Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens ancient dread, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on major streaming services

This terrifying metaphysical horror tale from literary architect / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an mythic dread when passersby become tokens in a demonic struggle. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish chronicle of staying alive and archaic horror that will alter scare flicks this Halloween season. Directed by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and tone-heavy fearfest follows five teens who wake up imprisoned in a hidden cottage under the malevolent rule of Kyra, a young woman controlled by a time-worn biblical force. Be prepared to be captivated by a audio-visual presentation that intertwines soul-chilling terror with timeless legends, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a recurring motif in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is inverted when the entities no longer manifest from beyond, but rather from deep inside. This portrays the most sinister corner of the players. The result is a bone-chilling mental war where the intensity becomes a soul-crushing contest between virtue and vice.


In a forsaken forest, five souls find themselves isolated under the dark force and infestation of a uncanny spirit. As the cast becomes unable to escape her curse, left alone and pursued by forces ungraspable, they are thrust to wrestle with their darkest emotions while the clock without pause moves toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread rises and links dissolve, requiring each participant to reflect on their existence and the concept of decision-making itself. The tension magnify with every passing moment, delivering a cinematic nightmare that blends occult fear with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to extract instinctual horror, an evil born of forgotten ages, working through fragile psyche, and questioning a entity that questions who we are when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra involved tapping into something beyond human emotion. She is insensitive until the control shifts, and that turn is eerie because it is so emotional.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for audiences beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing horror lovers globally can dive into this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its original clip, which has received over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, spreading the horror to a worldwide audience.


Don’t miss this unforgettable exploration of dread. Watch *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to face these unholy truths about the soul.


For bonus footage, special features, and promotions directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursed across social media and visit the movie portal.





U.S. horror’s pivotal crossroads: the 2025 season U.S. Slate braids together archetypal-possession themes, signature indie scares, set against returning-series thunder

Across life-or-death fear steeped in primordial scripture and stretching into IP renewals set beside surgical indie voices, 2025 is lining up as horror’s most layered along with intentionally scheduled year in recent memory.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. Major studios stabilize the year using marquee IP, simultaneously platform operators front-load the fall with debut heat together with primordial unease. At the same time, horror’s indie wing is fueled by the kinetic energy of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, and in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are targeted, as a result 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Premium dread reemerges

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s slate begins the calendar with a marquee bet: a reimagined Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, but a sharp contemporary setting. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. timed for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Directed by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s pipeline releases the last chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Though the formula is familiar, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re teams, and the tone that worked before is intact: retro dread, trauma explicitly handled, and a cold supernatural calculus. This run ups the stakes, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, courting teens and the thirty something base. It bows in December, buttoning the final window.

Streamer Exclusives: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a two hander body horror spiral anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It reads as sharp positioning. No puffed out backstory. No continuity burden. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Heritage Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Trends Worth Watching

Myth turns mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror comes roaring back
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theaters are a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

What’s Next: Autumn density and winter pivot

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 such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide 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. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The new chiller release year: continuations, standalone ideas, as well as A jammed Calendar optimized for chills

Dek: The brand-new genre year crowds at the outset with a January wave, subsequently stretches through the mid-year, and running into the festive period, blending brand heft, untold stories, and tactical counterweight. Distributors with platforms are embracing right-sized spends, cinema-first plans, and social-driven marketing that elevate these pictures into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror marketplace has shown itself to be the steady lever in release plans, a category that can scale when it hits and still limit the drawdown when it doesn’t. After 2023 signaled to studio brass that low-to-mid budget scare machines can steer the national conversation, the following year extended the rally with auteur-driven buzzy films and slow-burn breakouts. The upswing extended into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and awards-minded projects highlighted there is space for multiple flavors, from legacy continuations to original one-offs that scale internationally. The result for 2026 is a slate that shows rare alignment across players, with defined corridors, a equilibrium of brand names and fresh ideas, and a recommitted emphasis on exclusive windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium home window and OTT platforms.

Schedulers say the genre now functions as a plug-and-play option on the distribution slate. Horror can debut on virtually any date, provide a quick sell for marketing and reels, and outperform with fans that respond on first-look nights and stay strong through the sophomore frame if the feature hits. Exiting a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 pattern exhibits certainty in that logic. The slate gets underway with a weighty January corridor, then turns to spring and early summer for audience offsets, while clearing room for a September to October window that carries into Halloween and into the next week. The gridline also shows the increasing integration of specialized labels and home platforms that can build gradually, stoke social talk, and widen at the optimal moment.

