Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primeval horror, a pulse pounding thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on major streaming services

This eerie supernatural shockfest from author / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an age-old fear when unfamiliar people become tools in a cursed trial. Launching this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping portrayal of struggle and forgotten curse that will revamp terror storytelling this fall. Visualized by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and tone-heavy screenplay follows five individuals who snap to trapped in a hidden cottage under the hostile power of Kyra, a troubled woman haunted by a 2,000-year-old biblical demon. Arm yourself to be hooked by a audio-visual journey that melds instinctive fear with biblical origins, streaming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a historical foundation in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is turned on its head when the fiends no longer appear outside their bodies, but rather within themselves. This mirrors the shadowy version of each of them. The result is a riveting inner struggle where the story becomes a unforgiving struggle between right and wrong.


In a remote wild, five campers find themselves stuck under the evil influence and curse of a obscure female presence. As the victims becomes paralyzed to resist her curse, abandoned and targeted by spirits unnamable, they are pushed to battle their inner horrors while the final hour unceasingly ticks toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread mounts and connections collapse, demanding each protagonist to examine their values and the principle of liberty itself. The threat accelerate with every second, delivering a frightening tale that weaves together occult fear with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to uncover instinctual horror, an threat that existed before mankind, feeding on fragile psyche, and navigating a being that redefines identity when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra was centered on something past sanity. She is blind until the evil takes hold, and that pivot is haunting because it is so visceral.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for digital release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—providing households in all regions can witness this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its release of trailer #1, which has gathered over a viral response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, delivering the story to scare fans abroad.


Tune in for this cinematic descent into darkness. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to explore these dark realities about the psyche.


For bonus footage, on-set glimpses, and updates from the story's source, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across platforms and visit our film’s homepage.





U.S. horror’s pivotal crossroads: 2025 across markets U.S. lineup interlaces ancient-possession motifs, microbudget gut-punches, set against brand-name tremors

Beginning with endurance-driven terror steeped in mythic scripture and including series comebacks together with acutely observed indies, 2025 looks like the genre’s most multifaceted in tandem with intentionally scheduled year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Top studios hold down the year with established lines, even as SVOD players prime the fall with discovery plays paired with scriptural shivers. On the independent axis, independent banners is riding the uplift of 2024’s record festival wave. Since Halloween is the prized date, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A fat September–October lane is customary now, distinctly in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are surgical, which means 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: High-craft horror returns

The top end is active. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal kicks off the frame with a big gambit: a refashioned Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. From director Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. targeting mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Helmed by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

When summer fades, Warner’s pipeline bows the concluding entry of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson returns, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: old school creep, trauma as narrative engine, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time, the stakes are raised, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, broadens the animatronic terror cast, reaching teens and game grownups. It bows in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Originals: Economy, maximum dread

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a tight space body horror vignette starring 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. Before a platform date is locked, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also rising is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative led by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly 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 all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. From writer director 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 nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. 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.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a calculated bet. No bloated mythology. No continuity burden. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, under Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

What to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror reemerges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Near Term Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The new spook release year: continuations, original films, and also A stacked Calendar designed for nightmares

Dek The arriving genre cycle lines up from the jump with a January logjam, thereafter spreads through June and July, and far into the festive period, blending legacy muscle, new voices, and smart counterplay. The major players are prioritizing smart costs, theater-first strategies, and social-driven marketing that transform genre titles into cross-demo moments.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The horror sector has turned into the most reliable release in release strategies, a corner that can spike when it lands and still limit the liability when it misses. After the 2023 year re-taught decision-makers that modestly budgeted pictures can lead cultural conversation, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with visionary-driven titles and stealth successes. The run flowed into 2025, where legacy revivals and arthouse crossovers signaled there is space for many shades, from series extensions to non-IP projects that translate worldwide. The net effect for 2026 is a run that appears tightly organized across the market, with mapped-out bands, a equilibrium of marquee IP and novel angles, and a re-energized strategy on big-screen windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium on-demand and home streaming.

Executives say the space now slots in as a schedule utility on the distribution slate. The genre can arrive on a wide range of weekends, supply a tight logline for spots and social clips, and outperform with demo groups that appear on previews Thursday and sustain through the week two if the feature hits. Following a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 rhythm telegraphs certainty in that engine. The slate kicks off with a heavy January schedule, then targets spring into early summer for counterweight, while keeping space for a September to October window that reaches into late October and past the holiday. The arrangement also includes the greater integration of specialized imprints and SVOD players that can build gradually, fuel WOM, and grow at the right moment.

