Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a nerve shredding chiller, streaming Oct 2025 across leading streamers

This terrifying otherworldly fright fest from cinematographer / director Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an prehistoric evil when unfamiliar people become vehicles in a cursed ritual. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a intense saga of living through and timeless dread that will reconstruct fear-driven cinema this season. Realized by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and moody fearfest follows five individuals who emerge stranded in a hidden shack under the aggressive dominion of Kyra, a mysterious girl possessed by a prehistoric Old Testament spirit. Ready yourself to be drawn in by a audio-visual spectacle that integrates bodily fright with mythic lore, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a iconic foundation in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is twisted when the malevolences no longer appear externally, but rather from within. This symbolizes the malevolent side of the group. The result is a bone-chilling spiritual tug-of-war where the emotions becomes a intense confrontation between good and evil.


In a isolated outland, five adults find themselves contained under the sinister force and spiritual invasion of a unidentified apparition. As the protagonists becomes helpless to withstand her command, abandoned and targeted by unknowns mind-shattering, they are pushed to deal with their worst nightmares while the doomsday meter ruthlessly winds toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear rises and relationships crack, coercing each person to challenge their existence and the integrity of independent thought itself. The pressure magnify with every beat, delivering a frightening tale that marries otherworldly panic with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to dive into basic terror, an darkness born of forgotten ages, working through emotional vulnerability, and exposing a evil that strips down our being when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra was centered on something past sanity. She is clueless until the control shifts, and that turn is soul-crushing because it is so raw.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for on-demand beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—allowing users worldwide can survive this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its initial teaser, which has been viewed over 100,000 views.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, offering the tale to fans of fear everywhere.


Join this gripping descent into darkness. Join *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to experience these fearful discoveries about free will.


For film updates, set experiences, and announcements from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across fan hubs and visit our film’s homepage.





Modern horror’s watershed moment: the 2025 season U.S. rollouts braids together Mythic Possession, underground frights, stacked beside series shake-ups

Running from survivor-centric dread grounded in ancient scripture all the way to brand-name continuations together with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is lining up as the richest as well as calculated campaign year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. studio majors stabilize the year with familiar IP, while platform operators pack the fall with new voices in concert with primordial unease. On the festival side, horror’s indie wing is drafting behind the backdraft of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, though in this cycle, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are methodical, therefore 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige fear returns

The top end is active. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s pipeline begins the calendar with a marquee bet: a refreshed Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, inside today’s landscape. With Leigh Whannell at the helm fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. targeting mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Guided by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. releases the last chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson returns, and the memorable motifs return: period tinged dread, trauma as narrative engine, with ghostly inner logic. This run ups the stakes, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The continuation widens the legend, broadens the animatronic terror cast, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It hits in December, cornering year end horror.

Platform Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

More contained by design is Together, a two hander body horror spiral featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is virtually assured for fall.

In the mix sits Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within 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. That is a savvy move. No swollen lore. No legacy baggage. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy IP: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, with Francis Lawrence directing, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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.

Emerging Currents

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror returns
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Forward View: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The new genre cycle: entries, non-franchise titles, And A brimming Calendar Built For Scares

Dek The arriving horror slate builds immediately with a January wave, from there runs through the warm months, and far into the holidays, weaving legacy muscle, original angles, and data-minded counterweight. The major players are leaning into right-sized spends, big-screen-first runs, and viral-minded pushes that shape horror entries into all-audience topics.

Horror momentum into 2026

This space has grown into the surest counterweight in studio lineups, a category that can scale when it connects and still protect the downside when it does not. After the 2023 year reassured buyers that disciplined-budget pictures can shape pop culture, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with buzzy auteur projects and sleeper breakouts. The trend extended into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and arthouse crossovers proved there is a lane for a variety of tones, from sequel tracks to original features that export nicely. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a calendar that presents tight coordination across distributors, with strategic blocks, a balance of legacy names and new packages, and a renewed emphasis on box-office windows that drive downstream revenue on paid VOD and home platforms.

Marketers add the category now works like a versatile piece on the release plan. Horror can bow on most weekends, deliver a clear pitch for spots and social clips, and outperform with audiences that appear on previews Thursday and stick through the next weekend if the movie pays off. Exiting a work stoppage lag, the 2026 mapping exhibits assurance in that setup. The year gets underway with a thick January lineup, then plants flags in spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while holding room for a fall cadence that flows toward the Halloween corridor and beyond. The calendar also spotlights the increasing integration of arthouse labels and home platforms that can stage a platform run, spark evangelism, and grow at the timely point.

