Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens primeval malevolence, a hair raising feature, launching October 2025 across leading streamers

A spine-tingling mystic thriller from screenwriter / director Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an timeless horror when passersby become vehicles in a devilish struggle. Streaming this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing account of living through and forgotten curse that will reconstruct the fear genre this autumn. Crafted by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and eerie fearfest follows five unknowns who suddenly rise sealed in a cut-off structure under the unfriendly sway of Kyra, a troubled woman inhabited by a antiquated sacred-era entity. Be warned to be captivated by a screen-based experience that harmonizes bone-deep fear with mythic lore, unleashing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a historical tradition in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is subverted when the malevolences no longer descend from external sources, but rather inside their minds. This echoes the most sinister facet of all involved. The result is a intense emotional conflict where the story becomes a merciless battle between light and darkness.


In a forsaken wilderness, five friends find themselves confined under the malicious grip and possession of a haunted female figure. As the companions becomes paralyzed to reject her command, cut off and hunted by beings unnamable, they are forced to confront their darkest emotions while the seconds mercilessly ticks onward toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety escalates and partnerships break, compelling each soul to doubt their core and the notion of freedom of choice itself. The risk escalate with every short lapse, delivering a scare-fueled ride that intertwines ghostly evil with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to evoke deep fear, an presence that predates humanity, operating within mental cracks, and questioning a spirit that erodes the self when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra meant channeling something far beyond human desperation. She is blind until the demon emerges, and that turn is emotionally raw because it is so raw.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for worldwide release beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—making sure fans from coast to coast can engage with this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its original clip, which has gathered over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, bringing the film to viewers around the world.


Experience this heart-stopping path of possession. Enter *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to survive these nightmarish insights about free will.


For featurettes, making-of footage, and social posts from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursed across your favorite networks and visit the official website.





Horror’s tipping point: 2025 in focus U.S. Slate integrates biblical-possession ideas, independent shockers, stacked beside legacy-brand quakes

Beginning with fight-to-live nightmare stories steeped in near-Eastern lore and extending to IP renewals and cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 stands to become the most textured plus blueprinted year in a decade.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Top studios stabilize the year with established lines, as premium streamers pack the fall with unboxed visions alongside mythic dread. In the indie lane, the artisan tier is surfing the afterglow of a peak 2024 circuit. As Halloween stays the prime week, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A fat September–October lane is customary now, though in this cycle, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are precise, and 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: The Return of Prestige Fear

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

Universal fires the first shot with a confident swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Guided by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. targeting mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Led by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

When summer tapers, Warner’s slate delivers the closing chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 follows. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re boards, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: retro dread, trauma as narrative engine, and a cold supernatural calculus. Here the stakes rise, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, builds out the animatronic fear crew, reaching teens and game grownups. It hits in December, pinning the winter close.

Platform Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

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

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a two hander body horror spiral pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable with Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using 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 each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No swollen lore. No sequel clutter. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. 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. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Brands: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, led by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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.

Signals and Trends

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Season Ahead: Fall stack and winter swing card

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The new spook lineup: Sequels, new stories, plus A packed Calendar aimed at screams

Dek: The fresh terror calendar packs right away with a January logjam, following that rolls through midyear, and deep into the holiday stretch, marrying marquee clout, original angles, and tactical counter-scheduling. The major players are embracing lean spends, cinema-first plans, and short-form initiatives that transform these releases into national conversation.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror sector has emerged as the surest tool in release strategies, a category that can surge when it clicks and still hedge the downside when it falls short. After 2023 reminded studio brass that lean-budget scare machines can shape audience talk, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with signature-voice projects and slow-burn breakouts. The head of steam moved into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and premium-leaning entries made clear there is capacity for a variety of tones, from franchise continuations to original features that export nicely. The result for the 2026 slate is a slate that looks unusually coordinated across the industry, with purposeful groupings, a mix of recognizable IP and first-time concepts, and a renewed priority on box-office windows that drive downstream revenue on premium on-demand and home platforms.

Studio leaders note the horror lane now serves as a fill-in ace on the release plan. The genre can arrive on a wide range of weekends, supply a clear pitch for previews and social clips, and punch above weight with moviegoers that show up on opening previews and stick through the subsequent weekend if the film connects. In the wake of a production delay era, the 2026 cadence shows belief in that equation. The calendar kicks off with a crowded January band, then uses spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while clearing room for a autumn push that extends to spooky season and into post-Halloween. The calendar also highlights the tightening integration of indie distributors and SVOD players that can develop over weeks, generate chatter, and roll out at the precise moment.

