Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes antediluvian malevolence, a chilling horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on top streamers

An hair-raising occult suspense film from storyteller / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an archaic horror when unknowns become vehicles in a fiendish ceremony. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful depiction of staying alive and primordial malevolence that will resculpt genre cinema this season. Realized by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and cinematic cinema piece follows five figures who awaken stranded in a far-off lodge under the sinister grip of Kyra, a haunted figure consumed by a prehistoric scriptural evil. Be warned to be immersed by a cinematic event that intertwines soul-chilling terror with ancient myths, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a enduring pillar in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is radically shifted when the entities no longer develop from a different plane, but rather from their psyche. This portrays the most sinister element of each of them. The result is a bone-chilling internal warfare where the narrative becomes a brutal tug-of-war between light and darkness.


In a forsaken natural abyss, five souls find themselves contained under the dark dominion and haunting of a mysterious entity. As the victims becomes incapable to reject her power, severed and targeted by creatures ungraspable, they are driven to confront their greatest panics while the countdown without pity counts down toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust swells and connections collapse, demanding each character to evaluate their values and the foundation of personal agency itself. The hazard mount with every passing moment, delivering a frightening tale that marries mystical fear with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to channel primal fear, an curse that existed before mankind, manipulating emotional fractures, and examining a evil that redefines identity when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra was centered on something darker than pain. She is clueless until the possession kicks in, and that change is terrifying because it is so private.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for streaming beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing viewers around the globe can witness this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its release of trailer #1, which has garnered over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, bringing the film to fans of fear everywhere.


Don’t miss this unforgettable descent into hell. Stream *Young & Cursed* this launch day to dive into these nightmarish insights about mankind.


For behind-the-scenes access, on-set glimpses, and social posts via the production team, follow @YACMovie across Facebook and TikTok and visit the movie’s homepage.





Contemporary horror’s inflection point: calendar year 2025 domestic schedule fuses old-world possession, signature indie scares, set against Franchise Rumbles

Beginning with life-or-death fear infused with primordial scripture all the way to returning series and keen independent perspectives, 2025 appears poised to be the genre’s most multifaceted in tandem with calculated campaign year in the past ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio powerhouses plant stakes across the year with known properties, at the same time OTT services stack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs alongside scriptural shivers. At the same time, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is buoyed by the kinetic energy from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, yet in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are disciplined, as a result 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s schedule leads off the quarter with a marquee bet: a refreshed Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a modern-day environment. From director Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. targeting mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Eli Craig directs anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer eases, Warner’s pipeline drops the final chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Though the outline is tried, 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.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the tone that worked before is intact: retro dread, trauma explicitly handled, along with eerie supernatural rules. The stakes escalate here, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The return delves further into myth, thickens the animatronic pantheon, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It opens in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Firsts: Lean budgets, heavy bite

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold case horror anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a close quarters body horror study including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn featuring Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces 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 film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is canny scheduling. No swollen lore. No IP hangover. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They are more runway than museum.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

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 hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Series Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, from Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Dials to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror ascends again
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Laurels convert to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Season Ahead: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

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 assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The next chiller slate: installments, standalone ideas, plus A hectic Calendar geared toward shocks

Dek The fresh genre season lines up from the jump with a January glut, before it runs through peak season, and pushing into the year-end corridor, braiding series momentum, fresh ideas, and calculated alternatives. Studios and streamers are doubling down on efficient budgets, box-office-first windows, and short-form initiatives that turn horror entries into all-audience topics.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror filmmaking has solidified as the sturdy move in annual schedules, a segment that can surge when it clicks and still cushion the exposure when it falls short. After the 2023 year proved to executives that disciplined-budget shockers can steer audience talk, the following year held pace with buzzy auteur projects and unexpected risers. The energy extended into 2025, where re-entries and arthouse crossovers made clear there is an opening for a spectrum, from ongoing IP entries to non-IP projects that carry overseas. The takeaway for 2026 is a slate that feels more orchestrated than usual across studios, with obvious clusters, a harmony of recognizable IP and untested plays, and a re-energized eye on theater exclusivity that power the aftermarket on premium on-demand and subscription services.

Buyers contend the horror lane now serves as a schedule utility on the rollout map. Horror can premiere on a wide range of weekends, deliver a quick sell for creative and short-form placements, and over-index with patrons that respond on opening previews and maintain momentum through the next weekend if the offering works. Exiting a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration demonstrates belief in that logic. The calendar gets underway with a heavy January block, then plants flags in spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while leaving room for a fall corridor that carries into holiday-adjacent weekends and into November. The arrangement also illustrates the stronger partnership of specialty distributors and streamers that can platform a title, ignite recommendations, and widen at the right moment.

