Ancient Malevolence Stirs within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding shocker, arriving October 2025 across major streaming services

This hair-raising otherworldly suspense story from screenwriter / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an mythic entity when strangers become proxies in a fiendish struggle. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a intense portrayal of endurance and ancient evil that will reshape fear-driven cinema this scare season. Brought to life by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and atmospheric film follows five figures who emerge stuck in a wilderness-bound shelter under the menacing manipulation of Kyra, a central character haunted by a two-thousand-year-old sacrosanct terror. Brace yourself to be gripped by a narrative spectacle that harmonizes primitive horror with biblical origins, releasing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a long-standing theme in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is twisted when the forces no longer emerge externally, but rather from deep inside. This illustrates the haunting version of all involved. The result is a enthralling mental war where the narrative becomes a perpetual face-off between divinity and wickedness.


In a unforgiving woodland, five teens find themselves caught under the ghastly aura and curse of a obscure character. As the youths becomes vulnerable to reject her command, left alone and followed by entities impossible to understand, they are forced to encounter their darkest emotions while the countdown unforgivingly moves toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear rises and relationships splinter, prompting each figure to evaluate their values and the notion of independent thought itself. The cost mount with every passing moment, delivering a paranormal ride that merges occult fear with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to dive into primitive panic, an threat from ancient eras, embedding itself in inner turmoil, and highlighting a will that peels away humanity when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra required summoning something far beyond human desperation. She is blind until the entity awakens, and that change is terrifying because it is so private.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for on-demand beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—allowing customers across the world can dive into this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its first trailer, which has attracted over 100,000 views.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, giving access to the movie to global fright lovers.


Witness this visceral descent into hell. Stream *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to confront these evil-rooted truths about the psyche.


For cast commentary, behind-the-scenes content, and alerts from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursed across fan hubs and visit the official movie site.





American horror’s sea change: 2025 across markets domestic schedule weaves myth-forward possession, indie terrors, stacked beside franchise surges

Moving from survivor-centric dread rooted in mythic scripture through to returning series and surgical indie voices, 2025 looks like the most complex in tandem with precision-timed year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. major banners bookend the months with familiar IP, in tandem platform operators stack the fall with new perspectives as well as archetypal fear. On the festival side, horror’s indie wing is propelled by the afterglow of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, but this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are methodical, therefore 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige terror resurfaces

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal Pictures opens the year with a bold swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in a modern-day environment. Steered by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. targeting mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Directed by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite 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 reactions hint at fangs.

At summer’s close, Warner’s schedule drops the final chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re boards, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: period tinged dread, trauma centered writing, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The ante is higher this round, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The new chapter enriches the lore, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, courting teens and the thirty something base. It opens in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Firsts: Low budgets, big teeth

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

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a body horror chamber piece anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale featuring Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is a calculated bet. No overweight mythology. No series drag. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Heritage Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, led by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

What to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror retakes ground
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Laurels convert to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Near Term Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

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 must claw for air. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The oncoming fear season: follow-ups, original films, together with A loaded Calendar Built For shocks

Dek The emerging horror slate crowds in short order with a January glut, from there carries through summer, and straight through the year-end corridor, mixing series momentum, untold stories, and smart counterweight. Distributors with platforms are relying on efficient budgets, box-office-first windows, and social-fueled campaigns that elevate these releases into culture-wide discussion.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror filmmaking has shown itself to be the most reliable lever in studio lineups, a corner that can expand when it breaks through and still hedge the losses when it under-delivers. After 2023 re-taught buyers that responsibly budgeted chillers can command pop culture, the following year kept the drumbeat going with director-led heat and quiet over-performers. The momentum carried into 2025, where revivals and festival-grade titles made clear there is appetite for different modes, from ongoing IP entries to standalone ideas that travel well. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a schedule that appears tightly organized across the major shops, with obvious clusters, a combination of legacy names and fresh ideas, and a recommitted eye on box-office windows that drive downstream revenue on premium digital rental and home platforms.

