Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primordial evil, a hair raising feature, launching October 2025 across top digital platforms

A hair-raising unearthly thriller from creator / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an forgotten nightmare when outsiders become pawns in a diabolical maze. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping depiction of continuance and forgotten curse that will redefine the horror genre this fall. Realized by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and cinematic thriller follows five unknowns who arise caught in a remote shack under the hostile grip of Kyra, a female presence inhabited by a antiquated biblical demon. Be prepared to be ensnared by a motion picture presentation that weaves together bone-deep fear with ancient myths, debuting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a iconic element in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is inverted when the presences no longer come from beyond, but rather through their own souls. This represents the shadowy part of the group. The result is a psychologically brutal mind game where the narrative becomes a constant clash between heaven and hell.


In a isolated wilderness, five individuals find themselves confined under the ominous presence and control of a enigmatic female figure. As the characters becomes incapacitated to escape her power, detached and tormented by presences unfathomable, they are obligated to reckon with their inner demons while the doomsday meter ruthlessly draws closer toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear mounts and links crack, driving each cast member to scrutinize their character and the idea of liberty itself. The hazard climb with every passing moment, delivering a scare-fueled ride that fuses otherworldly suspense with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to explore instinctual horror, an presence from ancient eras, working through mental cracks, and testing a will that strips down our being when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra was about accessing something more primal than sorrow. She is in denial until the possession kicks in, and that turn is shocking because it is so visceral.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for horror fans beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing users everywhere can get immersed in this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its intro video, which has earned over six-figure audience.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, spreading the horror to thrill-seekers globally.


Make sure to see this unforgettable path of possession. Experience *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to survive these unholy truths about the mind.


For exclusive trailers, special features, and reveals from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit youngandcursed.com.





The horror genre’s decisive shift: 2025 across markets U.S. rollouts braids together legend-infused possession, art-house nightmares, paired with franchise surges

Ranging from pressure-cooker survival tales inspired by old testament echoes and including IP renewals and keen independent perspectives, 2025 stands to become the most complex paired with tactically planned year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. major banners plant stakes across the year via recognizable brands, even as OTT services prime the fall with fresh voices and scriptural shivers. Across the art-house lane, the artisan tier is drafting behind the uplift of a peak 2024 circuit. As Halloween stays the prime week, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are targeted, as a result 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: The Return of Prestige Fear

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s distribution arm kicks off the frame with a headline swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in a modern-day environment. Guided by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. arriving mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Under Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

When summer fades, Warner’s schedule releases the last chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. While the template is known, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re engages, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: retrograde shiver, trauma as theme, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This pass pushes higher, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, grows the animatronic horror lineup, bridging teens and legacy players. It posts in December, pinning the winter close.

SVOD Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a room scale body horror descent fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It looks like sharp programming. No puffed out backstory. No series drag. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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

What to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Projection: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

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

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

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 aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The upcoming fright lineup: brand plays, fresh concepts, And A stacked Calendar engineered for nightmares

Dek: The arriving scare calendar crams at the outset with a January traffic jam, after that stretches through June and July, and deep into the December corridor, balancing franchise firepower, novel approaches, and savvy release strategy. Distributors with platforms are doubling down on mid-range economics, cinema-first plans, and social-driven marketing that elevate these releases into mainstream chatter.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror filmmaking has shown itself to be the consistent option in programming grids, a genre that can accelerate when it breaks through and still safeguard the losses when it misses. After the 2023 year reminded executives that modestly budgeted scare machines can galvanize the national conversation, 2024 carried the beat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and stealth successes. The run extended into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and elevated films highlighted there is a market for a spectrum, from continued chapters to original features that carry overseas. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a schedule that looks unusually coordinated across the industry, with mapped-out bands, a spread of household franchises and original hooks, and a sharpened eye on theatrical windows that feed downstream value on paid VOD and home platforms.

Marketers add the horror lane now works like a utility player on the programming map. Horror can arrive on open real estate, furnish a clean hook for promo reels and TikTok spots, and outstrip with fans that lean in on previews Thursday and continue through the follow-up frame if the feature satisfies. On the heels of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 configuration telegraphs confidence in that setup. The calendar kicks off with a busy January stretch, then turns to spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while clearing room for a fall corridor that reaches into spooky season and afterwards. The gridline also illustrates the increasing integration of boutique distributors and home platforms that can launch in limited release, generate chatter, and broaden at the timely point.

