Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites age-old dread, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 across leading streamers

One unnerving spectral thriller from literary architect / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an primeval evil when unfamiliar people become instruments in a hellish game. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping account of staying alive and forgotten curse that will alter genre cinema this cool-weather season. Directed by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and shadowy motion picture follows five unknowns who regain consciousness stuck in a isolated cabin under the ominous will of Kyra, a female presence inhabited by a 2,000-year-old scriptural evil. Ready yourself to be ensnared by a motion picture presentation that unites gut-punch terror with spiritual backstory, landing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a enduring tradition in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is twisted when the beings no longer form from elsewhere, but rather from deep inside. This embodies the darkest layer of the protagonists. The result is a intense mental war where the events becomes a ongoing struggle between righteousness and malevolence.


In a forsaken wild, five souls find themselves cornered under the unholy sway and inhabitation of a mysterious female figure. As the group becomes unresisting to evade her rule, stranded and followed by beings beyond comprehension, they are pushed to wrestle with their core terrors while the clock unforgivingly counts down toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust builds and links dissolve, compelling each member to question their self and the philosophy of liberty itself. The danger magnify with every short lapse, delivering a chilling narrative that marries unearthly horror with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to draw upon elemental fright, an force that existed before mankind, feeding on emotional fractures, and testing a evil that dismantles free will when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra meant evoking something more primal than sorrow. She is oblivious until the evil takes hold, and that conversion is soul-crushing because it is so private.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for digital release beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—offering users from coast to coast can watch this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original clip, which has earned over 100K plays.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, delivering the story to a worldwide audience.


Be sure to catch this unforgettable voyage through terror. Watch *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to face these fearful discoveries about free will.


For bonus footage, extra content, and press updates straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across Facebook and TikTok and visit our spooky domain.





Current horror’s sea change: calendar year 2025 U.S. Slate melds ancient-possession motifs, Indie Shockers, stacked beside franchise surges

Ranging from survival horror inspired by legendary theology as well as brand-name continuations and focused festival visions, 2025 is tracking to be the genre’s most multifaceted in tandem with calculated campaign year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio powerhouses plant stakes across the year via recognizable brands, even as SVOD players saturate the fall with emerging auteurs set against archetypal fear. In parallel, the artisan tier is riding the backdraft from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, but this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are surgical, accordingly 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige fear returns

The majors are assertive. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s schedule starts the year with a confident swing: a modernized Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a crisp modern milieu. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. set for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. From director Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer winds down, Warner’s pipeline delivers the closing chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Although the framework is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re engages, and the tone that worked before is intact: 70s style chill, trauma as text, with ghostly inner logic. Here the stakes rise, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It books December, pinning the winter close.

Digital Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a room scale body horror descent pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. 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 dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this entry turns to 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.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a clever angle. No puffed out backstory. No IP hangover. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

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

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Lines: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, from Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

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

Streamers grow fangs
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forecast: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The approaching spook lineup: brand plays, non-franchise titles, in tandem with A loaded Calendar optimized for frights

Dek The brand-new genre year builds at the outset with a January crush, and then flows through the warm months, and far into the holidays, braiding brand equity, creative pitches, and shrewd calendar placement. Studio marketers and platforms are doubling down on mid-range economics, theater-first strategies, and influencer-ready assets that convert these pictures into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The genre has solidified as the sturdy swing in distribution calendars, a space that can lift when it performs and still mitigate the liability when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year proved to top brass that efficiently budgeted chillers can galvanize the national conversation, 2024 carried the beat with signature-voice projects and quiet over-performers. The momentum translated to 2025, where reawakened brands and prestige plays underscored there is space for a spectrum, from series extensions to non-IP projects that perform internationally. The net effect for 2026 is a roster that appears tightly organized across the field, with clear date clusters, a spread of known properties and untested plays, and a reinvigorated emphasis on theater exclusivity that feed downstream value on premium video on demand and SVOD.

Buyers contend the genre now serves as a plug-and-play option on the calendar. The genre can arrive on a wide range of weekends, yield a grabby hook for ad units and platform-native cuts, and punch above weight with moviegoers that show up on first-look nights and continue through the next weekend if the movie satisfies. Following a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 rhythm telegraphs confidence in that approach. The slate begins with a weighty January run, then leans on spring and early summer for audience offsets, while making space for a fall cadence that stretches into spooky season and past Halloween. The calendar also includes the tightening integration of indie distributors and streaming partners that can launch in limited release, generate chatter, and broaden at the strategic time.

