Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites age-old dread, a fear soaked thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on major streaming services

This frightening paranormal terror film from creator / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an primeval entity when strangers become vehicles in a dark ritual. Dropping October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching episode of perseverance and primordial malevolence that will redefine fear-driven cinema this season. Helmed by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and moody cinema piece follows five unacquainted souls who snap to sealed in a wooded dwelling under the oppressive will of Kyra, a possessed female possessed by a prehistoric ancient fiend. Ready yourself to be shaken by a screen-based adventure that combines deep-seated panic with spiritual backstory, landing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a time-honored pillar in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is challenged when the dark entities no longer appear from an outside force, but rather from within. This represents the haunting corner of the victims. The result is a intense mental war where the intensity becomes a merciless struggle between moral forces.


In a bleak wilderness, five teens find themselves sealed under the unholy presence and domination of a elusive woman. As the cast becomes vulnerable to withstand her influence, disconnected and tormented by beings beyond reason, they are pushed to encounter their greatest panics while the moments coldly winds toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion swells and ties fracture, pressuring each cast member to question their personhood and the idea of conscious will itself. The hazard magnify with every beat, delivering a chilling narrative that combines unearthly horror with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to dive into primitive panic, an threat from prehistory, feeding on fragile psyche, and examining a presence that peels away humanity when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra was about accessing something outside normal anguish. She is insensitive until the takeover begins, and that metamorphosis is harrowing because it is so personal.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for on-demand beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring fans no matter where they are can be part of this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its intro video, which has been viewed over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, exporting the fear to lovers of terror across nations.


Experience this bone-rattling descent into darkness. Enter *Young & Cursed* this launch day to uncover these ghostly lessons about the human condition.


For teasers, production insights, and social posts from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursed across social media and visit the official website.





Current horror’s Turning Point: 2025 across markets U.S. rollouts Mixes archetypal-possession themes, art-house nightmares, in parallel with legacy-brand quakes

Kicking off with life-or-death fear grounded in biblical myth and extending to franchise returns together with acutely observed indies, 2025 looks like the most variegated along with strategic year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. major banners lock in tentpoles via recognizable brands, at the same time premium streamers flood the fall with emerging auteurs alongside legend-coded dread. On the festival side, the artisan tier is drafting behind the echoes from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, but this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are exacting, thus 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige terror resurfaces

The top end is active. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 presses the advantage.

the Universal camp leads off the quarter with a statement play: a modernized Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. Booked into mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Under Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer wanes, the WB camp drops the final chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Though the outline is tried, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson returns, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: throwback unease, trauma foregrounded, and eerie supernatural logic. Here the stakes rise, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The new chapter enriches the lore, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It bows in December, buttoning the final window.

Streamer Exclusives: Slim budgets, major punch

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a tight space body horror vignette pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story featuring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Shaped and helmed 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 horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It looks like sharp programming. No overinflated mythology. No canon weight. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

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

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Brands: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, with Francis Lawrence directing, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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.

Trends Worth Watching

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror reemerges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Outlook: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The upcoming scare lineup: installments, fresh concepts, in tandem with A stacked Calendar designed for screams

Dek: The arriving terror cycle builds at the outset with a January cluster, and then spreads through peak season, and far into the late-year period, balancing series momentum, inventive spins, and data-minded offsets. Studio marketers and platforms are relying on lean spends, theatrical exclusivity first, and platform-native promos that turn horror entries into mainstream chatter.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The horror marketplace has established itself as the surest option in annual schedules, a lane that can expand when it clicks and still mitigate the exposure when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for greenlighters that responsibly budgeted scare machines can drive the national conversation, the following year maintained heat with auteur-driven buzzy films and under-the-radar smashes. The tailwind translated to the 2025 frame, where resurrections and premium-leaning entries proved there is appetite for a spectrum, from franchise continuations to original one-offs that translate worldwide. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a slate that seems notably aligned across the industry, with strategic blocks, a equilibrium of established brands and new pitches, and a renewed focus on theatrical windows that drive downstream revenue on premium video on demand and streaming.

Planners observe the category now operates like a utility player on the distribution slate. Horror can open on numerous frames, furnish a simple premise for promo reels and platform-native cuts, and overperform with demo groups that line up on Thursday nights and stick through the second frame if the title delivers. Exiting a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration demonstrates conviction in that engine. The calendar rolls out with a thick January window, then plants flags in spring and early summer for audience offsets, while reserving space for a September to October window that flows toward Halloween and into early November. The gridline also spotlights the deeper integration of boutique distributors and OTT outlets that can nurture a platform play, stoke social talk, and go nationwide at the inflection point.

