Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens ancient dread, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on major streaming services

An bone-chilling unearthly scare-fest from author / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an age-old terror when foreigners become conduits in a malevolent maze. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish saga of perseverance and age-old darkness that will reconstruct horror this ghoul season. Created by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and immersive film follows five unacquainted souls who find themselves stuck in a secluded cabin under the aggressive command of Kyra, a haunted figure claimed by a 2,000-year-old sacred-era entity. Arm yourself to be hooked by a narrative adventure that integrates instinctive fear with mythic lore, premiering on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a iconic foundation in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is challenged when the presences no longer arise from a different plane, but rather from their core. This represents the grimmest aspect of the protagonists. The result is a riveting identity crisis where the conflict becomes a merciless push-pull between purity and corruption.


In a unforgiving wilderness, five adults find themselves stuck under the ghastly influence and overtake of a shadowy being. As the group becomes defenseless to reject her influence, detached and preyed upon by entities indescribable, they are made to encounter their emotional phantoms while the hours mercilessly strikes toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension grows and ties shatter, forcing each cast member to examine their values and the nature of independent thought itself. The threat mount with every tick, delivering a chilling narrative that connects otherworldly panic with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to dig into basic terror, an curse rooted in antiquity, embedding itself in psychological breaks, and examining a power that redefines identity when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra called for internalizing something outside normal anguish. She is uninformed until the curse activates, and that transformation is harrowing because it is so private.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for worldwide release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving audiences everywhere can enjoy this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its first trailer, which has been viewed over notable views.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, extending the thrill to fans of fear everywhere.


Mark your calendar for this bone-rattling ride through nightmares. Face *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to uncover these fearful discoveries about existence.


For previews, making-of footage, and updates from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACFilm across online outlets and visit our horror hub.





Contemporary horror’s sea change: 2025 in focus stateside slate interlaces legend-infused possession, art-house nightmares, alongside IP aftershocks

Running from endurance-driven terror drawn from primordial scripture all the way to installment follow-ups set beside cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is shaping up as the most dimensioned as well as strategic year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. studio majors lay down anchors using marquee IP, in parallel streaming platforms saturate the fall with first-wave breakthroughs in concert with ancient terrors. Across the art-house lane, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is fueled by the carry of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, though in this cycle, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are exacting, as a result 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: The Return of Prestige Fear

The top end is active. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s pipeline begins the calendar with a statement play: a refreshed Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in an immediate now. Guided by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. targeting mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. From director Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. Pictures releases the last chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Granted the structure is classic, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re teams, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: period tinged dread, trauma as text, along with eerie supernatural rules. This time, the stakes are raised, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The follow up digs further into canon, thickens the animatronic pantheon, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It opens in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a sealed box body horror arc featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Beneath the Skin: 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 story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one burrows toward 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.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. That is a savvy move. No overweight mythology. No continuity burden. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Franchise Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

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

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Dials to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

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

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Cinemas are a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn density and winter pivot

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

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 key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The approaching spook season: returning titles, standalone ideas, together with A hectic Calendar engineered for frights

Dek The arriving genre year builds in short order with a January bottleneck, and then runs through summer, and continuing into the holiday stretch, mixing legacy muscle, creative pitches, and data-minded alternatives. The major players are relying on mid-range economics, box-office-first windows, and viral-minded pushes that position these films into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This space has become the sturdy play in studio slates, a vertical that can break out when it resonates and still cushion the downside when it under-delivers. After 2023 demonstrated to studio brass that disciplined-budget pictures can drive the discourse, the following year maintained heat with buzzy auteur projects and unexpected risers. The momentum moved into the 2025 frame, where revivals and critical darlings signaled there is capacity for a variety of tones, from returning installments to original one-offs that scale internationally. The upshot for 2026 is a grid that feels more orchestrated than usual across players, with mapped-out bands, a spread of marquee IP and novel angles, and a re-energized stance on exhibition windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium digital rental and OTT platforms.

Distribution heads claim the category now slots in as a fill-in ace on the programming map. Horror can roll out on open real estate, create a grabby hook for previews and TikTok spots, and outstrip with patrons that line up on early shows and keep coming through the next pass if the movie hits. Following a work stoppage lag, the 2026 pattern indicates assurance in that equation. The year kicks off with a loaded January lineup, then leans on spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while saving space for a October build that reaches into late October and past Halloween. The arrangement also shows the continuing integration of specialized labels and platforms that can launch in limited release, grow buzz, and widen at the right moment.

