Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts ancient terror, a nerve shredding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 on major streaming services

One chilling unearthly suspense story from creator / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an archaic fear when strangers become tokens in a fiendish game. Dropping on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping episode of resistance and primeval wickedness that will reimagine fear-driven cinema this spooky time. Guided by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and gothic suspense flick follows five strangers who regain consciousness confined in a hidden house under the oppressive will of Kyra, a cursed figure inhabited by a 2,000-year-old Old Testament spirit. Get ready to be absorbed by a filmic ride that weaves together visceral dread with legendary tales, releasing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a long-standing narrative in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is radically shifted when the entities no longer come outside their bodies, but rather from their core. This represents the most hidden shade of the victims. The result is a riveting inner struggle where the plotline becomes a intense contest between righteousness and malevolence.


In a bleak landscape, five souls find themselves stuck under the evil grip and overtake of a elusive figure. As the cast becomes incapacitated to break her influence, isolated and preyed upon by entities ungraspable, they are thrust to acknowledge their greatest panics while the countdown without pity strikes toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion grows and ties implode, compelling each person to challenge their essence and the foundation of personal agency itself. The danger amplify with every breath, delivering a terror ride that integrates supernatural terror with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to explore primitive panic, an spirit beyond time, influencing inner turmoil, and navigating a entity that erodes the self when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra meant channeling something unfamiliar to reason. She is clueless until the spirit seizes her, and that shift is shocking because it is so unshielded.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for digital release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that horror lovers across the world can be part of this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its original promo, which has pulled in over 100K plays.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, taking the terror to fans of fear everywhere.


Don’t miss this unforgettable ride through nightmares. Confront *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to acknowledge these nightmarish insights about inner darkness.


For behind-the-scenes access, making-of footage, and social posts from behind the lens, follow @YACFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit our horror hub.





Modern horror’s major pivot: the year 2025 domestic schedule weaves archetypal-possession themes, microbudget gut-punches, stacked beside tentpole growls

Running from pressure-cooker survival tales rooted in legendary theology as well as installment follow-ups as well as focused festival visions, 2025 is lining up as the richest together with deliberate year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. Top studios stabilize the year with known properties, at the same time subscription platforms front-load the fall with fresh voices together with mythic dread. Across the art-house lane, the independent cohort is drafting behind the momentum from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, notably this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are disciplined, so 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Premium dread reemerges

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal banner opens the year with an audacious swing: a modernized Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, instead in a current-day frame. Under director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. set for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Guided by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer wanes, the Warner lot delivers the closing chapter within its surest horror brand: 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. Although the framework is familiar, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re engages, and those signature textures resurface: period tinged dread, trauma centered writing, with spooky supernatural reasoning. Here the stakes rise, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The return delves further into myth, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, reaching teens and game grownups. It drops in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Offerings: Small budgets, sharp fangs

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale led by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No bloated mythology. No series drag. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, guided by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Dials to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

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

SVOD originals harden up
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

The big screen is a trust exercise
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Outlook: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The upcoming chiller calendar year ahead: returning titles, filmmaker-first projects, in tandem with A stacked Calendar optimized for Scares

Dek: The arriving scare cycle clusters in short order with a January cluster, thereafter spreads through the summer months, and straight through the December corridor, fusing brand equity, fresh ideas, and savvy offsets. Studios with streamers are prioritizing efficient budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and viral-minded pushes that position these films into mainstream chatter.

How the genre looks for 2026

The genre has become the sturdy play in release plans, a pillar that can accelerate when it connects and still safeguard the drag when it misses. After 2023 signaled to leaders that low-to-mid budget chillers can dominate audience talk, 2024 kept energy high with festival-darling auteurs and surprise hits. The tailwind extended into 2025, where revived properties and elevated films confirmed there is a market for a variety of tones, from continued chapters to one-and-done originals that export nicely. The takeaway for 2026 is a lineup that is strikingly coherent across the market, with clear date clusters, a balance of brand names and first-time concepts, and a tightened stance on release windows that drive downstream revenue on PVOD and digital services.

Marketers add the genre now performs as a versatile piece on the grid. The genre can launch on open real estate, furnish a tight logline for trailers and platform-native cuts, and overperform with ticket buyers that turn out on Thursday previews and return through the subsequent weekend if the film hits. Emerging from a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 mapping indicates comfort in that dynamic. The slate begins with a front-loaded January schedule, then plants flags in spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while making space for a fall cadence that connects to late October and into post-Halloween. The program also spotlights the expanded integration of indie distributors and home platforms that can grow from platform, ignite recommendations, and go nationwide at the inflection point.

