Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens antediluvian malevolence, a nightmare fueled horror thriller, debuting Oct 2025 across leading streamers

One frightening ghostly nightmare movie from scriptwriter / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an prehistoric nightmare when unknowns become instruments in a devilish struggle. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking tale of staying alive and timeless dread that will resculpt the fear genre this ghoul season. Visualized by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and claustrophobic film follows five unacquainted souls who regain consciousness ensnared in a secluded cabin under the malignant sway of Kyra, a haunted figure consumed by a timeless sacred-era entity. Steel yourself to be absorbed by a cinematic experience that integrates deep-seated panic with mystical narratives, unleashing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a mainstay fixture in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is flipped when the dark entities no longer form beyond the self, but rather internally. This echoes the most terrifying side of all involved. The result is a harrowing identity crisis where the story becomes a soul-crushing clash between divinity and wickedness.


In a barren natural abyss, five characters find themselves confined under the evil force and curse of a mysterious female figure. As the ensemble becomes incapable to withstand her power, severed and preyed upon by terrors ungraspable, they are made to endure their deepest fears while the deathwatch without pause edges forward toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust surges and relationships fracture, coercing each participant to examine their essence and the structure of conscious will itself. The pressure intensify with every passing moment, delivering a cinematic nightmare that weaves together otherworldly suspense with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to channel primal fear, an evil from ancient eras, influencing emotional fractures, and exposing a evil that peels away humanity when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra involved tapping into something darker than pain. She is ignorant until the takeover begins, and that transformation is deeply unsettling because it is so private.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for audiences beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—making sure customers globally can dive into this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its release of trailer #1, which has received over notable views.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, spreading the horror to scare fans abroad.


Witness this soul-jarring spiral into evil. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to acknowledge these dark realities about existence.


For cast commentary, extra content, and announcements from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across online outlets and visit our film’s homepage.





Current horror’s Turning Point: the 2025 season stateside slate melds ancient-possession motifs, indie terrors, stacked beside legacy-brand quakes

Running from pressure-cooker survival tales steeped in biblical myth as well as IP renewals as well as acutely observed indies, 2025 stands to become the most dimensioned plus tactically planned year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. Major studios set cornerstones with familiar IP, concurrently streaming platforms front-load the fall with debut heat as well as scriptural shivers. At the same time, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is drafting behind the momentum of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, however this time, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are methodical, accordingly 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The top end is active. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 accelerates.

the Universal camp sets the tone with an audacious swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in a clear present-tense world. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. Booked into mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. From director Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. drops the final chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re boards, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: throwback unease, trauma in the foreground, with spooky supernatural reasoning. Here the stakes rise, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The continuation widens the legend, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, reaching teens and game grownups. It lands in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Digital Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

While theaters lean on names and sequels, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

In the mix sits Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly 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.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Penned and steered 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. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is a calculated bet. No overweight mythology. No franchise baggage. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

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

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, with Francis Lawrence directing, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

What to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Season Ahead: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift 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.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The approaching scare Year Ahead: returning titles, non-franchise titles, plus A packed Calendar Built For Scares

Dek The new genre calendar stacks from the jump with a January wave, and then carries through summer, and well into the holiday stretch, combining franchise firepower, novel approaches, and savvy calendar placement. Studio marketers and platforms are doubling down on lean spends, cinema-first plans, and shareable marketing that convert these offerings into water-cooler talk.

The landscape of horror in 2026

This category has established itself as the dependable move in release plans, a space that can grow when it connects and still buffer the liability when it falls short. After 2023 reminded leaders that low-to-mid budget pictures can own audience talk, the following year held pace with buzzy auteur projects and word-of-mouth wins. The run flowed into 2025, where re-entries and festival-grade titles showed there is capacity for diverse approaches, from sequel tracks to director-led originals that resonate abroad. The takeaway for 2026 is a slate that seems notably aligned across players, with mapped-out bands, a harmony of familiar brands and original hooks, and a recommitted attention on big-screen windows that drive downstream revenue on premium video on demand and home streaming.

Distribution heads claim the genre now performs as a flex slot on the distribution slate. Horror can bow on almost any weekend, generate a tight logline for promo reels and platform-native cuts, and overperform with demo groups that line up on early shows and keep coming through the subsequent weekend if the film satisfies. Emerging from a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 layout demonstrates confidence in that engine. The calendar gets underway with a heavy January block, then turns to spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while leaving room for a fall corridor that extends to All Hallows period and past Halloween. The layout also illustrates the continuing integration of specialized labels and platforms that can platform and widen, grow buzz, and widen at the sweet spot.

