Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases mythic darkness, a nightmare fueled horror thriller, landing October 2025 on premium platforms

A hair-raising otherworldly nightmare movie from scriptwriter / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an long-buried horror when guests become proxies in a devilish struggle. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing saga of living through and forgotten curse that will remodel terror storytelling this autumn. Guided by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and atmospheric feature follows five characters who come to confined in a unreachable cottage under the unfriendly power of Kyra, a possessed female possessed by a antiquated religious nightmare. Brace yourself to be shaken by a motion picture journey that harmonizes instinctive fear with ancient myths, dropping on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a classic fixture in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is radically shifted when the fiends no longer appear from external sources, but rather from within. This symbolizes the most terrifying part of the protagonists. The result is a relentless cognitive warzone where the suspense becomes a unyielding push-pull between purity and corruption.


In a haunting outland, five characters find themselves confined under the dark control and haunting of a shadowy character. As the protagonists becomes vulnerable to withstand her influence, left alone and chased by forces beyond comprehension, they are cornered to deal with their emotional phantoms while the timeline brutally runs out toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion deepens and friendships break, prompting each member to doubt their personhood and the concept of decision-making itself. The consequences mount with every heartbeat, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that combines otherworldly suspense with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to explore deep fear, an evil from prehistory, operating within mental cracks, and confronting a spirit that strips down our being when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra was centered on something beyond human emotion. She is insensitive until the haunting manifests, and that evolution is bone-chilling because it is so private.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for home viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—giving horror lovers across the world can be part of this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its release of trailer #1, which has attracted over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, giving access to the movie to thrill-seekers globally.


Witness this visceral trip into the unknown. Experience *Young & Cursed* this launch day to explore these chilling revelations about our species.


For bonus footage, on-set glimpses, and updates from the cast and crew, follow @YACFilm across social media and visit the official digital haunt.





Current horror’s major pivot: the year 2025 U.S. calendar melds Mythic Possession, underground frights, in parallel with series shake-ups

Running from grit-forward survival fare drawn from scriptural legend and extending to brand-name continuations alongside acutely observed indies, 2025 stands to become horror’s most layered paired with tactically planned year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. studio powerhouses plant stakes across the year with known properties, simultaneously streaming platforms stack the fall with emerging auteurs as well as legend-coded dread. On another front, the art-house flank is propelled by the afterglow from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, and in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are exacting, hence 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige fear returns

The majors are assertive. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s pipeline opens the year with a big gambit: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. Guided by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. dated for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Eli Craig directs featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

Toward summer’s end, the WB camp sets loose the finale within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson is back, and the tone that worked before is intact: 70s style chill, trauma as text, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This time the stakes climb, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, courting teens and the thirty something base. It drops in December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Plays: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a sealed box body horror arc featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Then there is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Conceived and directed 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one burrows toward 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.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It looks like sharp programming. No swollen lore. No sequel clutter. 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.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Franchise Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

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

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, led by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Emerging Currents

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror comes roaring back
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. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Forward View: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The forthcoming 2026 genre lineup: returning titles, standalone ideas, plus A Crowded Calendar tailored for jolts

Dek The upcoming scare cycle builds from the jump with a January pile-up, subsequently stretches through the warm months, and deep into the winter holidays, blending IP strength, creative pitches, and smart counterplay. Major distributors and platforms are embracing mid-range economics, theatrical exclusivity first, and platform-native promos that pivot these releases into broad-appeal conversations.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror marketplace has established itself as the sturdy counterweight in programming grids, a corner that can spike when it resonates and still protect the risk when it does not. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for top brass that efficiently budgeted chillers can lead the discourse, the following year held pace with festival-darling auteurs and stealth successes. The momentum translated to 2025, where revived properties and awards-minded projects demonstrated there is room for a spectrum, from ongoing IP entries to one-and-done originals that play globally. The end result for the 2026 slate is a calendar that presents tight coordination across studios, with mapped-out bands, a combination of brand names and original hooks, and a reinvigorated commitment on exhibition windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium rental and home platforms.

Schedulers say the horror lane now serves as a plug-and-play option on the slate. Horror can open on virtually any date, deliver a clear pitch for previews and short-form placements, and over-index with ticket buyers that line up on early shows and hold through the sophomore frame if the entry satisfies. Post a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 configuration signals confidence in that playbook. The slate starts with a stacked January lineup, then taps spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while clearing room for a fall corridor that flows toward late October and into November. The program also highlights the ongoing integration of specialized labels and streaming partners that can launch in limited release, grow buzz, and roll out at the optimal moment.

