Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases mythic darkness, a nightmare fueled thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on major streaming services

One haunting supernatural scare-fest from literary architect / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an ancient evil when unknowns become tokens in a malevolent game. Hitting screens this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing depiction of resilience and mythic evil that will reimagine horror this autumn. Created by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and eerie story follows five characters who regain consciousness caught in a remote shack under the dark will of Kyra, a tormented girl controlled by a ancient religious nightmare. Be warned to be hooked by a narrative spectacle that fuses raw fear with legendary tales, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a well-established pillar in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is inverted when the presences no longer originate from beyond, but rather inside their minds. This represents the most terrifying facet of the victims. The result is a enthralling psychological battle where the conflict becomes a brutal conflict between righteousness and malevolence.


In a bleak outland, five friends find themselves confined under the malicious influence and domination of a uncanny entity. As the survivors becomes powerless to escape her manipulation, marooned and preyed upon by creatures unfathomable, they are confronted to confront their deepest fears while the deathwatch unforgivingly ticks onward toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust surges and associations dissolve, urging each person to contemplate their values and the idea of liberty itself. The pressure grow with every fleeting time, delivering a cinematic nightmare that connects unearthly horror with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to tap into core terror, an darkness from prehistory, influencing fragile psyche, and exposing a darkness that threatens selfhood when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra demanded embodying something past sanity. She is unseeing until the invasion happens, and that transition is shocking because it is so intimate.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be available for audiences beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing subscribers globally can get immersed in this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its first trailer, which has racked up over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, bringing the film to scare fans abroad.


Do not miss this life-altering journey into fear. Watch *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to witness these nightmarish insights about the mind.


For previews, set experiences, and promotions straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across entertainment pages and visit the movie portal.





Modern horror’s pivotal crossroads: the year 2025 U.S. Slate melds old-world possession, indie terrors, alongside Franchise Rumbles

Kicking off with survivor-centric dread steeped in scriptural legend through to IP renewals alongside pointed art-house angles, 2025 looks like the genre’s most multifaceted plus intentionally scheduled year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. leading studios stabilize the year via recognizable brands, while subscription platforms pack the fall with unboxed visions plus mythic dread. On the festival side, festival-forward creators is catching the carry of a peak 2024 circuit. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A fat September–October lane is customary now, distinctly in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are surgical, so 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: The Return of Prestige Fear

The majors are assertive. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s slate opens the year with an audacious swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in an immediate now. From director Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. 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 novel refit as minimal menace. Guided by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

When summer tapers, the WB camp drops the final chapter from its anchor horror saga: 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. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson resumes command, and the tone that worked before is intact: vintage toned fear, trauma driven plotting, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This pass pushes higher, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The return delves further into myth, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It bows in December, securing the winter cap.

SVOD Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a body horror chamber piece led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. 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.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is canny scheduling. No bloated canon. No franchise baggage. 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 Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, from Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Trend Lines

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror resurges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Forward View: Autumn density and winter pivot

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive 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 aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The new spook year to come: continuations, filmmaker-first projects, together with A jammed Calendar optimized for chills

Dek: The upcoming horror slate builds from day one with a January glut, thereafter carries through June and July, and straight through the December corridor, combining IP strength, fresh ideas, and shrewd calendar placement. The major players are embracing responsible budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and influencer-ready assets that pivot horror entries into broad-appeal conversations.

How the genre looks for 2026

The field has turned into the consistent swing in programming grids, a genre that can scale when it resonates and still mitigate the losses when it underperforms. After 2023 reassured strategy teams that efficiently budgeted entries can steer audience talk, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with filmmaker-forward plays and unexpected risers. The run carried into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers made clear there is a lane for a spectrum, from returning installments to original one-offs that translate worldwide. The upshot for 2026 is a grid that looks unusually coordinated across players, with strategic blocks, a spread of marquee IP and new concepts, and a reinvigorated commitment on exhibition windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium rental and home platforms.

Schedulers say the horror lane now serves as a plug-and-play option on the calendar. The genre can debut on most weekends, offer a clean hook for promo reels and vertical videos, and exceed norms with crowds that line up on advance nights and hold through the sophomore frame if the title works. Coming out of a production delay era, the 2026 cadence telegraphs assurance in that model. The slate rolls out with a crowded January band, then taps spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while leaving room for a late-year stretch that flows toward spooky season and into early November. The arrangement also highlights the deeper integration of specialty distributors and subscription services that can stage a platform run, build word of mouth, and move wide at the optimal moment.

