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

One blood-curdling supernatural scare-fest from storyteller / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an prehistoric horror when unfamiliar people become proxies in a satanic conflict. Going live on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing depiction of struggle and archaic horror that will resculpt the fear genre this season. Created by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and shadowy screenplay follows five individuals who arise ensnared in a wooded house under the dark grip of Kyra, a cursed figure inhabited by a time-worn Old Testament spirit. Brace yourself to be gripped by a audio-visual adventure that intertwines visceral dread with mythic lore, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a time-honored narrative in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is radically shifted when the fiends no longer form outside their bodies, but rather from their core. This mirrors the haunting aspect of the group. The result is a enthralling moral showdown where the emotions becomes a intense push-pull between light and darkness.


In a isolated wilderness, five youths find themselves trapped under the possessive rule and grasp of a obscure entity. As the characters becomes incapacitated to escape her influence, cut off and followed by spirits unfathomable, they are cornered to reckon with their core terrors while the deathwatch relentlessly winds toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion rises and alliances crack, prompting each figure to scrutinize their values and the notion of conscious will itself. The stakes surge with every instant, delivering a horror experience that fuses otherworldly panic with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to tap into core terror, an darkness beyond time, manifesting in our weaknesses, and questioning a entity that strips down our being when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra needed manifesting something past sanity. She is unaware until the curse activates, and that turn is shocking because it is so raw.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for on-demand beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing subscribers globally can engage with this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its first preview, which has seen over a viral response.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, taking the terror to scare fans abroad.


Be sure to catch this life-altering descent into darkness. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to uncover these evil-rooted truths about mankind.


For film updates, extra content, and promotions via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across Facebook and TikTok and visit the film’s website.





The horror genre’s watershed moment: calendar year 2025 U.S. calendar weaves primeval-possession lore, microbudget gut-punches, in parallel with series shake-ups

Spanning pressure-cooker survival tales saturated with old testament echoes and stretching into brand-name continuations plus incisive indie visions, 2025 stands to become the most dimensioned as well as precision-timed year in the past ten years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. the big studios lock in tentpoles via recognizable brands, concurrently subscription platforms load up the fall with unboxed visions in concert with mythic dread. In parallel, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is buoyed by the carry of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the other windows are mapped with care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, however this time, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are disciplined, as a result 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The top end is active. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s pipeline leads off the quarter with a risk-forward move: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in an immediate now. Steered by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. landing in mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. From director Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial heat flags it as potent.

Toward summer’s end, Warner Bros. Pictures delivers the closing chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 follows. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re engages, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: retrograde shiver, trauma explicitly handled, and eerie supernatural logic. This time the stakes climb, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The return delves further into myth, builds out the animatronic fear crew, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It opens in December, locking down the winter tail.

SVOD Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a room scale body horror descent with Alison Brie and 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 reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable starring Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

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

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Written and helmed 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. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a smart play. No swollen lore. No IP hangover. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. 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 forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Franchise Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, from Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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.

Emerging Currents

Myth turns 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 pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror retakes ground
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Outlook: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is 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 goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The coming 2026 fear season: returning titles, universe starters, alongside A busy Calendar optimized for shocks

Dek: The brand-new terror season stacks at the outset with a January logjam, from there extends through the warm months, and carrying into the winter holidays, fusing marquee clout, original angles, and tactical offsets. Major distributors and platforms are relying on cost discipline, box-office-first windows, and viral-minded pushes that turn genre releases into culture-wide discussion.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror marketplace has shown itself to be the predictable release in studio lineups, a pillar that can grow when it performs and still safeguard the losses when it underperforms. After 2023 signaled to strategy teams that lean-budget fright engines can lead the zeitgeist, the following year continued the surge with director-led heat and quiet over-performers. The run extended into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and elevated films signaled there is appetite for varied styles, from continued chapters to director-led originals that carry overseas. The net effect for 2026 is a grid that feels more orchestrated than usual across the industry, with clear date clusters, a blend of recognizable IP and first-time concepts, and a revived priority on box-office windows that feed downstream value on paid VOD and home platforms.

