-day genre chatter and true crime fervors. Rating: undetermined. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites ignites, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: production 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 reopens, with a another family linked to residual nightmares. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-core horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: undetermined. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: closely held. Rating: to be announced. Production: proceeding. 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 time-true diction and ancient menace. Rating: TBA. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 lands now

Three workable forces inform this lineup. First, production that paused or rearranged in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work repeatable beats from test screenings, metered scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, clearing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will trade weekends across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, 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 stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where cost-efficient genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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 horror arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

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

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, soundcraft, and visuals 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 Shapes Up Strong

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand equity where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.