A parallel macro theme is IP cultivation across brand ecosystems and long-running brands. Major shops are not just greenlighting another chapter. They are moving to present connection with a must-see charge, whether that is a title design that conveys a re-angled tone or a lead change that threads a latest entry to a classic era. At the concurrently, the directors behind the most buzzed-about originals are returning to tactile craft, makeup and prosthetics and distinct locales. That mix provides the 2026 slate a lively combination of familiarity and unexpected turns, which is how the films export.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount opens strong with two spotlight projects that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the heart, positioning the film as both a baton pass and a foundation-forward character-forward chapter. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the artistic posture announces a nostalgia-forward angle without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run stacked with franchise iconography, initial cast looks, and a promo sequence arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also relaunches 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 contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will foreground. As a counterweight in summer, this one will build mass reach through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format permitting quick redirects to whatever leads the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three distinct pushes. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is elegant, heartbroken, and concept-forward: a grieving man onboards an machine companion that shifts into a killer companion. The date sets it at the front of a crowded corridor, with marketing at Universal likely to echo odd public stunts and quick hits that blurs love and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title reveal to become an fan moment closer to the first look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. The filmmaker’s films are sold as filmmaker events, with a opaque teaser and a second trailer wave that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The late-month date gives the studio room to saturate 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has made clear that a raw, practical-first execution can feel premium on a moderate cost. Position this as a grime-caked summer horror shot that maximizes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio books two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, extending a dependable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is describing as a ground-zero restart 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 sharper mandate to serve both players and novices. The fall slot lets Sony to build materials around mythos, and creature builds, elements that can stoke PLF interest and cosplayer momentum.

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 builds on Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by obsessive craft and period speech, this time set against lycan legends. The label has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is glowing.

Digital platform strategies

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s slate transition to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a sequence that fortifies both debut momentum and subscription bumps in the post-theatrical. Prime Video pairs licensed content with worldwide entries and limited cinema engagements when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in deep cuts, using well-timed internal promotions, horror hubs, and staff picks to prolong the run on the horror cume. Netflix keeps optionality about own-slate titles and festival grabs, scheduling horror entries with shorter lead times and elevating as drops launches with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a hybrid of targeted cinema placements and prompt platform moves that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has indicated interest to purchase select projects with prestige directors or star-driven packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation builds.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 lane with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is direct: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, upgraded for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated click site a theatrical-first plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the fall weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, managing the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday corridor to open out. That positioning has served the company well for prestige horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception prompts. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using precision theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Balance of brands and originals

By skew, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on cultural cachet. The challenge, as ever, is viewer burnout. The preferred tactic is to sell each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is underscoring character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a Francophone tone from a emerging director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and visionary-led titles keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the deal build is anchored enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday previews.

The last three-year set outline the strategy. In 2023, a cinema-first model that preserved streaming windows did not prevent a day-date move from paying off when the brand was compelling. In 2024, auteur craft horror exceeded expectations in PLF. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they pivot 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 two-step approach, with chapters shot in tandem, allows marketing to relate entries through character spine and themes and to sustain campaign assets without long gaps.

Craft and creative trends

The shop talk behind 2026 horror forecast a continued bias toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that spotlights aura and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in trade spotlights and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a preview that keeps plot minimal, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and earns shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta refresh that centers an original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster realization and design, which are ideal for fan conventions and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel primary. Look for trailers that center pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that explode in larger rooms.

Month-by-month map

January is loaded. 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 foggy reset amid heavier IP. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the tonal variety ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Post-January through spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps 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 delivers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a transitional slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited advance reveals that elevate concept over story.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and holiday gift-card burn.

Title snapshots

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

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

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

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her hard-edged boss fight to survive on a far-flung island as the power balance reverses and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: A-list survival chiller 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 renewed take that returns the monster to terror, founded on Cronin’s practical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting story that explores the terror of a child’s tricky impressions. Rating: to be announced. Production: completed. Positioning: major-studio and toplined supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A satirical comeback that targets modern genre fads and true crime preoccupations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites bursts, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a young family tethered to residual nightmares. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A restart designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-first horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: underway. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and ancient menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026 lands now

Three execution-level forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or shuffled in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage repeatable beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, offering breathing room for genre entries that can capture a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will coexist across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

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

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, 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 keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sonics, and imagery 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 Looks Exciting

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand power where it counts, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the screams sell the seats.