Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primordial evil, a nerve shredding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 on major streaming services

An bone-chilling occult scare-fest from narrative craftsman / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an ancient entity when outsiders become tokens in a fiendish ceremony. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping journey of living through and prehistoric entity that will reshape fear-driven cinema this harvest season. Produced by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and gothic tale follows five young adults who regain consciousness sealed in a hidden shelter under the dark command of Kyra, a female presence overtaken by a biblical-era religious nightmare. Be warned to be seized by a visual journey that melds bodily fright with biblical origins, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a enduring foundation in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is challenged when the entities no longer manifest from beyond, but rather inside them. This symbolizes the darkest shade of every character. The result is a enthralling mental war where the emotions becomes a intense struggle between purity and corruption.


In a forsaken forest, five friends find themselves confined under the evil aura and haunting of a unknown female presence. As the group becomes incapacitated to break her rule, severed and chased by entities indescribable, they are made to reckon with their core terrors while the time ruthlessly draws closer toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension intensifies and ties erode, driving each participant to question their self and the idea of conscious will itself. The stakes amplify with every tick, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that blends mystical fear with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to draw upon basic terror, an entity from prehistory, embedding itself in inner turmoil, and exposing a entity that strips down our being when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra was centered on something past sanity. She is uninformed until the spirit seizes her, and that conversion is haunting because it is so emotional.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing viewers anywhere can experience this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its first trailer, which has attracted over 100,000 views.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, presenting the nightmare to a worldwide audience.


Mark your calendar for this mind-warping trip into the unknown. Stream *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to acknowledge these fearful discoveries about our species.


For previews, production news, and press updates via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across platforms and visit youngandcursed.com.





Modern horror’s major pivot: 2025 across markets U.S. Slate blends biblical-possession ideas, underground frights, and series shake-ups

Moving from grit-forward survival fare saturated with biblical myth to installment follow-ups together with pointed art-house angles, 2025 appears poised to be the most stratified as well as blueprinted year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio majors hold down the year by way of signature titles, while SVOD players saturate the fall with emerging auteurs alongside scriptural shivers. On the independent axis, the art-house flank is propelled by the momentum from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, but this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are targeted, therefore 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal Pictures starts the year with a bold swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Directed by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. timed for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Led by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

By late summer, the Warner Bros. banner delivers the closing chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. While the template is known, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 follows. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson is back, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: retro dread, trauma driven plotting, with ghostly inner logic. The bar is raised this go, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The follow up digs further into canon, broadens the animatronic terror cast, bridging teens and legacy players. It books December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Originals: No Budget, No Problem

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Steered by 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 stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed 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 reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No puffed out backstory. No IP hangover. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to 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. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Series Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, with Francis Lawrence directing, 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, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Key Trends

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror ascends again
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Outlook: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. 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 mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The oncoming Horror calendar year ahead: next chapters, filmmaker-first projects, and also A Crowded Calendar aimed at chills

Dek The arriving terror cycle stacks immediately with a January crush, and then runs through June and July, and deep into the December corridor, mixing brand heft, inventive spins, and data-minded offsets. Studios and streamers are embracing responsible budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and platform-native promos that shape genre titles into mainstream chatter.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The horror marketplace has established itself as the surest move in annual schedules, a lane that can break out when it connects and still limit the liability when it underperforms. After the 2023 year reassured leaders that responsibly budgeted scare machines can steer pop culture, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with auteur-driven buzzy films and sleeper breakouts. The upswing flowed into 2025, where revivals and critical darlings proved there is appetite for a spectrum, from ongoing IP entries to fresh IP that export nicely. The sum for the 2026 slate is a roster that appears tightly organized across the industry, with planned clusters, a balance of familiar brands and new concepts, and a re-energized stance on exhibition windows that drive downstream revenue on paid VOD and platforms.

Studio leaders note the space now performs as a wildcard on the programming map. Horror can roll out on numerous frames, create a tight logline for spots and TikTok spots, and lead with patrons that turn out on first-look nights and stick through the second frame if the entry lands. Post a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 cadence underscores faith in that dynamic. The year launches with a thick January schedule, then primes spring and early summer for alternate plays, while saving space for a fall corridor that pushes into late October and past Halloween. The schedule also includes the ongoing integration of specialty arms and OTT outlets that can platform a title, create conversation, and roll out at the strategic time.

