Age-old Dread reawakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked chiller, launching October 2025 on top streamers

An bone-chilling spiritual nightmare movie from dramatist / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an primeval force when foreigners become puppets in a dark ritual. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping depiction of staying alive and forgotten curse that will remodel scare flicks this October. Created by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and emotionally thick fearfest follows five unacquainted souls who regain consciousness isolated in a hidden shack under the dark manipulation of Kyra, a mysterious girl consumed by a 2,000-year-old Old Testament spirit. Ready yourself to be ensnared by a audio-visual experience that melds raw fear with biblical origins, coming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a long-standing element in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is radically shifted when the forces no longer emerge from a different plane, but rather inside them. This symbolizes the most sinister shade of every character. The result is a enthralling psychological battle where the narrative becomes a unforgiving tug-of-war between divinity and wickedness.


In a remote terrain, five souls find themselves trapped under the evil rule and grasp of a secretive being. As the group becomes helpless to withstand her rule, abandoned and chased by entities unimaginable, they are compelled to endure their inner demons while the moments harrowingly counts down toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia intensifies and bonds implode, driving each protagonist to doubt their true nature and the concept of conscious will itself. The intensity intensify with every instant, delivering a horror experience that intertwines spiritual fright with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to dive into ancestral fear, an malevolence before modern man, emerging via mental cracks, and testing a evil that questions who we are when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra involved tapping into something unfamiliar to reason. She is insensitive until the entity awakens, and that flip is deeply unsettling because it is so internal.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for streaming beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring users worldwide can survive this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its intro video, which has received over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, delivering the story to international horror buffs.


Do not miss this gripping voyage through terror. Enter *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to explore these nightmarish insights about our species.


For cast commentary, behind-the-scenes content, and alerts directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit our spooky domain.





Current horror’s watershed moment: the 2025 cycle U.S. Slate fuses biblical-possession ideas, festival-born jolts, in parallel with legacy-brand quakes

Running from grit-forward survival fare drawn from near-Eastern lore and extending to franchise returns plus focused festival visions, 2025 is tracking to be the most complex and intentionally scheduled year in years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. leading studios stabilize the year with franchise anchors, in tandem OTT services load up the fall with first-wave breakthroughs in concert with legend-coded dread. In parallel, festival-forward creators is fueled by the afterglow from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, but this year, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are surgical, accordingly 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Premium dread reemerges

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

the Universal camp leads off the quarter with a marquee bet: a reimagined Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in a clear present-tense world. From director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. timed for mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. From director Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

When summer fades, Warner’s schedule releases the last chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re boards, and the memorable motifs return: old school creep, trauma explicitly handled, along with eerie supernatural rules. The stakes escalate here, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The continuation widens the legend, builds out the animatronic fear crew, reaching teens and game grownups. It arrives in December, buttoning the final window.

Streamer Exclusives: Modest spend, serious shock

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a body horror chamber piece pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Next comes Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable starring Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. From writer director 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. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within 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 is an astute call. No puffed out backstory. No sequel clutter. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

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

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. 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. 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 is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy Brands: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, steered by 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.

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.

Trends Worth Watching

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

Body horror retakes ground
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Laurels convert to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Forward View: Fall pileup, winter curveball

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The new terror season: brand plays, new stories, together with A jammed Calendar Built For goosebumps

Dek The arriving scare season loads up front with a January logjam, following that carries through summer, and running into the holidays, combining marquee clout, new concepts, and tactical calendar placement. Studios with streamers are leaning into efficient budgets, box-office-first windows, and influencer-ready assets that frame genre releases into broad-appeal conversations.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The horror sector has grown into the steady option in distribution calendars, a vertical that can lift when it performs and still mitigate the downside when it stumbles. After 2023 proved to decision-makers that mid-range shockers can galvanize pop culture, 2024 sustained momentum with signature-voice projects and unexpected risers. The run carried into 2025, where reawakened brands and prestige plays highlighted there is room for a variety of tones, from ongoing IP entries to original one-offs that carry overseas. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a lineup that reads highly synchronized across the industry, with clear date clusters, a spread of household franchises and novel angles, and a tightened commitment on theater exclusivity that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium digital and home platforms.

Planners observe the horror lane now acts as a versatile piece on the grid. Horror can launch on a wide range of weekends, yield a easy sell for promo reels and shorts, and outstrip with fans that appear on Thursday previews and stay strong through the second weekend if the movie fires. On the heels of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 layout underscores faith in that playbook. The calendar launches with a busy January schedule, then leans on spring and early summer for alternate plays, while reserving space for a fall cadence that extends to the Halloween frame and afterwards. The grid also underscores the greater integration of specialized imprints and digital platforms that can grow from platform, generate chatter, and roll out at the strategic time.

