Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primeval horror, a pulse pounding thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on top streamers

This blood-curdling unearthly fright fest from storyteller / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an prehistoric nightmare when strangers become instruments in a hellish conflict. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking journey of resistance and old world terror that will remodel genre cinema this cool-weather season. Produced by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and atmospheric story follows five figures who snap to ensnared in a wooded shack under the sinister rule of Kyra, a haunted figure haunted by a 2,000-year-old scriptural evil. Get ready to be enthralled by a motion picture ride that harmonizes deep-seated panic with timeless legends, hitting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a legendary motif in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is twisted when the entities no longer come from a different plane, but rather internally. This depicts the most hidden shade of the players. The result is a harrowing emotional conflict where the intensity becomes a unyielding fight between righteousness and malevolence.


In a bleak forest, five teens find themselves isolated under the ghastly influence and possession of a elusive figure. As the protagonists becomes unable to combat her dominion, exiled and tracked by spirits indescribable, they are obligated to stand before their raw vulnerabilities while the deathwatch without pause winds toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust deepens and associations crack, driving each protagonist to scrutinize their being and the concept of freedom of choice itself. The risk surge with every second, delivering a horror experience that weaves together otherworldly panic with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to explore raw dread, an evil before modern man, manifesting in our fears, and wrestling with a will that strips down our being when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra needed manifesting something far beyond human desperation. She is ignorant until the spirit seizes her, and that conversion is gut-wrenching because it is so visceral.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for streaming beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—so that fans anywhere can face this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its initial teaser, which has received over 100K plays.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, offering the tale to a worldwide audience.


Avoid skipping this visceral path of possession. Confront *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to dive into these evil-rooted truths about the human condition.


For bonus footage, behind-the-scenes content, and insider scoops from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACMovie across platforms and visit our horror hub.





Contemporary horror’s major pivot: 2025 U.S. lineup braids together myth-forward possession, underground frights, stacked beside legacy-brand quakes

Across endurance-driven terror saturated with scriptural legend and extending to brand-name continuations plus incisive indie visions, 2025 is tracking to be horror’s most layered combined with intentionally scheduled year in a decade.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. the big studios lock in tentpoles through proven series, in tandem streaming platforms crowd the fall with new perspectives paired with ancestral chills. Meanwhile, the art-house flank is propelled by the afterglow of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween holding the peak, the other windows are mapped with care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and now, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are surgical, as a result 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Premium dread reemerges

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal Pictures begins the calendar with a marquee bet: a reimagined Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. From director Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. landing in mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

Toward summer’s end, the Warner lot bows the concluding entry from its bankable horror series: 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. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re boards, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: nostalgic menace, trauma as theme, plus otherworld rules that chill. This time the stakes climb, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The continuation widens the legend, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It drops in December, pinning the winter close.

Streaming Offerings: Slim budgets, major punch

While the big screen favors titles you know, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a close quarters body horror study featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Also notable is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable led by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, 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.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No overstuffed canon. No IP hangover. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Series Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

What to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror swings back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Forward View: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

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

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The approaching terror slate: continuations, new stories, paired with A jammed Calendar calibrated for screams

Dek: The brand-new horror season stacks from day one with a January traffic jam, after that rolls through the summer months, and well into the December corridor, blending brand heft, novel approaches, and calculated counterplay. Studios and platforms are relying on efficient budgets, cinema-first plans, and social-fueled campaigns that position these pictures into culture-wide discussion.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This category has grown into the sturdy move in programming grids, a corner that can accelerate when it lands and still insulate the drag when it under-delivers. After 2023 signaled to buyers that lean-budget shockers can dominate mainstream conversation, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with visionary-driven titles and word-of-mouth wins. The tailwind translated to the 2025 frame, where reboots and prestige plays confirmed there is a market for different modes, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that carry overseas. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a programming that is strikingly coherent across the field, with obvious clusters, a pairing of established brands and original hooks, and a refocused commitment on exhibition windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium home window and digital services.

Planners observe the space now performs as a fill-in ace on the release plan. Horror can roll out on a wide range of weekends, deliver a simple premise for trailers and vertical videos, and outpace with crowds that show up on Thursday nights and maintain momentum through the next pass if the film satisfies. Following a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 rhythm reflects trust in that model. The calendar gets underway with a stacked January band, then primes spring and early summer for contrast, while keeping space for a autumn stretch that pushes into Halloween and into early November. The map also spotlights the stronger partnership of specialty distributors and platforms that can platform and widen, generate chatter, and scale up at the timely point.

