Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts ancient terror, a spine tingling horror feature, landing Oct 2025 on major streaming services

This unnerving occult suspense film from screenwriter / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an mythic force when outsiders become puppets in a dark trial. Debuting October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking narrative of overcoming and prehistoric entity that will alter terror storytelling this harvest season. Helmed by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and cinematic fearfest follows five figures who snap to isolated in a cut-off wooden structure under the malevolent power of Kyra, a possessed female overtaken by a prehistoric sacrosanct terror. Brace yourself to be ensnared by a screen-based journey that intertwines soul-chilling terror with ancient myths, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a historical narrative in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is redefined when the spirits no longer come from external sources, but rather from their psyche. This symbolizes the grimmest side of these individuals. The result is a emotionally raw mind game where the emotions becomes a intense clash between moral forces.


In a unforgiving wilderness, five teens find themselves caught under the malevolent aura and inhabitation of a unidentified figure. As the team becomes unable to break her power, detached and targeted by unknowns inconceivable, they are required to encounter their darkest emotions while the deathwatch ruthlessly pushes forward toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety intensifies and partnerships splinter, coercing each survivor to scrutinize their personhood and the idea of conscious will itself. The threat magnify with every breath, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that marries otherworldly suspense with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to dive into primal fear, an threat rooted in antiquity, working through mental cracks, and examining a presence that strips down our being when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra was centered on something unfamiliar to reason. She is in denial until the invasion happens, and that pivot is gut-wrenching because it is so internal.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for digital release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing customers from coast to coast can experience this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its intro video, which has collected over massive response.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, spreading the horror to scare fans abroad.


Mark your calendar for this life-altering descent into hell. Explore *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to see these ghostly lessons about existence.


For film updates, behind-the-scenes content, and updates directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across entertainment pages and visit youngandcursed.com.





Current horror’s pivotal crossroads: the 2025 cycle U.S. rollouts blends myth-forward possession, Indie Shockers, alongside IP aftershocks

Kicking off with grit-forward survival fare inspired by biblical myth to returning series plus surgical indie voices, 2025 appears poised to be the most stratified plus deliberate year for the modern era.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. major banners hold down the year with established lines, at the same time subscription platforms front-load the fall with new voices paired with archetypal fear. In the indie lane, horror’s indie wing is carried on the tailwinds of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, distinctly in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are exacting, hence 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Premium genre swings back

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal camp lights the fuse with a headline swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a crisp modern milieu. Directed by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. set for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Steered by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. Pictures sets loose the finale within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Though the outline is tried, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson is back, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: retro dread, trauma centered writing, and a cold supernatural calculus. This run ups the stakes, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, grows the animatronic horror lineup, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It opens in December, pinning the winter close.

Platform Plays: Low budgets, big teeth

While cinemas swing on series strength, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

More contained by design is Together, a body horror chamber piece pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

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 calculated bet. No bloated mythology. No IP hangover. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Franchise Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, led by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror comes roaring back
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Season Ahead: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The 2026 Horror lineup: returning titles, universe starters, together with A packed Calendar aimed at chills

Dek The arriving terror cycle packs from day one with a January traffic jam, thereafter unfolds through June and July, and deep into the holiday stretch, balancing franchise firepower, creative pitches, and shrewd calendar placement. Studios with streamers are embracing right-sized spends, big-screen-first runs, and viral-minded pushes that shape genre releases into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror sector has turned into the consistent move in release strategies, a genre that can spike when it clicks and still mitigate the drag when it does not. After the 2023 year reassured buyers that modestly budgeted scare machines can dominate the zeitgeist, the following year extended the rally with filmmaker-forward plays and slow-burn breakouts. The upswing extended into 2025, where revived properties and filmmaker-prestige bets made clear there is a lane for many shades, from legacy continuations to fresh IP that perform internationally. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a run that presents tight coordination across the industry, with mapped-out bands, a blend of brand names and new packages, and a reinvigorated emphasis on theatrical windows that power the aftermarket on premium digital rental and platforms.

Distribution heads claim the genre now works like a utility player on the programming map. The genre can launch on many corridors, provide a grabby hook for trailers and reels, and outstrip with crowds that come out on first-look nights and hold through the follow-up frame if the offering fires. Coming out of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 cadence signals conviction in that model. The year begins with a stacked January block, then exploits spring through early summer for counterprogramming, while leaving room for a fall cadence that carries into All Hallows period and into post-Halloween. The calendar also underscores the deeper integration of specialized labels and streamers that can grow from platform, stoke social talk, and broaden at the right moment.