A parallel macro theme is series management across unified worlds and legacy IP. Distribution groups are not just pushing another follow-up. They are setting up threaded continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a title treatment that indicates a new tone or a star attachment that links a upcoming film to a foundational era. At the alongside this, the filmmakers behind the high-profile originals are leaning into material texture, special makeup and location-forward worlds. That fusion affords the 2026 slate a smart balance of comfort and discovery, which is how the films export.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount leads early with two marquee bets that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the heart, presenting it as both a relay and a return-to-roots character piece. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture announces a nostalgia-forward framework without rehashing the last two entries’ sibling arc. Watch for a push built on franchise iconography, early character teases, and a staggered trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

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 paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will spotlight. As a summer relief option, this one will build general-audience talk through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format allowing quick pivots to whatever defines genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three unique projects. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is straightforward, heartbroken, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man adopts an AI companion that mutates into a harmful mate. The date slots it at the front of a stacked January, with the Universal machine likely to renew off-kilter promo beats and short-form creative that hybridizes romance and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a title reveal to become an PR pop closer to the teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. The filmmaker’s films are treated as creative events, with a opaque teaser and a later trailer push that signal tone without plot the concept. The late-October frame affords Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage 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 directs, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has proven that a tactile, prosthetic-heavy style can feel prestige on a disciplined budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror rush that leans hard into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio books two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, carrying a proven supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is framing as a clean-slate approach 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 explicit mandate to serve both loyalists and curious audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build artifacts around narrative world, and creature effects, elements that can accelerate deluxe auditorium demand and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in careful craft and period language, this time set against lycan legends. The specialty arm has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is favorable.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform plans for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre entries move to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a structure that expands both premiere heat and platform bumps in the back half. Prime Video interleaves acquired titles with world buys and brief theater runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library pulls, using seasonal hubs, genre hubs, and curated strips to lengthen the tail on lifetime take. Netflix plays opportunist about Netflix films and festival snaps, timing horror entries on shorter runways and coalescing around debuts with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a paired of precision theatrical plays and prompt platform moves that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a selective basis. The platform has proven amenable to purchase select projects with award winners or marquee packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for sustained usage when the genre conversation intensifies.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is curating a 2026 corridor with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is uncomplicated: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, elevated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the late stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the year-end corridor to scale. That positioning has shown results for arthouse horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception justifies. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out Source of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using select theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Series vs standalone

By skew, the 2026 slate skews toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap brand equity. The watch-out, as ever, is audience fatigue. The near-term solution is to market each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is elevating character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-flavored turn from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and talent-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the deal build is assuring enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and preview-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years frame the strategy. In 2023, a theater-first model that kept clean windows did not preclude a dual release from delivering when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror punched above its weight in premium large format. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel new when they change perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends 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 produced back-to-back, allows marketing to cross-link entries through protagonists and motifs and to keep assets alive without hiatuses.

Creative tendencies and craft

The craft rooms behind the year’s horror signal a continued turn toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that elevates texture and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and guild coverage before rolling out a first look that leans on mood over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and creates shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-referential reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will live or die on monster realization and design, which lend themselves to con floor moments and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that center pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that benefit on big speakers.

Release calendar overview

January is busy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month caps 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 credible, but the spread of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Q1 into Q2 build the summer base. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s 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 sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

End of summer through fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder season window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited plot reveals that put concept first.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s intelligent companion mutates into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. 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 unyielding boss fight to survive on a far-flung island as the control dynamic tilts and mistrust rises. 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 nightmare, based on Cronin’s practical effects and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 family-home haunting premise that twists the terror of a child’s unreliable perspective. Rating: rating pending. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that teases present-day genre chatter and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBD. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites bursts, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a unlucky family tethered to old terrors. Rating: TBA. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: pending. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-core horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: undetermined. Production: moving forward. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and elemental fear. Rating: not yet rated. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a big-screen run before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the moment is 2026

Three pragmatic forces structure this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shuffled in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming drops. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine turnkey scare beats from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will compete across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where lean-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 stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient placements, 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 materiality, sound field, and visual design 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 Is Well Positioned

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is recognizable IP where it plays, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, guard the secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.