Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes antediluvian malevolence, a chilling horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on major streaming services

An spine-tingling supernatural fear-driven tale from writer / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an timeless evil when unrelated individuals become vehicles in a cursed conflict. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful depiction of struggle and age-old darkness that will reimagine the fear genre this October. Realized by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and moody feature follows five individuals who snap to isolated in a far-off shelter under the menacing grip of Kyra, a cursed figure controlled by a two-thousand-year-old holy text monster. Get ready to be seized by a screen-based adventure that melds primitive horror with mystical narratives, hitting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a legendary foundation in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is subverted when the dark entities no longer originate from external sources, but rather internally. This depicts the shadowy version of the players. The result is a emotionally raw identity crisis where the emotions becomes a unyielding clash between innocence and sin.


In a isolated terrain, five friends find themselves imprisoned under the possessive grip and spiritual invasion of a enigmatic person. As the ensemble becomes powerless to break her will, cut off and followed by terrors mind-shattering, they are cornered to encounter their raw vulnerabilities while the final hour relentlessly strikes toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust grows and friendships crack, requiring each soul to rethink their being and the structure of freedom of choice itself. The intensity rise with every passing moment, delivering a frightening tale that integrates mystical fear with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to dig into instinctual horror, an force beyond time, filtering through inner turmoil, and wrestling with a will that redefines identity when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra needed manifesting something beyond human emotion. She is unseeing until the curse activates, and that flip is terrifying because it is so private.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for worldwide release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—allowing households across the world can be part of this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its original promo, which has racked up over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, bringing the film to fans of fear everywhere.


Tune in for this unforgettable spiral into evil. Stream *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to survive these unholy truths about the human condition.


For director insights, behind-the-scenes content, and updates via the production team, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Facebook and TikTok and visit the film’s website.





Today’s horror major pivot: the year 2025 stateside slate blends Mythic Possession, indie terrors, and legacy-brand quakes

From survivor-centric dread drawn from mythic scripture and stretching into installment follow-ups as well as acutely observed indies, 2025 appears poised to be the most textured plus deliberate year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. the big studios set cornerstones by way of signature titles, in parallel platform operators stack the fall with fresh voices plus scriptural shivers. On the independent axis, the artisan tier is propelled by the tailwinds from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. As Halloween stays the prime week, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, however this time, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are precise, accordingly 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Premium dread reemerges

The top end is active. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s schedule fires the first shot with a big gambit: a reimagined Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Directed by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. targeting mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Guided by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

At summer’s close, the Warner Bros. banner bows the concluding entry from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 follows. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: vintage toned fear, trauma foregrounded, with spooky supernatural reasoning. Here the stakes rise, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The return delves further into myth, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It posts in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Platform Plays: Tight funds, wide impact

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a body horror chamber piece including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is virtually assured for fall.

Then there is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable led by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It looks like sharp programming. No bloated canon. No canon weight. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Emerging Currents

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Projection: Autumn density and winter pivot

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The next fright slate: brand plays, new stories, and also A stacked Calendar engineered for jolts

Dek: The new genre year crowds in short order with a January pile-up, from there rolls through the mid-year, and continuing into the holidays, weaving franchise firepower, untold stories, and savvy counter-scheduling. Studios and platforms are betting on efficient budgets, theatrical leads, and shareable marketing that elevate these offerings into four-quadrant talking points.

The landscape of horror in 2026

This space has become the surest play in studio slates, a lane that can surge when it resonates and still cushion the drawdown when it under-delivers. After 2023 re-taught executives that cost-conscious entries can own audience talk, 2024 held pace with visionary-driven titles and unexpected risers. The trend rolled into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and premium-leaning entries underscored there is room for varied styles, from brand follow-ups to original one-offs that translate worldwide. The combined impact for 2026 is a slate that appears tightly organized across the major shops, with clear date clusters, a blend of household franchises and novel angles, and a sharpened focus on cinema windows that drive downstream revenue on premium digital rental and home platforms.

Planners observe the space now acts as a fill-in ace on the schedule. The genre can premiere on open real estate, provide a simple premise for teasers and reels, and outpace with fans that line up on previews Thursday and stay strong through the subsequent weekend if the offering satisfies. Following a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 pattern demonstrates belief in that playbook. The year gets underway with a stacked January stretch, then targets spring into early summer for contrast, while keeping space for a September to October window that flows toward late October and into post-Halloween. The schedule also highlights the continuing integration of specialty arms and SVOD players that can grow from platform, ignite recommendations, and widen at the proper time.