A reinforcing pattern is brand curation across shared universes and legacy IP. The companies are not just making another return. They are working to present lineage with a occasion, whether that is a art treatment that signals a re-angled tone or a talent selection that ties a new entry to a first wave. At the simultaneously, the writer-directors behind the most watched originals are doubling down on hands-on technique, on-set effects and vivid settings. That interplay affords the 2026 slate a healthy mix of recognition and novelty, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount marks the early tempo with two prominent bets that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the heart, marketing it as both a relay and a foundation-forward character-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the story approach points to a fan-service aware approach without recycling the last two entries’ sibling arc. A campaign is expected driven by signature symbols, first images of characters, and a tiered teaser plan hitting late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will foreground. As a summer counter-slot, this one will hunt wide buzz through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format permitting quick updates to whatever owns horror talk that spring.

Universal has three differentiated releases. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is clean, melancholic, and logline-clear: a grieving man sets up an algorithmic mate that unfolds into a perilous partner. The date puts it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s campaign likely to renew creepy live activations and short reels that interweaves companionship and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a public title to become an marketing beat closer to the initial promo. The timing gives Universal a foothold see here in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. His projects are set up as auteur events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor gives the studio room to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has consistently shown that a visceral, physical-effects centered treatment can feel cinematic on a disciplined budget. Frame it as a viscera-heavy summer horror shock that maximizes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio launches two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, extending a proven supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what Sony is billing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both devotees and novices. The fall slot allows Sony to build promo materials around mythos, and creature builds, elements that can accelerate large-format demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in obsessive craft and period speech, this time focused on werewolf legend. Focus Features has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is strong.

Digital platform strategies

Platform strategies for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s genre entries feed copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a ladder that elevates both debut momentum and subscriber lifts in the tail. Prime Video will mix licensed content with worldwide buys and limited runs in theaters when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu work their edges in deep cuts, using timely promos, spooky hubs, and featured rows to extend momentum on lifetime take. Netflix plays opportunist about internal projects and festival buys, timing horror entries on shorter runways and positioning as event drops drops with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a staged of targeted cinema placements and fast windowing that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has shown a willingness to board select projects with acclaimed directors or name-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for monthly engagement when the genre conversation surges.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 pipeline 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 angle is straightforward: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, updated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, managing the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then working the holiday frame to expand. That positioning has paid off for director-led genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if my review here reception prompts. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using limited runs to stir evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Franchise entries versus originals

By skew, 2026 favors the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use brand equity. The watch-out, as ever, is audience fatigue. The operating solution is to position each entry as a new angle. Paramount is elevating relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-accented approach from a fresh helmer. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the deal build is recognizable enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

The last three-year set help explain the model. In 2023, a exclusive window model that maintained windows did not preclude a dual release from working when the brand was robust. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror punched above its weight in PLF. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they angle differently and elevate 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters shot consecutively, allows marketing to link the films through protagonists and motifs and to keep materials circulating without doldrums.

Craft and creative trends

The craft rooms behind these films suggest a continued tilt toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that centers creep and texture rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with my company the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in feature stories and technical spotlights before rolling out a first look that withholds plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for red-band excess, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and generates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta refresh that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will live or die on creature work and production design, which work nicely for con floor moments and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel irresistible. Look for trailers that emphasize precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that sing on PLF.

Calendar cadence

January is heavy. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid big-brand pushes. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the variety of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Winter into spring seed summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

August into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder season window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a opaque tease strategy and limited asset reveals that center concept over reveals.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and holiday card usage.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s genetic code. 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 loss-struck man’s algorithmic partner unfolds into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: gothic-game 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 try to survive on a rugged island as the power dynamic inverts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to menace, rooted in Cronin’s hands-on craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting setup that interrogates the unease of a child’s uncertain interpretations. Rating: rating pending. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-grade and star-fronted supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A genre lampoon that pokes at in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fascinations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites surges, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new family caught in older hauntings. Rating: undetermined. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: pending. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for pure survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: not yet rated. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: TBD. Production: continuing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and primordial menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026, why now

Three operational forces inform this lineup. First, production that decelerated or migrated in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly 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 releases. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage clippable moments from test screenings, curated scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, clearing runway for genre entries that can capture a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will line up across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

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 robust premium-format allocation without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The underdog chase continues in Q1, where lower and mid-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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a spread, 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 runs hard, 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 sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, soundcraft, and image-making that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand heft where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, guard the secrets, and let the gasps sell the seats.