A notable top-line trend is legacy care across brand ecosystems and veteran brands. The players are not just turning out another continuation. They are setting up ongoing narrative with a occasion, whether that is a title design that broadcasts a recalibrated tone or a cast configuration that reconnects a next entry to a vintage era. At the meanwhile, the filmmakers behind the marquee originals are prioritizing physical effects work, makeup and prosthetics and grounded locations. That pairing provides 2026 a vital pairing of trust and surprise, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount opens strong with two spotlight titles that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the front, framing it as both a legacy handover and a classic-mode character-focused installment. Production is active in Atlanta, and the tonal posture indicates a fan-service aware strategy without repeating the last two entries’ sibling arc. A campaign is expected stacked with heritage visuals, character-first teases, and a tiered teaser plan hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will lean on. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will generate mainstream recognition through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format permitting quick updates to whatever tops genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three distinct plays. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is simple, melancholic, and high-concept: a grieving man activates an intelligent companion that escalates into a fatal companion. The date positions it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s campaign likely to recreate viral uncanny stunts and short reels that mixes intimacy and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a title drop to become an attention spike closer to the opening teaser. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s releases are framed as creative events, with a concept-forward tease and a weblink second beat that shape mood without giving away the concept. The pre-Halloween slot allows Universal to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has consistently shown that a raw, practical-first strategy can feel high-value on a disciplined budget. Expect a grime-caked summer horror shock that leans hard into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio lines up two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, extending a proven supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is describing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both core fans and first-timers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build materials around environmental design, and practical creature work, elements that can increase format premiums and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by historical precision and archaic language, this time steeped in lycan lore. The specialty arm has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is favorable.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform strategies for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s releases window into copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a ordering that maximizes both first-week urgency and viewer acquisition in the late-window. Prime Video blends licensed titles with world buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in archive usage, using seasonal hubs, genre hubs, and staff picks to extend momentum on overall cume. Netflix retains agility about Netflix films and festival deals, scheduling horror entries with shorter lead times and turning into events arrivals with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a one-two of targeted theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a selective basis. The platform has signaled readiness to pick up select projects with top-tier auteurs or name-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation surges.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 corridor with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is direct: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, refined for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a theatrical rollout for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the late stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the Christmas corridor to go wider. That positioning has proved effective for prestige horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception allows. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using limited theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Balance of brands and originals

By tilt, 2026 is weighted toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use legacy awareness. The concern, as ever, is brand wear. The workable fix is to market each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is spotlighting character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a Francophone tone from a rising filmmaker. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the deal build is comforting enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

The last three-year set frame the model. In 2023, a cinema-first model that preserved streaming windows did not deter a simultaneous release test from hitting when the brand was robust. In 2024, auteur craft horror punched above its weight in premium screens. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel new when they pivot perspective and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, allows marketing to thread films through character and theme and to sustain campaign assets without dead zones.

Creative tendencies and craft

The creative meetings behind the 2026 slate indicate a continued shift toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that centers grain and menace rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft features before rolling out a first look that withholds plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and earns shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta recalibration that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature craft and set design, which fit with convention activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that emphasize razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that shine in top rooms.

Annual flow

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 brooding contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the mix of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

Q1 into Q2 tee up summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited pre-release reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card use.

One-sentence dossiers

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 oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s founding notes. 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 heartbroken man’s intelligent companion unfolds into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her demanding boss battle to survive on a rugged island as the control dynamic shifts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to horror, shaped by Cronin’s in-camera craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting chiller that mediates the fear via a preteen’s volatile perspective. Rating: TBA. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A parody return that teases of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime obsessions. Rating: not yet rated. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 ignites, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: lensing 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: pending. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a unlucky family snared by past horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A reboot designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-first horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: closely held. Rating: pending. Production: moving forward. 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: to be announced. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 lands now

Three workable forces define this lineup. First, production that stalled or recalendared in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on turnkey scare beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

The slot calculus is real. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can command a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will coexist across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, 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 target range. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 lower and mid-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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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 journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, 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 materiality, soundcraft, 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 Robust 2026 On Deck

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand heft where it matters, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the screams sell the seats.