Schedulers say the horror lane now works like a wildcard on the distribution slate. The genre can roll out on virtually any date, deliver a sharp concept for teasers and reels, and outperform with ticket buyers that turn out on Thursday nights and continue through the next weekend if the feature connects. Emerging from a work stoppage lag, the 2026 pattern indicates confidence in that approach. The slate kicks off with a crowded January block, then exploits spring through early summer for balance, while reserving space for a October build that stretches into All Hallows period and into November. The schedule also highlights the deeper integration of specialized imprints and digital platforms that can grow from platform, spark evangelism, and scale up at the precise moment.

A second macro trend is brand curation across connected story worlds and established properties. Studio teams are not just releasing another next film. They are seeking to position connection with a heightened moment, whether that is a art treatment that telegraphs a new vibe or a cast configuration that threads a upcoming film to a foundational era. At the simultaneously, the writer-directors behind the marquee originals are championing in-camera technique, makeup and prosthetics and specific settings. That fusion gives the 2026 slate a lively combination of comfort and surprise, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount plants an early flag with two centerpiece releases that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the heart, setting it up as both a cross-generational handoff and a DNA-forward character-driven entry. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the tonal posture suggests a heritage-honoring approach without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Expect a marketing push stacked with franchise iconography, initial cast looks, and a rollout cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will stress. As a summer contrast play, this one will drive broad awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick redirects to whatever shapes the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three clear pushes. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is simple, sorrow-tinged, and logline-clear: a grieving man installs an AI companion that mutates into a perilous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s team likely to mirror creepy live activations and micro spots that blurs intimacy and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a proper title to become an earned moment closer to the early tease. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s pictures are presented as creative events, with a teaser that holds back and a follow-up trailer set that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot lets the studio to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has proven that a in-your-face, hands-on effects method can feel elevated on a controlled budget. Expect a gore-forward summer horror jolt that maximizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio places two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, preserving a reliable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is positioning as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both core fans and novices. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build marketing units around universe detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can amplify premium screens and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on careful craft and archaic language, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus’s team has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is glowing.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform tactics for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s slate window into copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a tiered path that enhances both initial urgency and sign-up spikes in the back half. Prime Video blends licensed films with international acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library engagement, using timely promos, horror hubs, and handpicked rows to extend momentum on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps flexible about internal projects and festival snaps, securing horror entries closer to launch and framing as events debuts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a laddered of precision theatrical plays and rapid platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will count 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+ cherry-picks horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown a willingness to pick up select projects with prestige directors or star-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 corridor 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 uncomplicated: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, reimagined for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a theatrical rollout for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the back half.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the year-end corridor to widen. That positioning has shown results for auteur horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception encourages. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using limited theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Brands and originals

By count, the 2026 slate bends toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap name recognition. The risk, as ever, is brand erosion. The practical approach is to frame each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is elevating character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-flavored turn from a new voice. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and talent-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the assembly is recognizable enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and Thursday previews.

Recent-year comps illuminate the playbook. In 2023, a theater-first model that kept streaming intact did not deter a parallel release from winning when the brand was strong. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror hit big in large-format rooms. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reorient and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward 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 filmed consecutively, gives leeway to marketing to interlace chapters through cast and motif and to hold creative in the market without dead zones.

Technique and craft currents

The production chatter behind this year’s genre point to a continued lean toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that foregrounds mood and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in long-lead features and guild coverage before rolling out a preview that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and produces shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta-horror reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster work and world-building, which match well with expo activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel primary. Look for trailers that accent hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that land in big rooms.

Annual flow

January is full. 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 somber counterpoint amid larger brand plays. 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 serious, but the mix of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

February through May load in summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

End of summer through fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-first teaser his comment is here plan and limited pre-release reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and card redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads 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 sorrowing man’s intelligent companion mutates into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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 emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: aura-driven 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 chain of command shifts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to chill, founded on Cronin’s practical effects and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting narrative that explores the unease of a child’s tricky POV. Rating: forthcoming. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A parody return that needles modern genre fads and true crime fervors. Rating: undetermined. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites surges, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new family entangled with lingering terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on pure survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: to be announced. Production: in progress. 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 antique diction and raw menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026, why now

Three workable forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that paused or migrated in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous 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 launches. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest shareable moments from test screenings, managed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can command a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will cluster across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

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

The surprise-hit pursuit 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 maximize 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient screen counts, 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 dimensionality, sound, 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 Is Well Positioned

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand power where it counts, inventive vision where it helps, 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.