A parallel macro theme is series management across brand ecosystems and heritage properties. Distribution groups are not just turning out another entry. They are trying to present threaded continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a brandmark that telegraphs a fresh attitude or a ensemble decision that links a fresh chapter to a vintage era. At the alongside this, the writer-directors behind the most buzzed-about originals are leaning into on-set craft, physical gags and concrete locations. That mix provides the 2026 slate a solid mix of brand comfort and newness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount leads early with two spotlight titles that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the core, framing it as both a lineage transfer and a back-to-basics relationship-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the story approach points to a heritage-honoring mode without rehashing the last two entries’ sisters thread. Watch for a push leaning on franchise iconography, character previews, and a two-beat trailer plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will lean on. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will seek mass reach through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format inviting quick switches to whatever leads pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three unique bets. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is simple, tragic, and big-hook: a grieving man activates an synthetic partner that mutates into a killer companion. The date sets it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to reprise strange in-person beats and snackable content that threads love and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title reveal to become an attention spike closer to the first look. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His projects are treated as creative events, with a teaser that holds back and a second beat that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date lets the studio to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has consistently shown that a flesh-and-blood, hands-on effects method can feel big on a mid-range budget. Expect a grime-caked summer horror charge that spotlights worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio deploys two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, sustaining a evergreen supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what Sony is marketing as a reset 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 clearer mandate to serve both fans and newcomers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build promo materials around environmental design, and creature work, elements that can drive format premiums and cosplayer momentum.

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 maintains Eggers’ run of period horror driven by immersive craft and dialect, this time orbiting lycan myth. The label has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is warm.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform windowing in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s genre entries transition to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a ordering that elevates both week-one demand and trial spikes in the post-theatrical. Prime Video pairs third-party pickups with global acquisitions and select theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in archive usage, using in-app campaigns, Halloween hubs, and curated strips to keep attention on the horror cume. Netflix plays opportunist about first-party entries and festival wins, dating horror entries tight to release and elevating as drops rollouts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a tiered of targeted theatrical exposure and fast windowing that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to pick up select projects with award winners or A-list packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation ramps.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 pipeline with two recognizable titles. 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 atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, upgraded for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn stretch.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday frame to widen. That positioning has proved effective for craft-driven horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception drives. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using boutique theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Franchise entries versus originals

By number, the 2026 slate favors the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate legacy awareness. The caveat, as ever, is diminishing returns. The go-to fix is to package each entry as a new angle. Paramount is elevating character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-tinted vision from a hot helmer. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and director-first projects provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the cast-creatives package is known enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and preview-night turnout.

Recent-year comps announce the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that preserved streaming windows did not block a day-date try from thriving when the brand was strong. In 2024, art-forward horror outperformed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they pivot perspective and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, builds a path for marketing to cross-link entries through protagonists and motifs and to keep assets alive without hiatuses.

Creative tendencies and craft

The craft conversations behind the 2026 entries point to a continued emphasis on material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that elevates unease and texture rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for news layered sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that leans on mood over plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and sparks shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta-horror reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster realization and design, which are ideal for convention floor stunts and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel compelling. Look for trailers that highlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that shine in top rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is jammed. 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 tonal palate cleanser amid marquee brands. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the menu of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth carries.

February through May tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can thrive 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.

August and September into October leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a early fall window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited asset reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and card redemption.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s algorithmic partner grows into something murderously loving. 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 prickly boss fight to survive on a lonely island as the control dynamic swivels and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to fear, driven by Cronin’s material craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting piece that plays with the fear of a child’s movies unreliable senses. Rating: forthcoming. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-financed and name-above-title eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A parody return that skewers today’s horror trends and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBD. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites erupts, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new family entangled with older hauntings. Rating: TBD. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A fresh restart designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-core horror over action fireworks. Rating: TBA. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: TBD. Production: active. 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 bone-deep menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three workable forces frame this lineup. First, production that downshifted or re-sequenced in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and tighter schedules. 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 surpassed straight-to-streaming launches. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work turnkey scare beats from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will compete across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

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

The search for sleepers continues in Q1, where low-to-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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, 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 flow and breadth. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, 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 texture, aural design, 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 Shapes Up Strong

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand gravity where needed, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, guard the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.