A parallel macro theme is IP stewardship across unified worlds and long-running brands. Studio teams are not just rolling another follow-up. They are trying to present lore continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a title treatment that telegraphs a new vibe or a casting pivot that connects a fresh chapter to a classic era. At the simultaneously, the auteurs behind the marquee originals are championing real-world builds, on-set effects and location-forward worlds. That blend offers the 2026 slate a vital pairing of recognition and surprise, which is why the genre exports well.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount fires first with two marquee pushes that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, signaling it as both a legacy handover and a foundation-forward character-first story. Production is active in Atlanta, and the tonal posture points to a throwback-friendly angle without rehashing the last two entries’ sibling arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive driven by iconic art, character spotlights, and a rollout cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will play up. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will hunt four-quadrant chatter through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format inviting quick turns to whatever dominates pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three defined entries. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is elegant, sorrow-tinged, and concept-forward: a grieving man onboards an AI companion that escalates into a deadly partner. The date lines it up at the front of a competition-heavy month, with the marketing arm likely to revisit strange in-person beats and short-cut promos that melds intimacy and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a final title to become an PR pop closer to the initial promo. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele titles are presented as creative events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a next wave of trailers that signal tone without plot the concept. The late-October frame affords Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has made clear that a tactile, in-camera leaning treatment can feel high-value on a efficient spend. Expect a grime-caked summer horror blast that spotlights global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio sets two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, sustaining a steady supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is marketing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both diehards and first-timers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build artifacts around narrative world, and monster design, elements that can increase premium booking interest and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror defined by minute detail and archaic language, this time exploring werewolf lore. The company has already set the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is glowing.

Streaming windows and tactics

Windowing plans in 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s horror titles feed copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a sequence that fortifies both FOMO and sign-up spikes in the later phase. Prime Video stitches together outside acquisitions with global acquisitions and targeted theatrical runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in archive usage, using well-timed internal promotions, seasonal hubs, and editorial rows to prolong the run on overall cume. Netflix keeps flexible about originals and festival additions, scheduling horror entries closer to drop and making event-like rollouts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a one-two of tailored theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will matter 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+ assesses case by case horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has shown a willingness to take on select projects with recognized filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is curating a 2026 arc with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is direct: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, upgraded for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has positioned a traditional cinema play for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the September weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, curating the rollout through select festivals if the cut is ready, then working the Christmas corridor to increase reach. That positioning has shown results for craft-driven horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception encourages. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using precision theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their community.

Franchises versus originals

By number, 2026 is weighted toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit legacy awareness. The challenge, as ever, is audience fatigue. The workable fix is to sell each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is underscoring character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a European tilt from a new voice. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with signature tonal 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 familiar IP, the packaging is recognizable enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Recent comps outline the method. In 2023, a exclusive window model that held distribution windows did not prevent a parallel release from thriving when the brand was powerful. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror popped in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they alter lens and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward 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, gives leeway to marketing to bridge entries through cast and motif and to keep assets alive without long gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 slate foreshadow a continued tilt toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that centers atmosphere and fear rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft coverage before rolling out a tease that withholds plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and drives shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta refresh that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature work and production design, which fit with convention activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel compelling. Look for trailers that accent razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and useful reference sudden silences that shine in top rooms.

Calendar cadence

January is crowded. 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 foggy reset amid headline IP. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the variety 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 rolls out February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s 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 spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a minimalist tease strategy and limited teasers that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s virtual companion mutates into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: gothic-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 push to survive on a remote island as the pecking order turns and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to dread, driven by Cronin’s practical craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting scenario that manipulates the fear of a child’s shaky point of view. Rating: forthcoming. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-financed and celebrity-led eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A satire sequel that skewers current genre trends and true crime fervors. Rating: TBD. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 flares, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a another family linked to residual nightmares. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-driven horror over action spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: TBD. Production: moving forward. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and elemental dread. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. 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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 lands now

Three workable forces inform this lineup. First, production that paused or reshuffled in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming landings. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on shareable moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

There is also the slotting calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, creating valuable space for genre entries that can control a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns More about the author with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where lean-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 use those gaps. 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. Expect a healthy 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 year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run 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 austere, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, audio design, and picture that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand heft where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of 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, shape lean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.