Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primeval horror, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 on major streaming services

This unnerving unearthly shockfest from narrative craftsman / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an long-buried dread when unrelated individuals become victims in a supernatural conflict. Dropping this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking depiction of resistance and forgotten curse that will reshape the horror genre this ghoul season. Created by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and eerie story follows five characters who awaken caught in a hidden wooden structure under the aggressive grip of Kyra, a haunted figure claimed by a millennia-old sacrosanct terror. Be prepared to be enthralled by a big screen event that combines bodily fright with spiritual backstory, unleashing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a recurring tradition in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is radically shifted when the spirits no longer originate from a different plane, but rather from their core. This echoes the darkest part of the cast. The result is a riveting cognitive warzone where the tension becomes a constant face-off between moral forces.


In a bleak wilderness, five adults find themselves trapped under the unholy rule and possession of a shadowy person. As the victims becomes helpless to reject her dominion, marooned and preyed upon by creatures ungraspable, they are made to encounter their deepest fears while the clock ruthlessly winds toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion intensifies and alliances dissolve, urging each person to question their essence and the structure of personal agency itself. The danger rise with every breath, delivering a nightmarish journey that integrates occult fear with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to dive into basic terror, an evil rooted in antiquity, operating within emotional fractures, and challenging a will that peels away humanity when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra meant channeling something outside normal anguish. She is innocent until the haunting manifests, and that conversion is terrifying because it is so emotional.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for audiences beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—allowing horror lovers worldwide can witness this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its original promo, which has garnered over notable views.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, taking the terror to international horror buffs.


Do not miss this visceral path of possession. Confront *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to confront these unholy truths about the soul.


For teasers, production news, and social posts from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across social media and visit the movie portal.





U.S. horror’s tipping point: 2025 across markets American release plan interlaces biblical-possession ideas, indie terrors, in parallel with returning-series thunder

Across endurance-driven terror inspired by mythic scripture through to canon extensions and incisive indie visions, 2025 is tracking to be the most textured and precision-timed year in years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. Top studios stabilize the year with established lines, at the same time premium streamers front-load the fall with debut heat alongside old-world menace. On another front, the artisan tier is buoyed by the momentum of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Since Halloween is the prized date, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, and now, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are targeted, which means 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige fear returns

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s distribution arm begins the calendar with a marquee bet: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, but a crisp modern milieu. Steered by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. Booked into mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Under Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer wanes, Warner Bros. Pictures unveils the final movement of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re engages, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: nostalgic menace, trauma foregrounded, and a cold supernatural calculus. The stakes escalate here, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The next entry deepens the tale, builds out the animatronic fear crew, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It arrives in December, cornering year end horror.

Platform Plays: Economy, maximum dread

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

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No bloated canon. No legacy baggage. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Brands: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, Directed 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 a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Trends to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

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

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

What’s Next: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The upcoming Horror slate: entries, original films, paired with A brimming Calendar aimed at shocks

Dek The fresh horror season lines up right away with a January traffic jam, after that spreads through summer, and well into the December corridor, mixing franchise firepower, inventive spins, and shrewd alternatives. Studio marketers and platforms are committing to responsible budgets, theatrical leads, and platform-native promos that turn these pictures into culture-wide discussion.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror sector has turned into the dependable tool in studio calendars, a lane that can break out when it breaks through and still buffer the exposure when it misses. After the 2023 year reminded buyers that disciplined-budget pictures can drive audience talk, 2024 kept energy high with filmmaker-forward plays and under-the-radar smashes. The carry carried into the 2025 frame, where returns and festival-grade titles confirmed there is capacity for varied styles, from continued chapters to standalone ideas that scale internationally. The result for the 2026 slate is a grid that appears tightly organized across the field, with mapped-out bands, a balance of recognizable IP and fresh ideas, and a reinvigorated strategy on theater exclusivity that feed downstream value on premium digital rental and home streaming.

Buyers contend the horror lane now behaves like a utility player on the calendar. Horror can launch on most weekends, create a sharp concept for teasers and platform-native cuts, and outstrip with ticket buyers that lean in on first-look nights and maintain momentum through the sophomore frame if the feature pays off. In the wake of a production delay era, the 2026 setup demonstrates belief in that equation. The year launches with a heavy January stretch, then turns to spring and early summer for alternate plays, while reserving space for a autumn push that carries into Halloween and into post-Halloween. The program also includes the greater integration of indie arms and subscription services that can platform a title, generate chatter, and scale up at the precise moment.

