Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primordial evil, a hair raising feature, rolling out October 2025 across top digital platforms

One terrifying supernatural suspense film from writer / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an long-buried force when strangers become conduits in a hellish experiment. Airings begin on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish portrayal of resistance and archaic horror that will alter fear-driven cinema this harvest season. Helmed by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and cinematic fearfest follows five people who regain consciousness trapped in a wilderness-bound shack under the menacing rule of Kyra, a haunted figure claimed by a biblical-era sacred-era entity. Arm yourself to be absorbed by a theatrical event that unites instinctive fear with ancient myths, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a enduring trope in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is reimagined when the entities no longer descend from external sources, but rather through their own souls. This embodies the most sinister part of the cast. The result is a edge-of-seat emotional conflict where the narrative becomes a merciless tug-of-war between light and darkness.


In a unforgiving terrain, five friends find themselves caught under the possessive control and curse of a enigmatic character. As the youths becomes incapacitated to resist her command, left alone and followed by spirits beyond reason, they are made to endure their worst nightmares while the moments unforgivingly edges forward toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion deepens and connections shatter, requiring each survivor to rethink their existence and the principle of volition itself. The threat escalate with every beat, delivering a chilling narrative that fuses demonic fright with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to tap into pure dread, an force born of forgotten ages, feeding on inner turmoil, and confronting a will that strips down our being when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra asked for exploring something far beyond human desperation. She is in denial until the invasion happens, and that flip is deeply unsettling because it is so deep.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for public screening beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving audiences across the world can dive into this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its release of trailer #1, which has garnered over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, extending the thrill to viewers around the world.


Avoid skipping this haunted exploration of dread. Join *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to survive these evil-rooted truths about the human condition.


For behind-the-scenes access, filmmaker commentary, and alerts straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursed across media channels and visit the official movie site.





U.S. horror’s major pivot: the 2025 cycle U.S. rollouts weaves myth-forward possession, art-house nightmares, together with legacy-brand quakes

Ranging from fight-to-live nightmare stories suffused with old testament echoes and including installment follow-ups paired with focused festival visions, 2025 appears poised to be horror’s most layered paired with blueprinted year in the past ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. Top studios bookend the months by way of signature titles, in tandem streaming platforms flood the fall with new voices plus archetypal fear. In parallel, festival-forward creators is propelled by the backdraft from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. As Halloween stays the prime week, the other windows are mapped with care. A fat September–October lane is customary now, distinctly in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are exacting, thus 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige terror resurfaces

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

Universal’s slate fires the first shot with a bold swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. timed for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Directed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s schedule unveils the final movement from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. While the template is known, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re boards, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: retro dread, trauma as text, along with eerie supernatural rules. This time, the stakes are raised, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The new chapter enriches the lore, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, courting teens and the thirty something base. It books December, locking down the winter tail.

SVOD Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

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

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a body horror duet starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also notable is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in 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 clever angle. No overinflated mythology. No sequel clutter. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles 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.

Legacy IP: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, guided by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Signals and Trends

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror ascends again
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Forecast: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

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. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The new fear year to come: brand plays, universe starters, together with A Crowded Calendar tailored for jolts

Dek The fresh genre slate packs in short order with a January crush, then rolls through the mid-year, and straight through the holiday stretch, mixing marquee clout, fresh ideas, and shrewd release strategy. Major distributors and platforms are embracing responsible budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and viral-minded pushes that transform the slate’s entries into culture-wide discussion.

How the genre looks for 2026

This space has emerged as the dependable tool in annual schedules, a category that can accelerate when it breaks through and still cushion the drawdown when it stumbles. After the 2023 year demonstrated to buyers that lean-budget horror vehicles can lead social chatter, 2024 extended the rally with festival-darling auteurs and unexpected risers. The upswing rolled into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and critical darlings showed there is appetite for a variety of tones, from ongoing IP entries to original one-offs that carry overseas. The net effect for 2026 is a roster that appears tightly organized across distributors, with purposeful groupings, a balance of brand names and first-time concepts, and a re-energized emphasis on exclusive windows that boost PVOD and platform value on PVOD and streaming.

Studio leaders note the space now serves as a wildcard on the rollout map. The genre can debut on almost any weekend, furnish a clean hook for ad units and reels, and overperform with fans that arrive on first-look nights and sustain through the sophomore frame if the picture pays off. Emerging from a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 layout underscores belief in that dynamic. The calendar rolls out with a front-loaded January corridor, then taps spring and early summer for balance, while reserving space for a October build that connects to holiday-adjacent weekends and past Halloween. The calendar also includes the increasing integration of specialized labels and home platforms that can develop over weeks, grow buzz, and widen at the right moment.

