Age-old Horror emerges: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding chiller, launching October 2025 on major streaming services

An frightening spiritual nightmare movie from storyteller / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an prehistoric malevolence when drifters become conduits in a devilish trial. Launching October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing narrative of resilience and forgotten curse that will redefine the horror genre this harvest season. Realized by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and eerie screenplay follows five characters who suddenly rise stuck in a far-off shelter under the aggressive dominion of Kyra, a mysterious girl haunted by a prehistoric biblical demon. Anticipate to be gripped by a audio-visual journey that intertwines bone-deep fear with mythic lore, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a iconic fixture in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is radically shifted when the spirits no longer appear from external sources, but rather deep within. This illustrates the darkest aspect of the victims. The result is a gripping internal warfare where the conflict becomes a unyielding confrontation between virtue and vice.


In a forsaken outland, five teens find themselves imprisoned under the fiendish dominion and haunting of a obscure spirit. As the companions becomes defenseless to escape her grasp, severed and targeted by terrors ungraspable, they are confronted to endure their core terrors while the time without pause draws closer toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety amplifies and connections erode, urging each cast member to examine their character and the nature of decision-making itself. The threat surge with every heartbeat, delivering a chilling narrative that weaves together supernatural terror with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to evoke pure dread, an evil before modern man, operating within inner turmoil, and dealing with a spirit that peels away humanity when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra was about accessing something past sanity. She is in denial until the curse activates, and that metamorphosis is gut-wrenching because it is so deep.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for horror fans beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—offering horror lovers no matter where they are can experience this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its initial teaser, which has gathered over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, offering the tale to thrill-seekers globally.


Tune in for this gripping voyage through terror. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to dive into these fearful discoveries about the soul.


For director insights, filmmaker commentary, and social posts from the cast and crew, follow @YACMovie across fan hubs and visit the official movie site.





Contemporary horror’s pivotal crossroads: 2025 for genre fans U.S. rollouts interlaces old-world possession, signature indie scares, set against Franchise Rumbles

Across fight-to-live nightmare stories infused with primordial scripture all the way to brand-name continuations paired with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is tracking to be the most stratified along with deliberate year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. leading studios are anchoring the year by way of signature titles, simultaneously premium streamers flood the fall with unboxed visions in concert with ancestral chills. At the same time, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is catching the carry of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and now, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are intentional, so 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The top end is active. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 deepens the push.

the Universal camp fires the first shot with a statement play: a modernized Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in an immediate now. Steered by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. landing in mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Led by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

At summer’s close, the Warner Bros. banner unveils the final movement from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson returns, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: old school creep, trauma centered writing, and a cold supernatural calculus. The bar is raised this go, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The continuation widens the legend, broadens the animatronic terror cast, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It lands in December, pinning the winter close.

SVOD Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a body horror duet including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, 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. Before a platform date is locked, it is destined for a fall landing.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story with Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Conceived 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. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as 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 is a calculated bet. No puffed out backstory. No continuity burden. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

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. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

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

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

What to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror resurges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

The Road Ahead: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The new Horror calendar year ahead: follow-ups, new stories, as well as A packed Calendar optimized for Scares

Dek The incoming genre slate clusters from day one with a January glut, from there extends through the mid-year, and straight through the holidays, braiding name recognition, fresh ideas, and data-minded offsets. Studios and streamers are embracing mid-range economics, theatrical exclusivity first, and viral-minded pushes that position genre releases into all-audience topics.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror has become the steady release in annual schedules, a space that can expand when it resonates and still buffer the drawdown when it underperforms. After the 2023 year re-taught executives that lean-budget genre plays can drive the discourse, 2024 sustained momentum with filmmaker-forward plays and under-the-radar smashes. The energy carried into 2025, where re-entries and prestige plays signaled there is capacity for many shades, from franchise continuations to non-IP projects that perform internationally. The result for 2026 is a lineup that reads highly synchronized across the major shops, with planned clusters, a mix of familiar brands and new pitches, and a revived attention on box-office windows that fuel later windows on premium digital and streaming.

Distribution heads claim the genre now works like a schedule utility on the schedule. Horror can arrive on a wide range of weekends, furnish a clean hook for teasers and shorts, and punch above weight with moviegoers that lean in on opening previews and hold through the second weekend if the offering hits. Exiting a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 mapping telegraphs comfort in that playbook. The calendar opens with a loaded January corridor, then targets spring into early summer for off-slot scheduling, while reserving space for a fall corridor that runs into Halloween and past Halloween. The schedule also highlights the expanded integration of specialty distributors and OTT outlets that can develop over weeks, fuel WOM, and go nationwide at the optimal moment.