Marketers add the horror lane now works like a versatile piece on the release plan. Horror can launch on virtually any date, offer a simple premise for previews and TikTok spots, and over-index with ticket buyers that lean in on opening previews and sustain through the second frame if the feature satisfies. After a production delay era, the 2026 pattern exhibits assurance in that setup. The year gets underway with a front-loaded January corridor, then taps spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while saving space for a fall cadence that carries into the fright window and into early November. The program also shows the tightening integration of indie distributors and platforms that can build gradually, ignite recommendations, and scale up at the strategic time.

A further high-level trend is franchise tending across shared universes and legacy franchises. Distribution groups are not just producing another sequel. They are setting up threaded continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a title treatment that suggests a recalibrated tone or a lead change that threads a next film to a first wave. At the concurrently, the visionaries behind the headline-grabbing originals are returning to material texture, special makeup and site-specific worlds. That blend provides the 2026 slate a solid mix of known notes and discovery, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

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

Paramount opens strong with two marquee projects that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the core, setting it up as both a cross-generational handoff and a foundation-forward character-first story. Production is active in Atlanta, and the artistic posture hints at a roots-evoking bent without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run fueled by signature symbols, character spotlights, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

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 paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will emphasize. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will hunt mass reach through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format allowing quick turns to whatever rules pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three unique strategies. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is crisp, sorrow-tinged, and logline-clear: a grieving man sets up an synthetic partner that turns into a deadly partner. The date puts it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s promo team likely to reprise viral uncanny stunts and quick hits that hybridizes romance and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a public title to become an event moment closer to the debut look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. The filmmaker’s films are presented as marquee events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a later trailer push that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date allows Universal to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has shown that a blood-soaked, on-set effects led execution can feel big on a mid-range budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror shock that spotlights overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio launches two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, holding a bankable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is billing as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both devotees and first-timers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign creative around environmental design, and creature builds, elements that can stoke deluxe auditorium demand and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by immersive craft and period language, this time set against lycan legends. The distributor has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is enthusiastic.

How the platforms plan to play it

Digital strategies for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s slate shift to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a tiered path that fortifies both week-one demand and subscriber lifts in the back half. Prime Video continues to mix licensed films with worldwide buys and short theatrical plays when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their edges in back-catalog play, using well-timed internal promotions, spooky hubs, and featured rows to keep attention on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays opportunistic about Netflix films and festival wins, securing horror entries closer to launch and turning into events drops with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a staged of precision releases and accelerated platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has been willing to buy select projects with name filmmakers or star packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and have a peek here Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation ramps.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 arc with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is clear: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, updated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the fall weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, escorting the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then turning to the year-end corridor to scale. That positioning has delivered for prestige horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception drives. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using mini theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their subs.

Franchises versus originals

By weight, the 2026 slate skews toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on legacy awareness. The challenge, as ever, is audience fatigue. The go-to fix is to pitch each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is emphasizing character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a Francophone tone from a fresh helmer. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the assembly is known enough to build pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the approach. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that kept clean windows did not deter a hybrid test from paying off when the brand was powerful. In 2024, art-forward horror rose in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they shift POV and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, enables marketing to link the films through character spine and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without dead zones.

How the look and feel evolve

The craft conversations behind these films signal a continued turn toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that underscores aura and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in craft profiles and technical spotlights before rolling out a teaser that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and produces shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta recalibration that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature design and production design, which play well in fan conventions and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel necessary. Look for trailers that foreground hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that shine in top rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is crowded. 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 quiet contrast amid marquee brands. The month buttons 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 range 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 prime the summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Shoulder season into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a bridge slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited plot reveals that put concept first.

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

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s AI companion grows into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: Source After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss struggle to survive on a far-flung island as the hierarchy tilts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to dread, rooted in Cronin’s in-camera craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting setup that teases the terror of a child’s inconsistent point of view. Rating: to be announced. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-built and star-fronted spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that needles current genre trends and true-crime crazes. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 surges, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new household caught in lingering terrors. Rating: TBD. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-core horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: to be announced. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: undetermined. Production: continuing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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: undetermined. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the moment is 2026

Three execution-level forces frame this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-slotted in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming landings. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work meme-ready beats from test screenings, curated scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, providing runway for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will compete across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play 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 icy, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, efficient screen counts, 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 visual texture, audio design, 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.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is IP strength where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence 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, produce clean trailers, keep the secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.