An added macro current is series management across ongoing universes and long-running brands. Studios are not just rolling another chapter. They are aiming to frame lore continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title treatment that indicates a tonal shift or a lead change that reconnects a new installment to a initial period. At the parallel to that, the helmers behind the most buzzed-about originals are favoring on-set craft, makeup and prosthetics and site-specific worlds. That interplay gives the 2026 slate a robust balance of assurance and discovery, which is how the films export.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount plants an early flag with two high-profile plays that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, presenting it as both a baton pass and a foundation-forward character-focused installment. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance hints at a heritage-honoring treatment without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Count on a promo wave driven by brand visuals, early character teases, and a two-beat trailer plan hitting 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 on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will double down on. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will drive wide buzz through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format supporting quick pivots to whatever drives the conversation that spring.

Universal has three differentiated bets. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is simple, loss-driven, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man activates an algorithmic mate that evolves into a murderous partner. The date puts it at the front of a front-loaded month, with the studio’s marketing likely to renew viral uncanny stunts and micro spots that threads companionship and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a public title to become an fan moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele projects are set up as marquee events, with a minimalist tease and a next wave of trailers that signal tone without plot the concept. The spooky-season slot gives the studio room to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to 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 top-lining. The franchise has proven that a flesh-and-blood, practical-first execution can feel cinematic on a moderate cost. Expect a blood-and-grime summer horror hit that emphasizes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio mounts two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, keeping a trusty supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is positioning as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both devotees and newcomers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build materials around narrative world, and monster aesthetics, elements that can amplify premium screens and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror driven by obsessive craft and language, this time steeped in lycan lore. The specialty arm has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is supportive.

How the platforms plan to play it

Digital strategies for 2026 run on tested paths. The Universal horror run shift to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a pacing that boosts both debut momentum and viewer acquisition in the back half. Prime Video blends catalogue additions with international acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in catalog discovery, using in-app campaigns, holiday hubs, and featured rows to maximize the tail on lifetime take. Netflix stays opportunistic about original films and festival wins, confirming horror entries near their drops and elevating as drops debuts with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a tiered of targeted cinema placements and short jumps to platform that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a per-project basis. The platform has signaled readiness to buy select projects with name filmmakers or star-driven packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for retention when the genre conversation builds.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 arc with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is clean: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, recalibrated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the fall weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then working the holiday frame to move out. That positioning has been successful for arthouse horror 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 regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception warrants. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using limited runs to kindle evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Series vs standalone

By share, 2026 favors the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on marquee value. The watch-out, as ever, is overexposure. The workable fix is to frame each entry as a new angle. Paramount is foregrounding character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a continental coloration from a buzzed-about director. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a crash-survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the deal build is anchored enough to generate pre-sales and early previews.

Comparable trends from recent years contextualize the plan. In 2023, a cinema-first model that respected streaming windows did not block a hybrid test from succeeding when the brand was potent. In 2024, art-forward horror punched above its weight in premium screens. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel new when they pivot perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues 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, provides the means for marketing to thread films through character web and themes and to keep materials circulating without long breaks.

Production craft signals

The filmmaking conversations behind 2026 horror foreshadow a continued tilt toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that leans on unease and texture rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead press and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a preview that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for red-band excess, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and produces shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a self-referential reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature execution and sets, which lend themselves to convention floor stunts and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel essential. Look for trailers that center fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in premium houses.

Calendar cadence

January is busy. 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 atmospheric change-up amid bigger brand plays. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the tonal variety gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth sticks.

Early-year through spring tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s 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 presents hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a transitional slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a slow-reveal plan and limited plot reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and holiday card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to 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 mourning man’s algorithmic partner turns into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively 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 heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: tone-first 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 demanding boss scramble to survive on a desolate island as the power balance turns and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to fright, driven by Cronin’s physical craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting chiller that twists the fright of a child’s uncertain senses. Rating: forthcoming. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-crafted and marquee-led haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A comic send-up that needles hot-button genre motifs and true crime fervors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 detonates, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a different family anchored to ancient dread. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward pure survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and bone-deep menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three operational forces frame this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or re-slotted in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work repeatable beats from test screenings, metered scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, creating valuable space for genre entries that can control a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will cluster across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where disciplined-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to work those windows. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two 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 shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, acoustics, and cinematography that click to read more 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

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is recognizable IP where it plays, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence 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 late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the shocks sell the seats.