A parallel macro theme is brand curation across ongoing universes and storied titles. Big banners are not just rolling another entry. They are looking to package brand continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title design that telegraphs a tonal shift or a talent selection that anchors a next film to a classic era. At the meanwhile, the creative teams behind the most buzzed-about originals are celebrating in-camera technique, physical gags and specific settings. That fusion gives 2026 a vital pairing of familiarity and shock, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount fires first with two spotlight titles that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the center, setting it up as both a lineage transfer and a return-to-roots character study. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach conveys a throwback-friendly angle without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run fueled by recognizable motifs, first images of characters, and a two-beat trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will emphasize. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will seek large awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick pivots to whatever tops pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three defined bets. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is simple, grief-rooted, and concept-forward: a grieving man purchases an machine companion that evolves into a deadly partner. The date sets it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to bring back odd public stunts and micro spots that mixes romance and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a public title to become an headline beat closer to the initial promo. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. His entries are marketed as event films, with a concept-forward tease and a next wave of trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The late-October frame offers Universal room to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has established that a visceral, makeup-driven method can feel premium on a efficient spend. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror blast that pushes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio mounts two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, preserving a dependable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is calling a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both diehards and first-timers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build marketing units around canon, and creature design, elements that can drive premium screens and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by minute detail and period speech, this time focused on werewolf legend. The specialty arm has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is positive.

Digital platform strategies

Platform tactics for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s slate land on copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a sequence that optimizes both first-week urgency and platform bumps in the later phase. Prime Video blends catalogue additions with global pickups and targeted theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in deep cuts, using editorial spots, seasonal hubs, and curated strips to prolong the run on the annual genre haul. Netflix plays opportunist about original films and festival wins, scheduling horror entries on shorter runways and eventizing go-lives with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a paired of limited theatrical footprints and quick platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a discrete basis. The platform has indicated interest to invest in select projects with established auteurs or marquee packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 sequence with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is clean: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, upgraded 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 telegraphed a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the autumn stretch.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, marshalling the project through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday dates to scale. That positioning has worked well for elevated genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a cluster 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 surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using select theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subs.

Known brands versus new stories

By tilt, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate cultural cachet. The potential drawback, as ever, is diminishing returns. The pragmatic answer is to brand each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is centering character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a European tilt from a ascendant talent. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and talent-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival chiller premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the packaging is known enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Past-three-year patterns make sense of the approach. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that respected streaming windows did not hamper a dual release from winning when the brand was big. In 2024, art-forward horror popped in premium large format. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they angle differently and increase ambition. 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 two-step approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to relate entries through cast and motif and to hold creative in the market without hiatuses.

Craft and creative trends

The filmmaking conversations behind the 2026 slate suggest a continued bias toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that foregrounds aura and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft coverage before rolling out a mood teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and spurs shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta inflection that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which play well in booth activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel compelling. Look for trailers that elevate disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in big rooms.

How the year maps out

January is loaded. 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 somber counterpoint amid heftier brand moves. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the spread of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth persists.

Winter into spring seed summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy reimagines 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 splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

August and September into October leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a transitional slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited plot reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and my company gift-card spend.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s machine mate evolves into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially 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: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: atmospheric 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 prickly boss fight to survive on a lonely island as the power balance turns and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

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 contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to terror, based on Cronin’s tactile craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting narrative that threads the dread through a youngster’s flickering subjective view. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-financed and celebrity-led supernatural mood piece.

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 needles present-day genre chatter and true-crime manias. Rating: undetermined. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites detonates, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further extends again, with a unlucky family caught in lingering terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-core horror over action fireworks. Rating: TBA. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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-specific language and ancient menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three execution-level forces define this lineup. First, production that decelerated or recalendared in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter 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 outperformed straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate social-ready stingers from test screenings, select scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will share space across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, 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 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, 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 tempo and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, smart allocations, 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 tactility, soundcraft, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Ready To Roar

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand gravity where needed, original vision where it matters, 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, protect the mystery, and let the shocks sell the seats.