A reinforcing pattern is series management across interlocking continuities and storied titles. Big banners are not just producing another installment. They are aiming to frame continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a typeface approach that announces a tonal shift or a cast configuration that anchors a fresh chapter to a initial period. At the in tandem, the filmmakers behind the high-profile originals are celebrating on-set craft, practical effects and distinct locales. That combination produces the 2026 slate a lively combination of assurance and discovery, which is the formula for international play.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount plants an early flag with two front-of-slate pushes that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the front, signaling it as both a relay and a rootsy character-centered film. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the authorial approach suggests a classic-referencing approach without repeating the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Look for a marketing run leaning on signature symbols, first-look character reveals, and a tease cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also brings back 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 in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will foreground. As a summer counter-slot, this one will seek mainstream recognition through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format enabling quick redirects to whatever owns the conversation that spring.

Universal has three differentiated plays. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is crisp, heartbroken, and big-hook: a grieving man onboards an virtual partner that escalates into a harmful mate. The date slots it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with the marketing arm likely to recreate eerie street stunts and short-form creative that fuses romance and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a public title to become an event moment closer to the initial tease. 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 claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s work are framed as auteur events, with a teaser that reveals little and a later creative that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor opens a lane to dominate 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, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has shown that a visceral, practical-effects forward strategy can feel top-tier on a controlled budget. Expect a gore-forward summer horror jolt that centers worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio sets two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, maintaining a trusty supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is framing as a from-the-ground-up reboot 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 devotees and fresh viewers. The fall slot allows Sony to build campaign pieces around universe detail, and practical creature work, elements that can accelerate PLF interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror built on textural authenticity and language, this time circling werewolf lore. The imprint has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is favorable.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform windowing in 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s releases shift to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a cadence that expands both initial urgency and subscription bumps in the late-window. Prime Video blends acquired titles with global originals and small theatrical windows when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library pulls, using curated hubs, horror hubs, and curated rows to maximize the tail on overall cume. Netflix plays opportunist about originals and festival grabs, slotting horror entries closer to drop and staging as events drops with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a paired of focused cinema runs and speedy 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 horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has shown appetite to buy select projects with acclaimed directors or marquee packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation spikes.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 lane with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is no-nonsense: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, upgraded for modern sonics and picture. 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 the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the Christmas corridor to broaden. That positioning has worked well for craft-driven horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception encourages. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using limited runs to fuel evangelism that fuels their user base.

Franchises versus originals

By skew, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate marquee value. horror The concern, as ever, is diminishing returns. The go-to fix is to frame each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is leading with character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a continental coloration from a rising filmmaker. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the team and cast is anchored enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Rolling three-year comps contextualize the strategy. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that maintained windows did not foreclose a day-date try from hitting when the brand was trusted. In 2024, precision craft horror exceeded expectations in premium formats. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they reorient and raise the stakes. 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 paired-chapter approach, with chapters lensed back-to-back, permits marketing to cross-link entries through character and theme and to maintain a flow of assets without doldrums.

How the look and feel evolve

The craft conversations behind the year’s horror hint at a continued move toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that highlights grain and menace rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and medieval diction, a combination that can make for textured sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in feature stories and department features before rolling out a first look that withholds plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and creates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a self-referential reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster aesthetics and world-building, which match well with convention floor stunts and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel necessary. Look for trailers that center fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that shine in top rooms.

Release calendar overview

January is loaded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid larger brand plays. The month concludes 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 stiff, but the menu of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Early-year through spring build the summer base. Scream 7 lands February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once my company the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Back half into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited pre-release reveals that put concept first.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can win the holiday when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and card redemption.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s algorithmic partner escalates into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 battle to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance of power upends and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 under wraps in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to nightmare, driven by Cronin’s physical craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. 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 in-home haunting tale that leverages the unease of a child’s tricky impressions. Rating: TBD. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed and marquee-led supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A send-up revival that needles current genre trends and true crime fascinations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 flares, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a another family bound to older hauntings. Rating: not yet rated. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on pure survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: to be announced. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: TBA. Production: ongoing. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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 era-faithful speech and ancient menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026, why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces drive this lineup. First, production that downshifted or shuffled in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming releases. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Another factor is the scheduling math. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, providing runway for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will stack across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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-hit hunt continues in Q1, where disciplined-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a smorgasbord, 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 gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, optimized 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, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, sound, and camera work that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Promising 2026

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand equity where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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, cut crisp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the shocks sell the seats.