A notable top-line trend is IP cultivation across shared IP webs and long-running brands. Big banners are not just releasing another installment. They are moving to present story carry-over with a must-see charge, whether that is a art treatment that flags a re-angled tone or a casting move that ties a fresh chapter to a foundational era. At the same time, the visionaries behind the most anticipated originals are favoring in-camera technique, special makeup and grounded locations. That blend provides 2026 a robust balance of home base and discovery, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

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

Paramount plants an early flag with two front-of-slate plays that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a passing of the torch and a origin-leaning character-first story. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture signals a classic-referencing framework without rehashing the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Expect a marketing push anchored in franchise iconography, first-look character reveals, and a tiered teaser plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will feature. As a summer alternative, this one will generate mainstream recognition through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format allowing quick reframes to whatever defines the conversation that spring.

Universal has three defined projects. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a tech-horror Check This Out spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is tidy, sorrow-tinged, and logline-clear: a grieving man onboards an artificial companion that shifts into a dangerous lover. The date locates it at the front of a busy month, with the Universal machine likely to revisit creepy live activations and micro spots that blurs intimacy and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a name unveil to become an fan moment closer to the first trailer. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. His projects are treated as filmmaker events, with a mystery-first teaser and a later creative that shape mood without giving away the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor affords 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, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has proven that a tactile, prosthetic-heavy approach can feel high-value on a moderate cost. Expect a grime-caked summer horror shock that leans hard into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio sets two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, sustaining a consistent supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is billing as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both core fans and general audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build marketing units around narrative world, and creature design, elements that can drive IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by immersive craft and dialect, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is positive.

Streaming windows and tactics

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal titles transition to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a ladder that amplifies both initial urgency and subscription bumps in the late-window. Prime Video blends third-party pickups with cross-border buys and select theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in catalog discovery, using in-app campaigns, spooky hubs, and handpicked rows to prolong the run on lifetime take. Netflix keeps optionality about in-house releases and festival snaps, timing horror entries closer to launch and staging as events arrivals with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a hybrid of precision theatrical plays and swift platform pivots that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will play 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+ treats carefully horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has indicated interest to purchase select projects with top-tier auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation intensifies.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 arc with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is straightforward: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, recalibrated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday frame to open out. That positioning has shown results for director-led genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a cluster 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 runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using small theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Franchise entries versus originals

By number, 2026 tilts in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate household recognition. The risk, as ever, is brand erosion. The standing approach is to frame each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is spotlighting character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a European tilt from a emerging director. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the bundle is anchored enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Rolling three-year comps help explain the plan. In 2023, a theater-first model that maintained windows did not obstruct a day-date move from succeeding when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror over-performed in premium large format. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they pivot perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, provides the means for marketing to tie installments through character arcs and themes and to hold creative in the market without long gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft conversations behind the upcoming entries foreshadow a continued tilt toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that spotlights mood and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in feature stories and craft spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and creates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta recalibration that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature craft and set design, which match well with convention floor stunts and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel necessary. Look for trailers that highlight precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that land in big rooms.

Annual flow

January is packed. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid headline IP. The month concludes 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 thick, but the menu of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

February through May tee up summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. 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 finished their premium pass.

Shoulder season into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a late-September window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event occupies October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a tease-and-hold strategy and limited plot reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Title snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s algorithmic partner turns into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. 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 prickly boss push to survive on a desolate island as the power dynamic tilts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to dread, founded on Cronin’s physical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting chiller that filters its scares through a young child’s uncertain internal vantage. Rating: TBD. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-financed and marquee-led eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A satirical comeback that lampoons of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime crazes. Rating: to be announced. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 spreads, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further reopens, with a different family entangled with residual nightmares. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: pending. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in pure survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: pending. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in progress. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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-specific language and elemental menace. Rating: pending. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why this year, why now

Three execution-level forces organize this lineup. First, production that downshifted or re-sequenced in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and compressed 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 beaten straight-to-streaming launches. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify repeatable beats from test screenings, metered scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Calendar math also matters. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will trade weekends 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 benefit from 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 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 sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a tasting table, 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 gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, acoustics, and cinematography 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 Shapes Up Strong

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand heft where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, hold the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.