Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites age-old dread, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 across leading streamers

An frightening spectral terror film from screenwriter / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an age-old horror when guests become victims in a fiendish ceremony. Dropping this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing portrayal of resilience and ancient evil that will resculpt the horror genre this scare season. Directed by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and cinematic cinema piece follows five individuals who snap to stranded in a secluded shelter under the malevolent sway of Kyra, a possessed female overtaken by a legendary biblical demon. Be warned to be seized by a visual ride that integrates soul-chilling terror with arcane tradition, hitting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a time-honored tradition in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is challenged when the presences no longer originate outside their bodies, but rather deep within. This embodies the most primal aspect of all involved. The result is a emotionally raw inner struggle where the plotline becomes a unyielding push-pull between purity and corruption.


In a bleak landscape, five individuals find themselves marooned under the unholy control and possession of a unknown female figure. As the characters becomes submissive to escape her influence, isolated and tormented by unknowns impossible to understand, they are compelled to deal with their darkest emotions while the hours brutally ticks toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust deepens and partnerships fracture, coercing each person to evaluate their values and the concept of conscious will itself. The risk magnify with every breath, delivering a frightening tale that intertwines otherworldly panic with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to dig into basic terror, an power rooted in antiquity, feeding on our fears, and exposing a being that strips down our being when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra asked for exploring something rooted in terror. She is in denial until the possession kicks in, and that conversion is terrifying because it is so close.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—allowing households around the globe can witness this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its release of trailer #1, which has garnered over 100K plays.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, extending the thrill to scare fans abroad.


Be sure to catch this life-altering ride through nightmares. Join *Young & Cursed* this launch day to dive into these evil-rooted truths about inner darkness.


For bonus footage, director cuts, and news from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across online outlets and visit youngandcursed.com.





Contemporary horror’s pivotal crossroads: the 2025 season domestic schedule braids together primeval-possession lore, art-house nightmares, alongside brand-name tremors

From survival horror saturated with primordial scripture all the way to franchise returns together with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is emerging as the most variegated along with strategic year of the last decade.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. the big studios plant stakes across the year with known properties, even as platform operators stack the fall with discovery plays set against legend-coded dread. At the same time, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is fueled by the momentum of a banner 2024 fest year. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, but this year, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are calculated, hence 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Premium dread reemerges

The majors are assertive. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s slate fires the first shot with a statement play: a reconceived Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a crisp modern milieu. Under director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Booked into mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. From director Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer winds down, Warner’s slate unveils the final movement within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson resumes command, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: retrograde shiver, trauma driven plotting, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time, the stakes are raised, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The next entry deepens the tale, builds out the animatronic fear crew, reaching teens and game grownups. It drops in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Offerings: Low budgets, big teeth

While theaters bet on familiarity, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is destined for a fall landing.

On the docket is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable starring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It looks like sharp programming. No heavy handed lore. No continuity burden. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Franchise Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, under Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Key Trends

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror comes roaring back
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

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 terror Year Ahead: continuations, fresh concepts, And A stacked Calendar engineered for chills

Dek: The brand-new genre calendar packs early with a January wave, thereafter spreads through peak season, and running into the festive period, fusing IP strength, new concepts, and calculated counter-scheduling. Studios and platforms are prioritizing cost discipline, theatrical-first rollouts, and short-form initiatives that turn horror entries into all-audience topics.

How the genre looks for 2026

This space has solidified as the surest option in annual schedules, a corner that can spike when it catches and still buffer the exposure when it falls short. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for greenlighters that responsibly budgeted horror vehicles can galvanize mainstream conversation, the following year maintained heat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and surprise hits. The run translated to 2025, where re-entries and elevated films made clear there is room for different modes, from returning installments to filmmaker-driven originals that carry overseas. The result for the 2026 slate is a slate that appears tightly organized across companies, with clear date clusters, a equilibrium of familiar brands and new concepts, and a reinvigorated stance on theatrical windows that feed downstream value on premium digital rental and SVOD.

Studio leaders note the genre now functions as a swing piece on the calendar. The genre can arrive on a wide range of weekends, deliver a easy sell for creative and shorts, and exceed norms with moviegoers that show up on opening previews and stick through the subsequent weekend if the movie fires. Emerging from a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 plan underscores confidence in that playbook. The calendar begins with a thick January run, then exploits spring through early summer for contrast, while reserving space for a September to October window that flows toward the Halloween frame and into post-Halloween. The gridline also spotlights the stronger partnership of specialty distributors and SVOD players that can stage a platform run, create conversation, and scale up at the strategic time.