An added macro current is brand management across linked properties and established properties. Studios are not just making another continuation. They are setting up lore continuity with a occasion, whether that is a title presentation that conveys a new vibe or a cast configuration that ties a next film to a initial period. At the alongside this, the filmmakers behind the most anticipated originals are favoring material texture, makeup and prosthetics and vivid settings. That pairing offers the 2026 slate a healthy mix of assurance and shock, which is how the genre sells abroad.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount leads early with two centerpiece moves that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, marketing it as both a succession moment and a DNA-forward character study. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture telegraphs a heritage-honoring treatment without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run fueled by brand visuals, intro reveals, and a rollout cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will foreground. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will pursue mass reach through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format permitting quick pivots to whatever defines the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three separate releases. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is clean, sorrow-tinged, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man purchases an synthetic partner that turns into a dangerous lover. The date slots it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to recreate viral uncanny stunts and short-form creative that hybridizes devotion and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a public title to become an headline beat closer to the early tease. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles circle weblink other weekends.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s releases are framed as creative events, with a concept-forward tease and a second trailer wave that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The late-October frame gives the studio room to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work 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 helms, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has proven that a blood-soaked, practical-effects forward mix can feel elevated on a tight budget. Position this as a viscera-heavy summer horror hit that embraces offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio lines up two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, sustaining a consistent supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is presenting as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both players and curious audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build artifacts around world-building, and monster craft, elements that can fuel PLF interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by immersive craft and language, this time exploring werewolf lore. The distributor has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is robust.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform windowing in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s genre entries head to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a cadence that expands both launch urgency and platform bumps in the post-theatrical. Prime Video combines outside acquisitions with worldwide buys and select theatrical runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in back-catalog play, using curated hubs, genre hubs, and programmed rows to stretch the tail on the horror cume. Netflix stays nimble about first-party entries and festival snaps, dating horror entries with shorter lead times and eventizing premieres with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a two-step of targeted theatrical exposure and rapid platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown appetite to acquire select projects with name filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for monthly engagement when the genre conversation ramps.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 track with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is uncomplicated: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, updated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the fall weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, managing the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday frame to increase reach. That positioning has paid off for auteur horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception justifies. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using precision theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Balance of brands and originals

By tilt, 2026 tilts in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap franchise value. The concern, as ever, is audience fatigue. The standing approach is to present each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is elevating character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-tinted vision from a rising filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays provide the air. 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 marooned survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the bundle is grounded enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Rolling three-year comps announce the playbook. In 2023, a theater-first model that respected streaming windows did not obstruct a same-day experiment from succeeding when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror hit big in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they reframe POV and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters shot back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to link the films through relationships and themes and to keep assets alive without lulls.

Craft and creative trends

The shop talk behind this year’s genre point to a continued bias toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that highlights creep and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft features before rolling out a atmospheric tease that leans on mood over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and produces shareable screening reactions from navigate to this website early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a self-referential reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature work and production design, which favor fan-con activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel must-have. Look for trailers that foreground precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that play in premium auditoriums.

Month-by-month map

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 brooding contrast amid marquee brands. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the tonal variety ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth persists.

Post-January through spring prepare summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps 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 comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

August into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a pre-October slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a tease-and-hold strategy and limited previews that prioritize concept over plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and card redemption.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s virtual companion escalates into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

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 run into a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 tough boss fight to survive on a far-flung island as the power balance of power swivels and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 in the vault in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to terror, rooted in Cronin’s practical effects and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting narrative that frames the panic through a young child’s unreliable internal vantage. Rating: forthcoming. Production: locked. Positioning: major-studio and star-led supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that riffs on in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime crazes. Rating: not yet rated. Production: shoot planned 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 erupts, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further widens again, with a different family bound to ancient dread. Rating: TBA. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on pure survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. 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: undisclosed. Logline: closely held. Rating: TBD. 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 era-accurate language and elemental menace. Rating: TBD. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three practical forces frame this lineup. First, production that paused or shifted in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming drops. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify social-ready stingers from test screenings, controlled scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can capture a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will line up across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

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

The stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, smart allocations, 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 detail, soundscape, and cinematography that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand power where it counts, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, protect the mystery, and let the shocks sell the seats.