Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons ancient terror, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 across major streaming services

One spine-tingling occult nightmare movie from dramatist / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an primeval force when drifters become vehicles in a satanic ceremony. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing tale of resilience and primeval wickedness that will resculpt the fear genre this ghoul season. Directed by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and gothic motion picture follows five characters who emerge stranded in a wilderness-bound cabin under the dark influence of Kyra, a young woman dominated by a millennia-old sacrosanct terror. Get ready to be captivated by a motion picture spectacle that integrates gut-punch terror with timeless legends, dropping on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a well-established foundation in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is challenged when the presences no longer appear externally, but rather from their core. This mirrors the malevolent element of all involved. The result is a edge-of-seat mind game where the suspense becomes a constant fight between purity and corruption.


In a desolate no-man's-land, five friends find themselves caught under the ghastly force and possession of a unidentified figure. As the victims becomes unable to fight her dominion, abandoned and pursued by spirits mind-shattering, they are made to stand before their greatest panics while the timeline without pity edges forward toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear escalates and associations erode, prompting each figure to reconsider their personhood and the idea of free will itself. The danger rise with every heartbeat, delivering a scare-fueled ride that harmonizes demonic fright with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to awaken primal fear, an power beyond recorded history, influencing fragile psyche, and challenging a power that redefines identity when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra required summoning something past sanity. She is uninformed until the curse activates, and that metamorphosis is terrifying because it is so visceral.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—offering fans no matter where they are can experience this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its original clip, which has racked up over strong viewer count.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, delivering the story to thrill-seekers globally.


Avoid skipping this visceral voyage through terror. Confront *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to witness these fearful discoveries about the human condition.


For sneak peeks, on-set glimpses, and announcements straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across online outlets and visit our spooky domain.





U.S. horror’s decisive shift: 2025 for genre fans U.S. rollouts braids together ancient-possession motifs, indie terrors, stacked beside tentpole growls

Beginning with survivor-centric dread saturated with near-Eastern lore through to series comebacks set beside acutely observed indies, 2025 is shaping up as the most dimensioned as well as calculated campaign year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. studio majors stabilize the year by way of signature titles, in tandem OTT services stack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs together with archetypal fear. At the same time, horror’s indie wing is surfing the carry of a banner 2024 fest year. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the other windows are mapped with care. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, distinctly in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are surgical, accordingly 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige terror resurfaces

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 set the base, 2025 accelerates.

Universal sets the tone with an audacious swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, inside today’s landscape. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. landing in 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 adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Guided by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

By late summer, the WB camp releases the last chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Though the outline is tried, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re teams, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: throwback unease, trauma driven plotting, and a cold supernatural calculus. Here the stakes rise, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, builds out the animatronic fear crew, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It bows in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Offerings: Modest spend, serious shock

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a close quarters body horror study pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend starring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. 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.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a clever angle. No puffed out backstory. No canon weight. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, from Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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.

Key Trends

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

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

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

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

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Outlook: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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 must fight for oxygen. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The coming 2026 Horror Year Ahead: Sequels, original films, alongside A packed Calendar aimed at screams

Dek: The incoming genre slate stacks early with a January crush, then extends through the mid-year, and well into the winter holidays, braiding marquee clout, fresh ideas, and tactical counterweight. Major distributors and platforms are betting on responsible budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and short-form initiatives that pivot genre titles into cross-demo moments.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The field has turned into the most reliable play in studio lineups, a pillar that can lift when it performs and still buffer the drag when it fails to connect. After 2023 reminded strategy teams that disciplined-budget entries can steer the national conversation, the following year held pace with festival-darling auteurs and under-the-radar smashes. The energy flowed into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and prestige plays highlighted there is a lane for several lanes, from returning installments to original one-offs that translate worldwide. The sum for the 2026 slate is a calendar that shows rare alignment across distributors, with mapped-out bands, a combination of established brands and first-time concepts, and a sharpened strategy on release windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium on-demand and home streaming.

Studio leaders note the genre now operates like a versatile piece on the rollout map. The genre can arrive on nearly any frame, provide a clean hook for ad units and shorts, and lead with patrons that turn out on Thursday nights and continue through the week two if the feature hits. Coming out of a production delay era, the 2026 pattern demonstrates faith in that logic. The year kicks off with a weighty January block, then leans on spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while saving space for a autumn push that pushes into the Halloween frame and into the next week. The layout also reflects the continuing integration of indie distributors and OTT outlets that can launch in limited release, stoke social talk, and widen at the proper time.

