Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primeval horror, a pulse pounding shocker, streaming Oct 2025 across top streaming platforms

A spine-tingling occult terror film from creator / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an long-buried entity when unfamiliar people become conduits in a dark contest. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving depiction of survival and age-old darkness that will reconstruct terror storytelling this spooky time. Created by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and claustrophobic fearfest follows five young adults who are stirred ensnared in a wilderness-bound dwelling under the unfriendly influence of Kyra, a central character overtaken by a ancient religious nightmare. Be warned to be hooked by a cinematic display that unites bone-deep fear with ancestral stories, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a classic motif in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is turned on its head when the spirits no longer originate from a different plane, but rather within themselves. This suggests the most sinister dimension of each of them. The result is a enthralling moral showdown where the tension becomes a unforgiving face-off between moral forces.


In a unforgiving wild, five young people find themselves caught under the malevolent dominion and overtake of a enigmatic female presence. As the group becomes helpless to combat her manipulation, exiled and tormented by beings inconceivable, they are forced to endure their emotional phantoms while the moments brutally ticks onward toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia builds and bonds collapse, requiring each survivor to examine their being and the structure of free will itself. The threat climb with every beat, delivering a fear-soaked story that combines demonic fright with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to evoke ancestral fear, an malevolence that existed before mankind, channeling itself through our weaknesses, and exposing a power that strips down our being when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra asked for exploring something rooted in terror. She is innocent until the possession kicks in, and that metamorphosis is gut-wrenching because it is so intimate.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that streamers from coast to coast can survive this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its initial teaser, which has pulled in over strong viewer count.


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


Mark your calendar for this unforgettable journey into fear. Watch *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to dive into these evil-rooted truths about the mind.


For featurettes, filmmaker commentary, and updates from the story's source, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Instagram and Twitter and visit youngandcursed.com.





Current horror’s watershed moment: 2025 in focus U.S. Slate weaves old-world possession, festival-born jolts, set against series shake-ups

Beginning with grit-forward survival fare inspired by biblical myth and including legacy revivals together with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 appears poised to be horror’s most layered paired with deliberate year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. Major studios bookend the months with familiar IP, in parallel digital services flood the fall with fresh voices as well as ancestral chills. In the indie lane, festival-forward creators is drafting behind the backdraft of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, yet in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are precise, therefore 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige fear returns

The top end is active. If 2024 set the base, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal camp starts the year with a marquee bet: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a crisp modern milieu. Led by Leigh Whannell and toplined by 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. Booked into mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Directed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer winds down, Warner’s slate drops the final chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Scott Derrickson returns, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: throwback unease, trauma foregrounded, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This run ups the stakes, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The next entry deepens the tale, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It hits in December, buttoning the final window.

Platform Plays: Economy, maximum dread

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

More contained by design is Together, a two hander body horror spiral pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns 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 platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is canny scheduling. No bloated canon. No canon weight. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

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

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Long Running Lines: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

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. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

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

Originals on platforms bite harder
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

What’s Next: Fall saturation and a winter joker

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 must fight for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The next genre Year Ahead: brand plays, Originals, And A hectic Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek: The brand-new horror season lines up at the outset with a January logjam, then carries through the mid-year, and straight through the holiday stretch, balancing series momentum, original angles, and calculated counterprogramming. Studio marketers and platforms are committing to mid-range economics, theatrical-first rollouts, and platform-native promos that pivot genre titles into mainstream chatter.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror sector has shown itself to be the predictable lever in release plans, a category that can scale when it performs and still limit the drag when it stumbles. After 2023 showed executives that responsibly budgeted scare machines can drive the national conversation, the following year carried the beat with director-led heat and surprise hits. The tailwind translated to the 2025 frame, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers signaled there is space for diverse approaches, from franchise continuations to original features that scale internationally. The result for 2026 is a schedule that shows rare alignment across distributors, with intentional bunching, a equilibrium of brand names and original hooks, and a refocused priority on theater exclusivity that increase tail monetization on premium on-demand and digital services.

Planners observe the category now performs as a utility player on the schedule. The genre can arrive on numerous frames, create a easy sell for creative and social clips, and overperform with demo groups that line up on opening previews and sustain through the week two if the movie delivers. Post a production delay era, the 2026 rhythm indicates confidence in that setup. The calendar opens with a crowded January stretch, then plants flags in spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while keeping space for a fall run that extends to holiday-adjacent weekends and into the next week. The grid also shows the expanded integration of specialty distributors and subscription services that can nurture a platform play, spark evangelism, and go nationwide at the right moment.