A second macro trend is brand strategy across ongoing universes and heritage properties. Distribution groups are not just turning out another return. They are moving to present continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a brandmark that broadcasts a fresh attitude or a casting choice that bridges a next entry to a vintage era. At the in tandem, the writer-directors behind the most anticipated originals are prioritizing real-world builds, in-camera effects and site-specific worlds. That fusion yields the 2026 slate a strong blend of recognition and shock, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount marks the early tempo with two marquee entries that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the center, marketing it as both a baton pass and a classic-mode character-first story. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the creative stance points to a throwback-friendly strategy without going over the last two entries’ family thread. Plan for a rollout leaning on brand visuals, character spotlights, and a trailer cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will emphasize. As a summer contrast play, this one will generate large awareness through meme-friendly cuts, this page with the horror spoof format enabling quick adjustments to whatever tops trend lines that spring.

Universal has three discrete entries. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is simple, heartbroken, and concept-forward: a grieving man implements an digital partner that grows into a deadly partner. The date places it at the front of a thick month, with marketing at Universal likely to renew eerie street stunts and quick hits that fuses devotion and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a proper title to become an earned moment closer to the first look. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s releases are treated as auteur events, with a hinting teaser and a later creative that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot creates space for Universal to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use 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 heads, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a flesh-and-blood, in-camera leaning mix can feel deluxe on a controlled budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror rush that embraces global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio mounts two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, holding a trusty supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is positioning as a reimagined restart 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 marketing units around universe detail, and practical creature work, elements that can fuel premium screens and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on rigorous craft and language, this time orbiting lycan myth. The distributor has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is robust.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform plans for 2026 run on predictable routes. The studio’s horror films transition to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ordering that maximizes both week-one demand and sign-up spikes in the later phase. Prime Video blends licensed titles with global originals and targeted theatrical runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in deep cuts, using in-app campaigns, holiday hubs, and featured rows to maximize the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix stays nimble about internal projects and festival acquisitions, securing horror entries toward the drop and making event-like premieres with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a one-two of precision releases and fast windowing that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a per-project basis. The platform has been willing to take on select projects with established auteurs or celebrity-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 track with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is straightforward: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, reimagined for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a theatrical-first plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday dates to increase reach. That positioning has delivered for filmmaker-first horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception warrants. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using limited runs to ignite evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Series vs standalone

By share, 2026 skews toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap name recognition. The risk, as ever, is staleness. The standing approach is to brand each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is bringing forward core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French sensibility from a emerging director. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the cast-creatives package is steady enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Comps from the last three years illuminate the plan. In 2023, a cinema-first model that kept streaming intact did not block a simultaneous release test from hitting when the brand was big. In 2024, auteur craft horror over-performed in premium large format. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they angle differently and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, lets marketing to link the films through character arcs and themes and to keep assets in-market without extended gaps.

Behind-the-camera trends

The production chatter behind 2026 horror indicate a continued preference for in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that elevates unease and texture rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for textured sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely frame 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 clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for red-band excess, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and produces shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta-horror reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster work and world-building, which play well in convention floor stunts and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel compelling. Look for trailers that spotlight hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that benefit on big speakers.

Release calendar overview

January is jammed. 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 moody palate cleanser amid big-brand pushes. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the tone spread carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth persists.

Q1 into Q2 prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Shoulder season into fall leans IP. 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 pre-October slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a opaque tease strategy and limited pre-release reveals that put concept first.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and holiday card usage.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s machine mate becomes something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

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 confront a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. 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 difficult boss work to survive on a isolated island as the chain of command upends and paranoia spreads. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to menace, anchored by Cronin’s on-set craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. 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 teases the panic of a child’s fragile read. Rating: forthcoming. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-grade and toplined supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that targets hot-button genre motifs and true crime fascinations. Rating: undetermined. Production: principal photography set 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: to be announced. Production: shooting 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 household entangled with ancient dread. 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: TBD publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-core horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBA. Production: continuing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on antique diction and primordial menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026, why now

Three practical forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or rearranged in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming launches. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on bite-size scare clips from test screenings, curated scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, providing runway for genre entries that can seize a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will stack across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the strike zone. 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 shock 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.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, 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 keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for 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.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is IP strength where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for 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-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.