A second macro trend is franchise tending across shared IP webs and veteran brands. Distribution groups are not just mounting another return. They are trying to present ongoing narrative with a heightened moment, whether that is a title presentation that conveys a fresh attitude or a ensemble decision that links a latest entry to a initial period. At the alongside this, the creative leads behind the most buzzed-about originals are embracing practical craft, physical gags and vivid settings. That convergence provides the 2026 slate a smart balance of recognition and invention, which is how the genre sells abroad.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount fires first with two headline pushes that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the center, framing it as both a cross-generational handoff and a rootsy character-first story. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative stance telegraphs a heritage-honoring angle without looping the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Expect a marketing push fueled by brand visuals, character spotlights, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will foreground. As a summer contrast play, this one will chase wide appeal through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format allowing quick shifts to whatever owns the conversation that spring.

Universal has three unique lanes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is clean, tragic, and concept-forward: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that turns into a dangerous lover. The date locates it at the front of a thick month, with the studio’s marketing likely to replay viral uncanny stunts and short reels that fuses romance and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a proper title to become an PR pop closer to the opening teaser. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s work are presented as signature events, with a mystery-first teaser and a later trailer push that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The prime October weekend creates space for Universal to take 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has long shown that a flesh-and-blood, practical-effects forward aesthetic can feel top-tier on a tight budget. Expect a hard-R summer horror surge that spotlights international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio mounts two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, carrying a dependable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is billing as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both franchise faithful and general audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build campaign pieces around canon, and monster design, elements that can stoke premium screens and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on historical precision and linguistic texture, this time circling werewolf lore. The label has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is robust.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform windowing in 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s releases head to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a cadence that boosts both first-week urgency and platform bumps in the after-window. Prime Video interleaves licensed films with international acquisitions and limited cinema engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in back-catalog play, using featured rows, October hubs, and editorial rows to maximize the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix retains agility about in-house releases and festival grabs, locking in horror entries with shorter lead times and coalescing around drops with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a dual-phase of limited theatrical footprints and quick platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a situational basis. The platform has shown a willingness to buy select projects with award winners or A-list packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for monthly activity when the genre conversation surges.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 pipeline with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is direct: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, modernized for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the back half.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through festival season if the cut is ready, then working the holiday frame to expand. That positioning has proved effective for director-led genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception justifies. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using precision theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their user base.

Known brands versus new stories

By number, the 2026 slate tips toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness legacy awareness. The watch-out, as ever, is brand erosion. The operating solution is to sell each entry as a new angle. Paramount is elevating relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-flavored turn from a hot helmer. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the assembly is known enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Recent-year comps announce the playbook. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that preserved streaming windows did not stop a dual release from delivering when the brand was potent. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror rose in premium large format. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel new when they rotate perspective and raise the stakes. 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 linked-chapter plan, with chapters filmed in sequence, allows marketing to cross-link entries through character and theme and to leave creative active without hiatuses.

Technique and craft currents

The director conversations behind the 2026 entries suggest a continued shift toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that underscores tone and tension rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in trade spotlights and guild coverage before rolling out a tone piece that withholds plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and spurs shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta pivot that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature work and production design, which work nicely for booth activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel key. Look for trailers that spotlight razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that land in big rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is heavy. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid big-brand pushes. The month closes 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 credible, but the variety of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Pre-summer months set up the summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late-season stretch leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a shoulder season window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a peekaboo tease plan and limited information drops that trade in concept over detail.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and card redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s digital partner shifts into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. 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 prickly boss battle to survive on a cut-off island as the power balance of power flips and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal 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 not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to menace, built on Cronin’s practical effects and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting story that toys with the unease of a child’s inconsistent interpretations. Rating: forthcoming. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-scale and name-above-title paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A satirical comeback that teases today’s horror trends and true-crime manias. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: production booked 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 overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new family tethered to lingering terrors. Rating: pending. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on pure survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: to be announced. Production: in progress. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and raw menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why this year, why now

Three pragmatic forces structure this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shuffled in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate clippable moments from test screenings, precision scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, offering breathing room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will stack 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 exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 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 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, 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 stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the weblink spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, sound field, and picture 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, Ready To Roar

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is IP strength where it matters, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the scares sell the seats.