A companion trend is IP stewardship across interlocking continuities and heritage properties. Studios are not just making another return. They are shaping as lore continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a title presentation that indicates a re-angled tone or a cast configuration that anchors a new entry to a vintage era. At the concurrently, the auteurs behind the most anticipated originals are favoring tactile craft, physical gags and distinct locales. That alloy delivers 2026 a smart balance of recognition and newness, which is the formula for international play.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount defines the early cadence with two prominent bets that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the front, steering it as both a relay and a origin-leaning character-centered film. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture signals a roots-evoking angle without going over the last two entries’ sibling arc. Plan for a rollout rooted in brand visuals, character-first teases, and a two-beat trailer plan slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will feature. As a counterweight in summer, this one will chase large awareness through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format allowing quick reframes to whatever dominates the discourse that spring.

Universal has three clear releases. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is elegant, heartbroken, and concept-forward: a grieving man onboards an machine companion that evolves into a fatal companion. The date sets it at the front of a thick month, with the marketing arm likely to revisit eerie street stunts and brief clips that melds longing and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a official title to become an teaser payoff closer to the opening teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele projects are marketed as signature events, with a teaser that holds back and a later trailer push that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor offers Universal room to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a in-your-face, prosthetic-heavy approach can feel deluxe on a mid-range budget. Frame it as a viscera-heavy summer horror jolt that spotlights offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio mounts two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, maintaining a reliable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is selling as a new take 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 first-timers. The fall slot gives Sony time to build marketing units around universe detail, and monster design, elements that can lift format premiums and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by meticulous craft and linguistic texture, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus Features has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is enthusiastic.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform tactics for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s releases land on copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ordering that boosts both debut momentum and sub growth in the post-theatrical. Prime Video will mix catalogue additions with cross-border buys and limited runs in theaters when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in archive usage, using editorial spots, seasonal hubs, and programmed rows to increase tail value on the annual genre haul. Netflix plays opportunist about internal projects and festival grabs, locking in horror entries near their drops and coalescing around debuts with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a tiered of targeted theatrical exposure and fast windowing that drives paid trials from buzz. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a discrete basis. The platform has proven amenable to purchase select projects with award winners or star-led packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for sustained usage when the genre conversation intensifies.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 corridor with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is straightforward: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, refined for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday slot to go wider. That positioning has served the company well for arthouse horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception warrants. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Get More Info Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using select theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their membership.

IP versus fresh ideas

By tilt, 2026 leans in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness legacy awareness. The watch-out, as ever, is fatigue. The pragmatic answer is to position each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is underscoring character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-flavored turn from a rising filmmaker. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the bundle is comforting enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years illuminate the template. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that respected streaming windows did not foreclose a parallel release from hitting when the brand was strong. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror surged in premium screens. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they change perspective and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on 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 lensed back-to-back, creates space for marketing to thread films through personae and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without dead zones.

How the look and feel evolve

The craft conversations behind this year’s genre forecast a continued tilt 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 fits with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that underscores mood and dread rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and era-correct language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft coverage before rolling out a initial teaser that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at gristle and gore, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and earns shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta reframe that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster realization and design, which are ideal for fan conventions and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel necessary. Look for trailers that accent surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that work in PLF.

The schedule at a glance

January is stacked. 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 atmospheric change-up amid big-brand pushes. The month wraps 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 formidable, but the menu of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth carries.

Late Q1 and spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is have a peek here light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can play 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 moved through premium slots.

Late-season stretch leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil follows September 18, a early fall window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited plot reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed great post to read as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s AI companion turns into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: ambience-forward adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her demanding boss try to survive on a remote island as the chain of command inverts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to chill, shaped by Cronin’s hands-on craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 in-home haunting piece that frames the panic through a child’s uneven perspective. Rating: pending. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed and star-fronted ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A satirical comeback that targets today’s horror trends and true crime preoccupations. Rating: undetermined. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. 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 bursts, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a young family anchored to old terrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A clean reboot designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-core horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: undetermined. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: to be announced. Production: ongoing. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and elemental dread. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026, why now

Three operational forces define this lineup. First, production that paused or rearranged in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic 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 releases. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage repeatable beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Another factor is the scheduling math. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will share space across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where midrange-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 capitalize on those pockets. 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, 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 preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, audio design, and visuals 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.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand heft where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the scares sell the seats.