A further high-level trend is brand curation across shared IP webs and long-running brands. Studios are not just turning out another chapter. They are trying to present connection with a premium feel, whether that is a title treatment that flags a tonal shift or a lead change that reconnects a fresh chapter to a early run. At the alongside this, the directors behind the most watched originals are leaning into hands-on technique, in-camera effects and place-driven backdrops. That interplay affords 2026 a smart balance of trust and surprise, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount sets the tone early with two big-ticket titles that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the spine, framing it as both a cross-generational handoff and a heritage-centered character study. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the tonal posture suggests a heritage-honoring mode without rehashing the last two entries’ sisters thread. Expect a marketing push built on signature symbols, initial cast looks, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reboots 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 creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will foreground. As a summer contrast play, this one will hunt four-quadrant chatter through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format inviting quick updates to whatever defines trend lines that spring.

Universal has three specific projects. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is efficient, tragic, and big-hook: a grieving man onboards an machine companion that grows into a dangerous lover. The date positions it at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s team likely to echo uncanny-valley stunts and bite-size content that threads attachment and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a title reveal to become an earned moment closer to the teaser. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. His projects are branded as auteur events, with a teaser that holds back and a next wave of trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date allows Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has proven that a gritty, hands-on effects strategy can feel prestige on a middle budget. Expect a hard-R summer horror shot that emphasizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio sets two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, continuing a bankable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is marketing as a reset 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 mission to serve both loyalists and newcomers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build marketing units around canon, and creature builds, elements that can boost deluxe auditorium demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in meticulous craft and period language, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is favorable.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform plans for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal titles window into copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a ladder that expands both launch urgency and subscriber lifts in the back half. Prime Video will mix licensed films with global acquisitions and targeted theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in archive usage, using prominent placements, October hubs, and featured rows to keep attention on the 2026 genre total. Netflix plays opportunist about Netflix originals and festival grabs, dating get redirected here horror entries with shorter lead times and staging as events rollouts with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a hybrid of precision releases and fast windowing that turns chatter to conversion. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has shown a willingness to take on select projects with established auteurs or celebrity-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is curating a 2026 lane with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is tight: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, reimagined for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the late stretch.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, stewarding the film through festival season if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday dates to expand. That positioning has proved effective for director-led genre with mainstream crossovers. 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 credible outlook is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception warrants. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using targeted theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their community.

Balance of brands and originals

By volume, 2026 leans toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on marquee value. The watch-out, as ever, is staleness. The near-term solution is to market each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is spotlighting relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a European tilt from a new voice. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the assembly is known enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Past-three-year patterns announce the plan. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that maintained windows did not prevent a simultaneous release test from winning when the brand was trusted. In 2024, art-forward horror rose in premium large format. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel new when they change perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, creates space for marketing to thread films through protagonists and motifs and to keep materials circulating without dead zones.

Production craft signals

The director conversations behind this year’s genre hint at a continued lean toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that centers creep and texture rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in craft profiles and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that withholds plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and spurs shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta refresh that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster realization and design, which align with fan-con activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel compelling. Look for trailers that underscore fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that sing on PLF.

How the year maps out

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. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid larger brand plays. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the spread of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Early-year through spring tee up summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into 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 spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

August into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a late-September window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited advance reveals that favor idea over plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can open up 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 in progress as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s artificial companion turns into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 severe boss struggle to survive on a cut-off island as the hierarchy flips and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to menace, driven by Cronin’s practical craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting story that threads the dread through a child’s flickering POV. Rating: rating pending. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that skewers present-day genre chatter and true-crime obsessions. Rating: awaiting classification. 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 bursts, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a fresh family lashed to residual nightmares. Rating: undetermined. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A restart designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: forthcoming. Production: moving forward. 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: TBD. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. 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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three workable forces structure this lineup. First, production that downshifted or shifted in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and tighter 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 overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming placements. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on bite-size scare clips from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Calendar math also matters. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will share space across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 modest-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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural weblink combo for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, 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 hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, sound, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand equity where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, guard the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.