A notable top-line trend is series management across interlocking continuities and established properties. The players are not just turning out another continuation. They are working to present continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a title presentation that indicates a fresh attitude or a lead change that bridges a fresh chapter to a original cycle. At the parallel to that, the creative leads behind the eagerly awaited originals are returning to in-camera technique, practical gags and grounded locations. That interplay affords 2026 a lively combination of brand comfort and shock, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

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

Paramount leads early with two high-profile titles that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the front, setting it up as both a handoff and a return-to-roots character-centered film. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the story approach conveys a heritage-honoring approach without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive rooted in iconic art, initial cast looks, and a staggered trailer plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also reawakens 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 behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will stress. As a counterweight in summer, this one will hunt large awareness through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format allowing quick shifts to whatever leads the discourse that spring.

Universal has three unique lanes. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is straightforward, melancholic, and logline-clear: a grieving man implements an artificial companion that becomes a killer companion. The date positions it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to replay off-kilter promo beats and bite-size content that fuses longing and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a name unveil to become an headline beat closer to the teaser. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s releases are framed as must-see filmmaker statements, with a opaque teaser and a later creative that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The late-month date offers Universal room to dominate 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, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has shown that a blood-soaked, makeup-driven treatment can feel top-tier on a disciplined budget. Look for a splatter summer horror surge that leans into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio sets two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, continuing a dependable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is presenting as a new take 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 directive to serve both loyalists and general audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build assets around universe detail, and creature work, elements that can amplify premium format interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on rigorous craft and linguistic texture, this time steeped in lycan lore. Focus’s team has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is supportive.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform strategies for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s releases shift to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a sequence that boosts both week-one demand and subscriber lifts in the tail. Prime Video will mix acquired titles with international acquisitions and small theatrical windows when the data supports it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in archive usage, using in-app campaigns, genre hubs, and featured rows to keep attention on the horror cume. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix films and festival pickups, locking in horror entries near their drops and turning into events premieres with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a hybrid of precision releases and rapid platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a curated basis. The platform has been willing to buy select projects with top-tier auteurs or name-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation ramps.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 slate with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is straightforward: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, elevated 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. Cineverse has flagged a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then using the holiday frame to move out. That positioning has worked well for director-led genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception prompts. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using limited theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their membership.

Known brands versus new stories

By share, the 2026 slate leans toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage marquee value. The challenge, as ever, is fatigue. The near-term solution is to sell each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is underscoring character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-flavored turn from a fresh helmer. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and director-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the deal build is recognizable enough to generate pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Three-year comps make sense of the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that observed windows did not deter a day-date move from succeeding when the brand was trusted. In 2024, auteur craft horror punched above its weight in premium formats. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reframe POV and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds 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 consecutively, gives leeway to marketing to link the films through character web and themes and to sustain campaign assets without doldrums.

How the films are being made

The production chatter behind this year’s genre indicate a continued tilt toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that leans on grain and menace rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and department features before rolling out a teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and creates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a self-aware reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature and environment design, which play well in convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel must-have. Look for trailers that accent disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in premium houses.

Annual flow

January is stacked. 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 tonal palate cleanser amid larger brand plays. The month closes 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 formidable, but the tone spread gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth this contact form carries.

February through May load in summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Shoulder season into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder season window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a peekaboo tease plan and limited plot reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card burn.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s virtual companion turns into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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 rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-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 finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss push to survive on a far-flung island as the power balance of power inverts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to chill, built on Cronin’s tactile craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting story that mediates the fear via a youth’s unsteady inner lens. Rating: to be announced. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral 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 genre lampoon that needles of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fixations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites erupts, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new clan tethered to lingering terrors. Rating: pending. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A new start designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in pure survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: TBD. 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: intentionally withheld. Rating: undetermined. Production: underway. 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-precise speech and elemental menace. Rating: pending. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three hands-on forces organize this lineup. First, production that paused or reshuffled in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming landings. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on social-ready stingers from test screenings, curated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

The slot calculus is real. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner 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 lanes will trade weekends across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

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

The search for sleepers continues in Q1, where modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, 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 banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, 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 sequence upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, soundscape, and image-making that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand power where it counts, inventive vision where it helps, 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, cut crisp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the gasps sell the seats.