An added macro current is legacy care across brand ecosystems and legacy franchises. Studio teams are not just mounting another next film. They are moving to present threaded continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a title presentation that suggests a recalibrated tone or a star attachment that connects a upcoming film to a foundational era. At the meanwhile, the helmers behind the eagerly awaited originals are embracing physical effects work, special makeup and place-driven backdrops. That convergence hands the 2026 slate a confident blend of known notes and unexpected turns, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount sets the tone early with two prominent plays that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the spine, angling it as both a baton pass and a foundation-forward character-centered film. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture signals a memory-charged strategy without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Expect a marketing push anchored in recognizable motifs, first-look character reveals, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will play up. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will chase broad awareness through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format supporting quick reframes to whatever defines the social talk that spring.

Universal has three distinct entries. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is tight, heartbroken, and easily pitched: a grieving man activates an synthetic partner that evolves into a killer companion. The date slots it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to echo viral uncanny stunts and quick hits that melds romance and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a official title to become an fan moment closer to the early tease. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele projects are framed as marquee events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a later trailer push that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The late-October frame gives Universal room to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has proven that a flesh-and-blood, hands-on effects style can feel prestige on a disciplined budget. Expect a blood-and-grime summer horror surge that maximizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio deploys two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, extending a trusty supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is positioning as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both devotees and new audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build promo materials around universe detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can fuel premium booking interest and fan-culture participation.

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 advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by meticulous craft and linguistic texture, this time focused on werewolf legend. Focus Features has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is strong.

How the platforms plan to play it

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s horror titles feed copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a pacing that enhances both launch urgency and subscription bumps in the later phase. Prime Video blends library titles with global pickups and small theatrical windows when the data points to it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library engagement, using featured rows, genre hubs, and staff picks to maximize the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps flexible about first-party entries and festival wins, dating horror entries with shorter lead times and coalescing around arrivals with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a laddered of precision releases and quick platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a curated basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to take on select projects with recognized filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for retention when the genre conversation heats up.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is curating a 2026 runway with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is simple: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, modernized for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then using the year-end corridor to move out. That positioning has proved effective for arthouse horror with mainstream crossovers. 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 reasonable expectation is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception prompts. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using limited runs to fuel evangelism that fuels their community.

Brands and originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate skews toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on brand equity. The concern, as ever, is brand erosion. The standing approach is to position each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is centering character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a continental coloration from a ascendant talent. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the cast-creatives package is familiar enough to build pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Rolling three-year comps help explain the strategy. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that kept streaming intact did not foreclose a parallel release from hitting when the brand was strong. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror exceeded expectations in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they reframe POV and increase ambition. 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, enables marketing navigate to this website to link the films through character web and themes and to leave creative active without doldrums.

Technique and craft currents

The director conversations behind 2026 horror telegraph a continued lean toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that spotlights tone and tension rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in feature stories and technical spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and drives shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a self-referential reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature work and production design, which lend themselves to expo activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel must-have. Look for trailers that highlight razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that work in PLF.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is stacked. 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 quiet contrast amid marquee brands. The month buttons 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 formidable, but the palette of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth carries.

Q1 into Q2 load in summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to 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 playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

August into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a early fall window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited previews that stress concept over spoilers.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can win the holiday when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift card usage.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s algorithmic partner turns into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 this contact form second chapter in a trilogy expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: mood-led 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 struggle to survive on a navigate here isolated island as the power dynamic swivels and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to nightmare, based on Cronin’s hands-on craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting piece that plays with the unease of a child’s inconsistent interpretations. Rating: to be announced. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral 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 buzz. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further extends again, with a different family caught in residual nightmares. Rating: TBA. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-core horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: TBD. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: undetermined. Production: active. 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 period language and primordial menace. Rating: pending. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026 lands now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces inform this lineup. First, production that paused or shifted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on social-ready stingers from test screenings, select scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

There is also the slotting calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can lead a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will stack across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The sleeper chase continues in Q1, where value-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing 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 bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall 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 welcome the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, efficient placements, 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 tactility, sound field, 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 Looks Exciting

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is name recognition where it counts, auteur intent 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep secrets, and let the gasps sell the seats.