A further high-level trend is IP cultivation across ongoing universes and established properties. Major shops are not just greenlighting another follow-up. They are aiming to frame ongoing narrative with a heightened moment, whether that is a art treatment that announces a new tone or a talent selection that bridges a new entry to a heyday. At the parallel to that, the visionaries behind the most anticipated originals are returning to material texture, practical effects and site-specific worlds. That blend delivers 2026 a smart balance of assurance and newness, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount leads early with two spotlight projects that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the focus, marketing it as both a succession moment and a DNA-forward relationship-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the tonal posture suggests a heritage-honoring strategy without going over the last two entries’ sibling arc. Look for a marketing run centered on heritage visuals, initial cast looks, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will double down on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will chase wide appeal through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format permitting quick updates to whatever dominates trend lines that spring.

Universal has three clear plays. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is efficient, tragic, and high-concept: a grieving man adopts an synthetic partner that turns into a deadly partner. The date sets it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s promo team likely to echo viral uncanny stunts and snackable content that interweaves affection and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a public title to become an event moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s pictures are presented as event films, with a mystery-first teaser and a next wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The spooky-season slot affords Universal to command 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, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has proven that a in-your-face, hands-on effects method can feel elevated on a mid-range budget. Expect a hard-R summer horror shot that leans into international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio deploys two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, keeping a bankable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is calling a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both check my blog diehards and first-timers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build marketing units around canon, and monster design, elements that can boost IMAX and PLF uptake and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in meticulous craft and textual fidelity, this time focused on werewolf legend. The specialty arm has already set the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is supportive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s releases move to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a pacing that optimizes both first-week urgency and sign-up momentum in the later window. Prime Video pairs acquired titles with global pickups and short theatrical plays when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library engagement, using timely promos, October hubs, and curated strips to sustain interest on lifetime take. Netflix keeps flexible about original films and festival wins, timing horror entries near their drops and eventizing go-lives with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a dual-phase of selective theatrical runs and quick platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a selective basis. The platform has indicated interest to buy select projects with award winners or A-list packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for platform stickiness when the genre conversation ramps.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is curating a 2026 lane with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is straightforward: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, modernized for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the fall weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday corridor to scale. That positioning has served the company well for director-led genre with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception warrants. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using mini theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their community.

Legacy titles versus originals

By weight, 2026 tips toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on household recognition. The challenge, as ever, is brand erosion. The operating solution is to frame each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is underscoring relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a continental coloration from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays deliver oxygen. 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, centers Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the team and cast is steady enough to generate pre-sales and early previews.

The last three-year set frame the logic. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that maintained windows did not foreclose a day-date move from succeeding when the brand was powerful. In 2024, precision craft horror hit big in premium screens. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they alter lens and raise the stakes. 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 back-to-back plan, with chapters shot in tandem, allows marketing to tie installments through character spine and themes and to keep assets alive without extended gaps.

Production craft signals

The filmmaking conversations behind these films signal a continued tilt toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that elevates creep and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft spotlights before rolling out a first look that keeps plot minimal, a move that has worked 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 connects worldwide in red-band trailers and gathers shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta inflection that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature and environment design, which fit with expo activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel must-have. Look for trailers that foreground fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that benefit on big speakers.

Month-by-month map

January is heavy. 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 somber counterpoint amid big-brand pushes. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the variety of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth endures.

Pre-summer months prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The 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 spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Back half into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil follows September 18, a early fall window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a opaque tease strategy and limited teasers that center concept over reveals.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Title briefs within the narrative

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 take on a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s intelligent companion mutates into something seductively lethal. 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively 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 finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. 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 abrasive boss struggle to survive on a desolate island as the chain of command shifts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to fright, built on Cronin’s material craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting scenario that manipulates the horror of a child’s fragile interpretations. Rating: to be announced. Production: locked. Positioning: major-studio and marquee-led occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A send-up revival that lampoons in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fixations. Rating: pending. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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: forthcoming. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new family anchored to residual nightmares. Rating: TBD. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A restart designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survivalist horror over action fireworks. Rating: forthcoming. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

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

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and primal menace. Rating: not yet rated. 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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 and why now

Three execution-level forces organize this lineup. First, production that decelerated or re-sequenced in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly 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 premieres. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine turnkey scare beats from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can capture a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will share space across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 lean-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to work those windows. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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. Expect a healthy 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.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run 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 wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, audio design, 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.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is IP strength where it matters, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the fear sell the seats.