A reinforcing pattern is franchise tending across shared IP webs and long-running brands. Big banners are not just releasing another installment. They are moving to present ongoing narrative with a must-see charge, whether that is a typeface approach that broadcasts a tonal shift or a casting pivot that bridges a next entry to a initial period. At the simultaneously, the visionaries behind the most watched originals are doubling down on hands-on technique, physical gags and place-driven backdrops. That mix hands the 2026 slate a vital pairing of home base and freshness, which is what works overseas.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount defines the early cadence with two big-ticket releases that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the front, framing it as both a succession moment and a origin-leaning relationship-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture announces a fan-service aware strategy without replaying the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Look for a marketing run leaning on signature symbols, character previews, and a trailer cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

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 in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will spotlight. As a summer contrast play, this one will go after mass reach through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format supporting quick adjustments to whatever dominates trend lines that spring.

Universal has three specific entries. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is crisp, loss-driven, and premise-first: a grieving man implements an intelligent companion that becomes a deadly partner. The date sets it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the marketing arm likely to replay uncanny-valley stunts and snackable content that hybridizes devotion and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a title drop to become an fan moment closer to the teaser. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s releases are framed as marquee events, with a teaser that holds back and a later trailer push that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date gives the studio room to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has made clear that a gnarly, practical-first strategy can feel deluxe on a controlled budget. Expect a gore-forward summer horror jolt that emphasizes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio sets two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, extending a bankable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is presenting as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both diehards and novices. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign pieces around lore, and creature builds, elements that can accelerate large-format demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions 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 driven by immersive craft and textual fidelity, this time circling werewolf lore. The imprint has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is favorable.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform windowing in 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s slate transition to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a stair-step that optimizes both initial urgency and sign-up momentum in the downstream. Prime Video will mix outside acquisitions with worldwide entries and brief theater runs when the data supports it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog engagement, using editorial spots, Halloween hubs, and staff picks to extend momentum on overall cume. Netflix keeps optionality about originals and festival acquisitions, slotting click site horror entries near their drops and staging as events arrivals with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a dual-phase of precision theatrical plays and swift platform pivots that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a discrete basis. The platform has proven amenable to buy select projects with prestige directors or headline-cast packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation builds.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 pipeline with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is uncomplicated: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, elevated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has positioned a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, guiding the film through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday frame to expand. That positioning has proved effective for craft-driven horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception warrants. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using limited theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their user base.

Series vs standalone

By number, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit legacy awareness. The trade-off, as ever, is audience fatigue. The go-to fix is to market each entry as a new angle. Paramount is centering character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a Francophone tone from a buzzed-about director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries keep the lungs full. 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 signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the packaging is familiar enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years help explain the plan. In 2023, a theater-first model that respected streaming windows did not deter a day-date move from winning when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror rose in premium screens. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they pivot perspective and grow scope. 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 lensed sequentially, builds a path for marketing to bridge entries through character spine and themes and to continue assets in field without doldrums.

Creative tendencies and craft

The production chatter behind the 2026 entries signal a continued tilt toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that emphasizes texture and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in deep-dive features and artisan spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that withholds plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and earns shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta refresh that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature execution and sets, which align with convention floor stunts and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel must-have. Look for trailers that foreground precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that sing on PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is stacked. 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 tonal palate cleanser amid heftier brand moves. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the spread of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth sustains.

Late winter and spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late-season stretch leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the see here brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a shoulder season window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited plot reveals that favor idea over plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card spend.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s algorithmic partner grows into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

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 stumble upon a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: gothic-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 unyielding boss try to survive on a rugged island as the power balance reverses and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to chill, based on Cronin’s material craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting setup that interrogates the unease of a child’s shaky perceptions. Rating: to be announced. 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 involved creatively again. Logline: {A genre lampoon that needles hot-button genre motifs and true crime fixations. Rating: TBD. Production: shoot planned 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 detonates, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further opens again, with a another family snared by old terrors. Rating: pending. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-core horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: to be announced. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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 elemental dread. Rating: to be announced. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why this year, why now

Three pragmatic forces define this lineup. First, production that eased or re-sequenced in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and shorter 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, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine clippable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can control 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 lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

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

The underdog chase continues in Q1, where midrange-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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, aural design, 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

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand equity where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.