Another broad trend is brand strategy across connected story worlds and veteran brands. The players are not just pushing another sequel. They are aiming to frame connection with a sense of event, whether that is a title presentation that telegraphs a new tone or a casting pivot that connects a next film to a vintage era. At the alongside this, the creative leads behind the headline-grabbing originals are leaning into real-world builds, makeup and prosthetics and vivid settings. That blend delivers 2026 a solid mix of comfort and discovery, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

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

Paramount plants an early flag with two marquee bets that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the center, positioning the film as both a passing of the torch and a return-to-roots character study. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the directional approach signals a nostalgia-forward mode without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Expect a marketing push driven by iconic art, first-look character reveals, and a tiered teaser plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will double down on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will seek wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format allowing quick turns to whatever leads the conversation that spring.

Universal has three distinct lanes. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is straightforward, heartbroken, and concept-forward: a grieving man sets up an artificial companion that evolves into a killer companion. The date lines it up at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s campaign likely to echo strange in-person beats and brief clips that mixes romance and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a branding reveal to become an attention spike closer to the first trailer. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele titles are marketed as director events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a later trailer push that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot allows Universal to own 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has established that a gritty, practical-first treatment can feel cinematic on a middle budget. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror rush that embraces offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio launches two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, sustaining a dependable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has reshuffled 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 re-emerges in what Sony is framing as a new foundation 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 sharper mandate to serve both diehards and fresh viewers. The fall slot allows Sony to build campaign pieces around narrative world, and monster aesthetics, elements that can accelerate PLF interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror built on immersive craft and historical speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. The distributor has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is favorable.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on stable tracks. The Universal horror run feed copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a cadence that fortifies both first-week urgency and sign-up momentum in the late-window. Prime Video balances outside acquisitions with global originals and select theatrical runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library curation, using prominent placements, spooky hubs, and staff picks to increase tail value on the horror cume. Netflix keeps optionality about own-slate titles and festival additions, slotting horror entries closer to launch and coalescing around go-lives with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a dual-phase of precision releases and prompt platform moves that drives paid trials from buzz. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has shown a willingness to pick up select projects with name filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 corridor with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is straightforward: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, retooled for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the back half.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then relying on the Christmas window to scale. That positioning has helped for filmmaker-first horror with audience crossover. 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 cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception merits. Do not be surprised by 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 precision theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their user base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By proportion, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use legacy awareness. The watch-out, as ever, is audience fatigue. The standing approach is to position each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is underscoring character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a Francophone tone from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and visionary-led titles keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a island survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the configuration is comforting enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

The last three-year set help explain the method. In 2023, a cinema-first model that respected streaming windows did not preclude a day-date try from hitting when the brand was trusted. In 2024, art-forward horror over-performed in premium screens. In 2025, a resuscitation of a this contact form beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they alter lens and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters shot in tandem, allows marketing to tie installments through cast and motif and to continue assets in field without long gaps.

Craft and creative trends

The director conversations behind this year’s genre forecast a continued tilt toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that highlights texture and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and era-correct language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in trade spotlights and department features before rolling out a initial teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and gathers shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta refresh that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature design and production design, which favor con floor moments and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel essential. Look for trailers that underscore disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that work in PLF.

Annual flow

January is busy. 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 quiet contrast amid heavier IP. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the tonal variety affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth endures.

Pre-summer months set up the summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds 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 comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Shoulder season 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 rolls in after September 18, a transitional slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited pre-release reveals that elevate concept over story.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card redemption.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s artificial companion becomes something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 abrasive boss try to survive on a remote island as the power balance shifts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 in the vault in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to nightmare, grounded in Cronin’s hands-on craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting piece that filters its scares through a child’s unsteady inner lens. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed and star-fronted 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 satire sequel that needles in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime crazes. Rating: not yet rated. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 breaks out, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further opens again, with a unlucky family lashed to old terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-core horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and bone-deep menace. Rating: pending. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the moment is 2026

Three pragmatic forces structure this lineup. First, production that slowed or rearranged in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming launches. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate clippable moments from test screenings, select scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can command a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

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

The surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, 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 pattern and spread. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play 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 maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, sound, and visuals 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 Promising 2026

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is IP strength where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.