A notable top-line trend is IP cultivation across brand ecosystems and veteran brands. The players are not just greenlighting another next film. They are looking to package threaded continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a graphic identity that signals a refreshed voice or a casting choice that reconnects a next entry to a classic era. At the alongside this, the filmmakers behind the marquee originals are embracing material texture, in-camera effects and place-driven backdrops. That mix affords the 2026 slate a strong blend of trust and novelty, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount opens strong with two prominent entries that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the core, framing it as both a relay and a DNA-forward character-first story. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the artistic posture hints at a throwback-friendly strategy without going over the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Look for a marketing run driven by heritage visuals, intro reveals, and a tease cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will foreground. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will generate wide appeal through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format permitting quick reframes to whatever drives the social talk that spring.

Universal has three unique projects. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine Source is tidy, soulful, and commercial: a grieving man purchases an intelligent companion that escalates into a perilous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to reprise creepy live activations and bite-size content that interweaves longing and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a official title to become an earned moment closer to the first look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele titles are set up as event films, with a teaser with minimal detail and a follow-up trailer set that define feel without revealing the concept. The prime October weekend affords Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a flesh-and-blood, physical-effects centered approach can feel deluxe on a disciplined budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror rush that embraces global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio places two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, preserving a proven supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is calling a new take 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 clearer mandate to serve both players and general audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign creative around narrative world, and creature builds, elements that can stoke deluxe auditorium demand and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror driven by meticulous craft and textual fidelity, this time orbiting lycan myth. The distributor has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is supportive.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform plans for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s genre entries land on copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a structure that boosts both week-one demand and sign-up spikes in the later window. Prime Video combines library titles with cross-border buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library pulls, using editorial spots, fright rows, and curated strips to keep attention on lifetime take. Netflix retains agility about in-house releases and festival buys, dating horror entries closer to launch and positioning as event drops rollouts with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a tiered of limited theatrical footprints and fast windowing that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a situational basis. The platform has proven amenable to take on select projects with accomplished filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 corridor with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is straightforward: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, refined for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a cinema-first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the back half.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday dates to expand. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-driven genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception encourages. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using boutique theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their audience.

Franchise entries versus originals

By number, the 2026 slate favors the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness cultural cachet. The trade-off, as ever, is brand erosion. The go-to fix is to position each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is foregrounding core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a continental coloration from a rising filmmaker. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and director-driven titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the configuration is familiar enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and first-night audiences.

Past-three-year patterns outline the plan. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that maintained windows did not preclude a day-date try from working when the brand was big. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror hit big in large-format rooms. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they pivot perspective and stretch the story. 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 produced back-to-back, creates space for marketing to bridge entries through character spine and themes and to keep materials circulating without doldrums.

Craft and creative trends

The director conversations behind the upcoming entries foreshadow a continued bias toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that emphasizes aura and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most forbidding 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 frame this aesthetic in trade spotlights and artisan spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and generates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta-horror reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature and environment design, which lend themselves to convention activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel compelling. Look for trailers that elevate disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that play in premium auditoriums.

Release calendar overview

January is jammed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid larger brand plays. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the tonal variety creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Late Q1 and spring seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can play 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 cycled through PLF.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a transitional slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited teasers that stress concept over spoilers.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card redemption.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s AI companion evolves into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively 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 finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: atmospheric 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 prickly boss push to survive on a desolate island as the pecking order flips and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to fright, rooted in Cronin’s practical effects and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting scenario that twists the unease of a child’s shaky point of view. Rating: not yet rated. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that skewers hot-button genre motifs and true crime fascinations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites spreads, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new household caught in older hauntings. Rating: forthcoming. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. 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 recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-driven horror over action spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: TBA. Production: in progress. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 elemental fear. Rating: TBA. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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

Why 2026 and why now

Three practical forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that decelerated or re-sequenced in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming placements. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest meme-ready beats from test screenings, managed scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can command a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will compete across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. 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 sleeper 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 unexpected breakout 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.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing 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 austere, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, efficient screen counts, 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 surface detail, soundscape, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is name recognition where it counts, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.