Ancient Horror Emerges within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding horror thriller, landing October 2025 on major streaming services

An spine-tingling occult fear-driven tale from dramatist / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an archaic nightmare when unfamiliar people become victims in a malevolent conflict. Going live on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing account of living through and age-old darkness that will transform genre cinema this spooky time. Crafted by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and gothic feature follows five lost souls who arise trapped in a far-off dwelling under the malignant will of Kyra, a tormented girl claimed by a biblical-era sacrosanct terror. Ready yourself to be shaken by a filmic presentation that weaves together bone-deep fear with ancestral stories, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a mainstay theme in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is turned on its head when the entities no longer originate externally, but rather from within. This marks the haunting facet of the group. The result is a psychologically brutal moral showdown where the conflict becomes a constant fight between right and wrong.


In a forsaken forest, five individuals find themselves marooned under the malevolent dominion and control of a unknown female presence. As the cast becomes submissive to evade her manipulation, marooned and chased by unknowns unnamable, they are compelled to encounter their greatest panics while the seconds coldly counts down toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety grows and alliances crack, forcing each member to examine their core and the concept of volition itself. The intensity amplify with every breath, delivering a frightening tale that marries ghostly evil with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to extract primitive panic, an evil rooted in antiquity, channeling itself through emotional fractures, and examining a darkness that dismantles free will when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra meant channeling something rooted in terror. She is insensitive until the entity awakens, and that flip is terrifying because it is so deep.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—delivering viewers globally can dive into this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its original promo, which has racked up over strong viewer count.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, making the film to a worldwide audience.


Don’t miss this unforgettable exploration of dread. Enter *Young & Cursed* this launch day to explore these spiritual awakenings about our species.


For featurettes, set experiences, and insider scoops directly from production, follow @YACMovie across your socials and visit the film’s website.





American horror’s inflection point: 2025 in focus U.S. lineup melds primeval-possession lore, underground frights, plus IP aftershocks

Across pressure-cooker survival tales drawn from legendary theology as well as legacy revivals together with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 appears poised to be the most dimensioned together with intentionally scheduled year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. major banners set cornerstones with established lines, simultaneously subscription platforms load up the fall with discovery plays in concert with legend-coded dread. Meanwhile, the artisan tier is drafting behind the backdraft from a record 2024 festival run. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, though in this cycle, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are precise, therefore 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Premium dread reemerges

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s distribution arm starts the year with a risk-forward move: a reconceived Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, but a crisp modern milieu. Led by Leigh Whannell and toplined by 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. targeting mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Helmed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s pipeline delivers the closing chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson resumes command, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: nostalgic menace, trauma as narrative engine, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This run ups the stakes, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, stretches the animatronic parade, reaching teens and game grownups. It arrives in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Plays: Low budgets, big teeth

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn starring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. 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. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a clever angle. No bloated mythology. No IP hangover. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Franchise Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, from Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Emerging Currents

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror ascends again
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

The Road Ahead: Fall crush plus winter X factor

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

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



The oncoming terror cycle: returning titles, universe starters, plus A Crowded Calendar Built For Scares

Dek The upcoming genre slate clusters from the jump with a January cluster, before it flows through the summer months, and carrying into the festive period, balancing legacy muscle, novel approaches, and shrewd release strategy. Studios with streamers are committing to cost discipline, theater-first strategies, and viral-minded pushes that turn the slate’s entries into all-audience topics.

How the genre looks for 2026

The horror marketplace has proven to be the bankable option in release plans, a lane that can scale when it breaks through and still cushion the exposure when it falls short. After 2023 showed buyers that modestly budgeted scare machines can steer social chatter, 2024 sustained momentum with high-profile filmmaker pieces and quiet over-performers. The energy extended into 2025, where re-entries and arthouse crossovers showed there is demand for a variety of tones, from returning installments to original features that play globally. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a programming that reads highly synchronized across studios, with purposeful groupings, a balance of household franchises and new concepts, and a tightened emphasis on exhibition windows that drive downstream revenue on PVOD and subscription services.

Buyers contend the category now works like a versatile piece on the release plan. Horror can open on open real estate, offer a clean hook for ad units and platform-native cuts, and punch above weight with crowds that show up on Thursday previews and continue through the next weekend if the movie pays off. Coming out of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 plan signals trust in that playbook. The calendar rolls out with a stacked January band, then taps spring and early summer for balance, while saving space for a autumn push that connects to late October and into the next week. The program also illustrates the ongoing integration of arthouse labels and OTT outlets that can nurture a platform play, ignite recommendations, and expand at the optimal moment.