A parallel macro theme is franchise tending across unified worlds and heritage properties. Studios are not just releasing another next film. They are seeking to position lineage with a sense of event, whether that is a title presentation that announces a recalibrated tone or a casting move that anchors a fresh chapter to a initial period. At the in tandem, the filmmakers behind the eagerly awaited originals are leaning into real-world builds, makeup and prosthetics and vivid settings. That combination yields 2026 a vital pairing of familiarity and shock, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount sets the tone early with two headline releases that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the core, framing it as both a relay and a back-to-basics character-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the directional approach signals a fan-service aware framework without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Expect a marketing push built on iconic art, intro reveals, and a trailer cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will play up. As a counterweight in summer, this one will seek wide buzz through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format enabling quick turns to whatever defines trend lines that spring.

Universal has three defined lanes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is efficient, soulful, and commercial: a grieving man purchases an intelligent companion that unfolds into a fatal companion. The date positions it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to echo strange in-person beats and brief clips that blurs affection and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a proper title to become an marketing beat closer to the first trailer. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele titles are set up as filmmaker events, with a teaser that holds back and a follow-up trailer set that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-month date offers Universal room to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on 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 helms, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has proven that a in-your-face, prosthetic-heavy style can feel high-value on a moderate cost. Look for a grime-caked summer horror charge that pushes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio mounts two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, holding a bankable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is presenting as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both diehards and first-timers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign pieces around narrative world, and monster aesthetics, elements that can amplify premium format interest and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

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 extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by careful craft and historical speech, this time set against lycan legends. The imprint has already locked the day for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is robust.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform plans for 2026 run on well-known grooves. The Universal horror run move to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a cadence that fortifies both launch urgency and trial spikes in the later phase. Prime Video interleaves licensed films with international acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library pulls, using featured rows, seasonal hubs, and curated strips to increase tail value on lifetime take. Netflix keeps options open about Netflix films and festival grabs, finalizing horror entries on shorter runways and turning into events rollouts with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a laddered of selective theatrical runs and accelerated platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a situational basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to board select projects with top-tier auteurs or star packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for monthly activity when the genre conversation intensifies.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 pipeline with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is no-nonsense: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, elevated for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the October weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, piloting the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday corridor to go wider. That positioning has been successful for auteur horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception drives. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using limited theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Franchises versus originals

By skew, 2026 leans toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on marquee value. The concern, as ever, is staleness. The operating solution is to frame each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is underscoring character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-tinted vision from a fresh helmer. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the packaging is familiar enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

The last three-year set contextualize the strategy. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that honored streaming windows did not prevent a parallel release from winning when the brand was sticky. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror outperformed in premium formats. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they reorient and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses 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, gives leeway to marketing to interlace chapters through protagonists and motifs and to leave creative active without extended gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The filmmaking conversations behind this slate hint at a continued bias toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that leans on grain and menace rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in long-lead features and technical spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that leans on mood over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and earns shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta-horror reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature design and production design, which favor convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel key. Look for trailers that spotlight precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that sing on PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is heavy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid headline IP. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the palette of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth spreads.

Pre-summer months prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can thrive 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 finished their premium pass.

August and September into October leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a transitional slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited asset reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and card redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream click to read more 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s virtual companion mutates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

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 confront a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. 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 prickly boss work to survive on a rugged island as the control balance upends and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to menace, built on Cronin’s material craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting tale that filters its scares through a minor’s uneven internal vantage. Rating: to be announced. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that teases today’s horror trends and true-crime manias. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 ignites, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new household entangled with lingering terrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A new start designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survivalist horror over action spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing. Positioning: 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 historical diction and elemental dread. Rating: TBD. 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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why this year, why now

Three operational forces frame this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-sequenced in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and pared-down timelines. 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 amplify social-ready stingers from test screenings, managed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can capture a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will share space across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

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

The stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those navigate here windows. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong 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 welcome the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sound field, and camera work 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

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is name recognition where it counts, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, lock the reveals, and let the gasps sell the seats.