Age-old Terror rises: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling horror feature, landing Oct 2025 on major streaming services

This spine-tingling metaphysical fear-driven tale from literary architect / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an long-buried evil when unknowns become instruments in a devilish contest. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish saga of struggle and primordial malevolence that will remodel the fear genre this spooky time. Crafted by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and tone-heavy story follows five strangers who find themselves ensnared in a wilderness-bound structure under the oppressive control of Kyra, a female presence possessed by a two-thousand-year-old sacrosanct terror. Arm yourself to be absorbed by a motion picture experience that weaves together instinctive fear with spiritual backstory, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a well-established trope in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is radically shifted when the spirits no longer manifest externally, but rather from deep inside. This symbolizes the shadowy aspect of all involved. The result is a emotionally raw inner struggle where the plotline becomes a unyielding confrontation between right and wrong.


In a barren terrain, five souls find themselves contained under the possessive effect and control of a enigmatic female presence. As the protagonists becomes unable to break her curse, stranded and preyed upon by presences indescribable, they are obligated to confront their emotional phantoms while the moments mercilessly pushes forward toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion rises and bonds splinter, pressuring each cast member to examine their character and the idea of self-determination itself. The cost grow with every second, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that merges ghostly evil with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to explore raw dread, an evil beyond time, embedding itself in inner turmoil, and testing a power that tests the soul when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra involved tapping into something past sanity. She is oblivious until the possession kicks in, and that shift is eerie because it is so raw.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for streaming beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—making sure fans no matter where they are can enjoy this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its intro video, which has garnered over strong viewer count.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, extending the thrill to a worldwide audience.


Be sure to catch this mind-warping descent into hell. Join *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to explore these unholy truths about the soul.


For cast commentary, production insights, and reveals via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursed across entertainment pages and visit our horror hub.





Modern horror’s major pivot: 2025 for genre fans U.S. Slate Mixes myth-forward possession, microbudget gut-punches, stacked beside legacy-brand quakes

Kicking off with life-or-death fear infused with near-Eastern lore and including returning series as well as pointed art-house angles, 2025 is tracking to be the richest paired with intentionally scheduled year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. leading studios lay down anchors via recognizable brands, concurrently OTT services flood the fall with unboxed visions paired with scriptural shivers. On the independent axis, the independent cohort is surfing the backdraft from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The fall stretch is the proving field, however this time, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are surgical, as a result 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: The Return of Prestige Fear

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 capitalizes.

the Universal camp lights the fuse with a marquee bet: a refashioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a clear present-tense world. Guided by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. landing in mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Guided by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. Pictures delivers the closing chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Although the framework is familiar, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson returns, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: throwback unease, trauma as text, and a cold supernatural calculus. 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 release that travels on brand alone. The continuation widens the legend, grows the animatronic horror lineup, reaching teens and game grownups. It books December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Originals: Economy, maximum dread

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the quieter side is Together, a close quarters body horror study fronted 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 comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story featuring Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. 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 menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It looks like sharp programming. No bloated canon. No franchise baggage. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Key Trends

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror reemerges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

What’s Next: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The coming 2026 Horror lineup: returning titles, standalone ideas, plus A packed Calendar tailored for Scares

Dek: The emerging horror cycle loads right away with a January pile-up, from there unfolds through the summer months, and running into the holiday frame, braiding franchise firepower, inventive spins, and tactical alternatives. Distributors with platforms are committing to mid-range economics, exclusive theatrical windows first, and buzz-forward plans that turn horror entries into all-audience topics.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The genre has turned into the most reliable release in release strategies, a corner that can accelerate when it connects and still limit the liability when it misses. After the 2023 year reassured leaders that responsibly budgeted scare machines can drive the national conversation, the following year continued the surge with director-led heat and quiet over-performers. The run extended into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and premium-leaning entries showed there is a lane for several lanes, from franchise continuations to fresh IP that play globally. The combined impact for 2026 is a slate that is strikingly coherent across companies, with strategic blocks, a blend of legacy names and new packages, and a renewed focus on exclusive windows that fuel later windows on premium digital rental and subscription services.

Schedulers say the genre now slots in as a fill-in ace on the release plan. Horror can premiere on many corridors, deliver a clean hook for ad units and shorts, and outstrip with viewers that arrive on first-look nights and continue through the subsequent weekend if the title works. On the heels of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 rhythm reflects trust in that dynamic. The year commences with a loaded January block, then plants flags in spring and early summer for audience offsets, while saving space for a September to October window that reaches into Halloween and afterwards. The grid also includes the tightening integration of boutique distributors and OTT outlets that can nurture a platform play, fuel WOM, and go nationwide at the precise moment.