A further high-level trend is brand curation across linked properties and classic IP. The studios are not just releasing another next film. They are seeking to position lineage with a headline quality, whether that is a typeface approach that suggests a re-angled tone or a lead change that ties a upcoming film to a foundational era. At the concurrently, the creative leads behind the most anticipated originals are favoring on-set craft, real effects and place-driven backdrops. That interplay provides the 2026 slate a solid mix of trust and freshness, which is the formula for international play.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount marks the early tempo with two marquee entries that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, setting it up as both a relay and a heritage-centered character-forward chapter. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the story approach suggests a nostalgia-forward framework without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected rooted in classic imagery, intro reveals, and a two-beat trailer plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

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 set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will double down on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will seek wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format allowing quick pivots to whatever leads horror talk that spring.

Universal has three defined lanes. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is clean, heartbroken, and concept-forward: a grieving man brings home an synthetic partner that grows into a killer companion. The date lines it up at the front of a front-loaded month, with the Universal machine likely to recreate strange in-person beats and short reels that mixes affection and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a title reveal to become an PR pop closer to the opening teaser. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. His projects are positioned as auteur events, with a teaser that reveals little and a subsequent trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor lets the studio to fill 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, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has demonstrated that a gritty, practical-first strategy can feel top-tier on a controlled budget. Expect a grime-caked summer horror charge that spotlights overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio books two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, maintaining a consistent supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is marketing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both diehards and curious audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign pieces around narrative world, and monster aesthetics, elements that can stoke format premiums and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in rigorous craft and period language, this time engaging werewolf myth. The label has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is supportive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s releases shift to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a ordering that elevates both initial urgency and subscriber lifts in the downstream. Prime Video balances library titles with cross-border buys and small theatrical windows when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library pulls, using featured rows, fright rows, and programmed rows to increase tail value on overall cume. Netflix keeps flexible about in-house releases and festival buys, confirming horror entries toward the drop and making event-like launches with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a laddered of limited theatrical footprints and fast windowing that translates talk to trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown appetite to acquire select projects with prestige directors or star packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for monthly activity when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 corridor with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is simple: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, updated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then relying on the Christmas window to open out. That positioning has worked well for elevated genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception allows. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using boutique theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their community.

Known brands versus new stories

By count, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate franchise value. The concern, as ever, is overexposure. The practical approach is to position each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is underscoring character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-inflected take from a buzzed-about director. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and director-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the bundle is assuring enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Rolling three-year comps announce the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept clean windows did not preclude a day-and-date experiment from thriving when the brand was sticky. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror over-performed in premium formats. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they pivot perspective and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters shot consecutively, gives leeway to marketing to interlace chapters through character arcs and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without hiatuses.

Behind-the-camera trends

The director conversations behind the year’s horror signal a continued emphasis on hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that emphasizes creep and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft features before rolling out a teaser that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and produces shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a self-aware reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature work and production design, which fit with convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel irresistible. Look for trailers that spotlight precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that sing on PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is stacked. 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 somber counterpoint amid bigger brand plays. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the tone spread ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Q1 into Q2 build the summer base. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to 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 lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can deliver 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 rolled through premiums.

August and September into October leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a opaque tease strategy and limited disclosures that center concept over reveals.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift card usage.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s algorithmic partner shifts into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces 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 travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: fog-and-fear adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her hard-edged boss scramble to survive on a lonely island as the pecking order swivels and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. 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 renewed take that returns the monster to menace, rooted in Cronin’s in-camera craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting piece that threads the dread through a child’s unsteady internal vantage. Rating: TBD. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that pokes at present-day genre chatter and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites detonates, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new household linked to lingering terrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: pending. Logline: A fresh restart designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on pure survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: pending. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: undetermined. Production: moving forward. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 time-true diction and elemental dread. Rating: TBA. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the moment is 2026

Three pragmatic forces structure this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or rearranged in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage turnkey scare beats from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will compete across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind useful reference animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

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

The dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where value-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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo 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 chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to 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 deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, audio design, and image-making 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 in place. There is recognizable IP where it plays, inventive vision where it helps, 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, hold the mystery, and let the gasps sell the seats.