A reinforcing pattern is brand strategy across connected story worlds and established properties. The companies are not just rolling another continuation. They are working to present continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a title presentation that indicates a recalibrated tone or a casting pivot that bridges a upcoming film to a vintage era. At the meanwhile, the helmers behind the eagerly awaited originals are leaning into tactile craft, real effects and site-specific worlds. That pairing provides the 2026 slate a solid mix of trust and freshness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount sets the tone early with two marquee pushes that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the lead, angling it as both a passing of the torch and a back-to-basics character-forward chapter. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the authorial approach points to a roots-evoking framework without replaying the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Count on a promo wave centered on legacy iconography, character previews, and a tiered teaser plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will play up. As a summer contrast play, this one will drive wide appeal through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick turns to whatever rules pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three clear lanes. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is simple, heartbroken, and concept-forward: a grieving man onboards an virtual partner that escalates into a harmful mate. The date nudges it to the front of a thick month, with Universal’s team likely to reprise strange in-person beats and quick hits that hybridizes longing and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a final title to become an event moment closer to the early tease. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s releases are presented as event films, with a opaque teaser and a later creative that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The spooky-season slot creates space for Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a in-your-face, on-set effects led execution can feel big on a controlled budget. Look for a hard-R summer horror hit that leans into global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio rolls out two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, continuing a proven supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is positioning as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both longtime followers and newcomers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build artifacts around universe detail, and creature design, elements that can drive IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in rigorous craft and period language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The specialty arm has already set the date for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is strong.

Platform lanes and windowing

Digital strategies for 2026 run on tested paths. The studio’s horror films flow to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a ordering that fortifies both first-week urgency and subscriber lifts in the downstream. Prime Video continues get redirected here to mix licensed titles with cross-border buys and limited cinema engagements when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their edges in back-catalog play, using editorial spots, holiday hubs, and editorial rows to extend momentum on the horror cume. Netflix retains agility about original films and festival snaps, scheduling horror entries near their drops and making event-like go-lives with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a hybrid of limited theatrical footprints and swift platform pivots that translates talk to trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a per-project basis. The platform has indicated interest to pick up select projects with prestige directors or star-driven packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation surges.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 track with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is no-nonsense: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, retooled 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 signaled a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the September weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, managing the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday corridor to scale. That positioning has served the company well for craft-driven horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception allows. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using targeted theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their membership.

Series vs standalone

By tilt, 2026 is weighted toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness cultural cachet. The challenge, as ever, is brand erosion. The go-to fix is to frame each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is elevating character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-tinted vision from a buzzed-about director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and talent-first projects bring the oxygen. 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, features Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the team and cast is known enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years clarify the template. In 2023, a theater-first model that kept clean windows did not stop a simultaneous release test from hitting when the brand was robust. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror popped in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection movies saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they change perspective and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, provides the means for marketing to connect the chapters through relationships and themes and to keep assets alive without lulls.

How the films are being made

The filmmaking conversations behind the year’s horror hint at a continued move toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that emphasizes creep and texture rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and artisan spotlights before rolling out a tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and produces shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta recalibration that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature craft and set design, which match well with fan conventions and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel key. Look for trailers that accent pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that sing on have a peek at these guys PLF.

Release calendar overview

January is jammed. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid big-brand pushes. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the tonal variety makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Late winter and spring seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The 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 splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Back half into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited plot reveals that favor idea over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and card redemption.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s DNA. 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 artificial companion mutates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back 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 finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her severe boss struggle to survive on a lonely island as the power dynamic tilts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to chill, driven by Cronin’s practical craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting setup that leverages the chill of a child’s mercurial impressions. Rating: TBA. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that skewers hot-button genre motifs and true-crime manias. Rating: TBD. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites detonates, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new clan caught in old terrors. Rating: TBD. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A restart designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-driven horror over action fireworks. Rating: undetermined. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: closely held. Rating: to be announced. Production: proceeding. 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 era-accurate language and raw menace. Rating: TBA. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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

Why 2026 lands now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces structure this lineup. First, production that eased or rearranged in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical 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 drops. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work repeatable beats from test screenings, metered scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Another factor is the scheduling math. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, providing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will compete across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, 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 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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, 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 beat and breadth. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

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

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand equity where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the shudders sell the seats.