A companion trend is IP cultivation across linked properties and long-running brands. Studios are not just mounting another chapter. They are aiming to frame ongoing narrative with a marquee sheen, whether that is a graphic identity that flags a refreshed voice or a casting pivot that connects a next film to a foundational era. At the meanwhile, the creative leads behind the most watched originals are prioritizing material texture, physical gags and specific settings. That alloy yields the 2026 slate a healthy mix of recognition and surprise, which is why the genre exports well.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount fires first with two centerpiece pushes that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, marketing it as both a succession moment and a DNA-forward character study. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the tonal posture hints at a heritage-honoring bent without going over the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. A campaign is expected anchored in recognizable motifs, initial cast looks, and a tiered teaser plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will emphasize. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will hunt mass reach through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick redirects to whatever rules genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three defined bets. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is clean, tragic, and high-concept: a grieving man installs an artificial companion that turns into a dangerous lover. The date sets it at the front of a stacked January, with the studio’s marketing likely to mirror creepy live activations and micro spots that interlaces longing and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a name unveil to become an teaser payoff closer to the first look. 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 lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s releases are framed as marquee events, with a teaser that holds back and a later trailer push that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot offers Universal room to lead 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, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a flesh-and-blood, physical-effects centered aesthetic can feel premium on a lean spend. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror shock that pushes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio sets two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, carrying a dependable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is framing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both diehards and fresh viewers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build marketing units around canon, and monster design, elements that can boost IMAX and PLF uptake and community activity.

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 maintains Eggers’ run of period horror driven by careful craft and linguistic texture, this time driven by werewolf stories. The specialty arm has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is positive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Windowing plans in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s slate shift to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a sequence that optimizes both debut momentum and sign-up spikes in the after-window. Prime Video interleaves licensed content with world buys and select theatrical runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog discovery, using seasonal hubs, holiday hubs, and collection rows to stretch the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix retains agility about first-party entries and festival snaps, scheduling horror entries toward the drop and staging as events premieres with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a hybrid of limited theatrical footprints and short jumps to platform that monetizes buzz via trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has been willing to secure select projects with established auteurs or marquee packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for sustained usage when the genre conversation spikes.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is curating a 2026 slate with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is tight: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, upgraded for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a theatrical rollout for the title, an promising marker for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the September weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then using the December frame to increase reach. That positioning has served the company well for director-led genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception allows. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using mini theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their audience.

Series vs standalone

By weight, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness cultural cachet. The potential drawback, as ever, is overexposure. The near-term solution is to sell each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is elevating character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-flavored turn from a hot helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and talent-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the cast-creatives package is comforting enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday previews.

Comparable trends from recent years announce the logic. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that honored streaming windows did not deter a dual release from thriving when the brand was trusted. In 2024, auteur craft horror rose in large-format rooms. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel new when they alter lens and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, lets marketing to relate entries through personae and themes and to keep materials circulating without pause points.

Technique and craft currents

The craft rooms behind this slate hint at a continued move toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that spotlights creep and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and medieval diction, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in deep-dive features and department features before rolling out a initial teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for red-band excess, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and creates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta-horror reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on monster work and world-building, which play well in fan conventions and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel must-have. Look for trailers that spotlight pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that shine in top rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is packed. 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 headline IP. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the tonal variety ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Post-January through spring load in summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy Young & Cursed resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Back half into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a transitional slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited previews that prioritize concept over plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and card redemption.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s virtual companion evolves into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes 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: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her hard-edged boss try to survive on a desolate island as the hierarchy tilts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to horror, anchored by Cronin’s in-camera craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting premise that twists the fright of a child’s wobbly interpretations. Rating: TBA. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A parody return that skewers contemporary horror memes and true-crime manias. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites erupts, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: currently 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: unrevealed. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new clan entangled with old terrors. Rating: not yet rated. 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: to be announced publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survivalist horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBA. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: TBA. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on historical diction and primal menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three grounded forces organize this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-slotted in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social conversation 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 become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

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 stack across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. 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. 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, soundscape, and imagery 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 Robust 2026 On Deck

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is franchise muscle where it helps, filmmaker 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 late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.