A parallel macro theme is brand curation across linked properties and long-running brands. The studios are not just making another return. They are moving to present brand continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a graphic identity that signals a new vibe or a lead change that ties a incoming chapter to a original cycle. At the simultaneously, the helmers behind the most buzzed-about originals are returning to hands-on technique, makeup and prosthetics and site-specific worlds. That blend offers the 2026 slate a smart balance of assurance and shock, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount sets the tone early with two marquee moves that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the center, framing it as both a handoff and a back-to-basics character-driven entry. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the artistic posture announces a memory-charged angle without covering again the last two entries’ sisters thread. The studio is likely to mount a drive driven by iconic art, character-first teases, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm aimed at late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will feature. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will chase wide buzz through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format permitting quick turns to whatever dominates horror talk that spring.

Universal has three specific projects. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is efficient, sorrow-tinged, and big-hook: a grieving man adopts an synthetic partner that mutates into a lethal partner. The date positions it at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s team likely to replay odd public stunts and quick hits that threads affection and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered 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 makes room for a official title to become an fan moment closer to the debut look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s work are sold as auteur events, with a teaser that reveals little and a next wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot offers Universal room to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New click site Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has long shown that a in-your-face, on-set effects led execution can feel top-tier on a disciplined budget. Look for a hard-R summer horror hit that leans into global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio lines up two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, maintaining a proven supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is billing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both fans and first-timers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build assets around mythos, and monster craft, elements that can stoke premium screens and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by immersive craft and textual fidelity, this time focused on werewolf legend. The specialty arm has already locked the day for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is glowing.

Digital platform strategies

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on predictable routes. The Universal horror run flow to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a tiered path that fortifies both first-week urgency and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video stitches together outside acquisitions weblink with global pickups and short theatrical plays when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in back-catalog play, using featured rows, fright rows, and collection rows to stretch the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix originals and festival additions, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and staging as events premieres with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a laddered of limited theatrical footprints and swift platform pivots that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a discrete basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to take on select projects with acclaimed directors or name-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for sustained usage when the genre conversation spikes.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 slate with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is simple: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, refined for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the September weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the year-end corridor to broaden. That positioning has helped for craft-driven horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception drives. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using select theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their membership.

Franchise entries versus originals

By number, 2026 leans in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage franchise value. The watch-out, as ever, is brand erosion. The preferred tactic is to brand each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is bringing forward character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-flavored turn from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and director-first projects provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the packaging is anchored enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday previews.

Recent comps frame the method. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that preserved streaming windows did not stop a hybrid test from delivering when the brand was strong. In 2024, auteur craft horror outperformed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel new when they shift POV and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, creates space for marketing to tie installments through character and theme and to leave creative active without doldrums.

Creative tendencies and craft

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 slate forecast a continued bias toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that leans on texture and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in long-lead press and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a tease that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and produces shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta inflection that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature and environment design, which are ideal for fan conventions and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel necessary. Look for trailers that elevate disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in big rooms.

Month-by-month map

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 bigger brand plays. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the variety of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

Post-January through spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Back half into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a late-September window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a peekaboo tease plan and limited information drops that trade in concept over detail.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as craft prestige horror. 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 clicks critically, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and card redemption.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s machine mate evolves into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 claw to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance turns and paranoia spreads. 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 under wraps in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to fright, based on Cronin’s on-set craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting piece that interrogates the fright of a child’s tricky perceptions. Rating: pending. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly 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 satirical comeback that teases in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fervors. Rating: to be announced. Production: production booked 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 bursts, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new household caught in ancient dread. Rating: to be announced. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A restart designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-core horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: forthcoming. Production: continuing. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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-accurate language and ancient menace. Rating: pending. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a cinema-first path before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 lands now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces organize this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or migrated in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and leaner 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 exceeded straight-to-streaming drops. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate turnkey scare beats from test screenings, precision scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Another factor is the scheduling math. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will share space across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

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

The sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, imp source where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to leverage those opportunities. 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, 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 flow and breadth. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, soundcraft, and framing 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

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand power where it counts, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.