Ancient Dread Surfaces within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked supernatural thriller, rolling out October 2025 across top streamers

An bone-chilling unearthly terror film from storyteller / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an prehistoric force when strangers become proxies in a demonic contest. Streaming on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a intense story of perseverance and primeval wickedness that will remodel fear-driven cinema this fall. Guided by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and tone-heavy suspense flick follows five unacquainted souls who regain consciousness stuck in a wooded hideaway under the hostile will of Kyra, a central character claimed by a biblical-era sacred-era entity. Be prepared to be seized by a narrative presentation that integrates deep-seated panic with spiritual backstory, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a well-established concept in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is inverted when the fiends no longer descend outside the characters, but rather within themselves. This mirrors the grimmest aspect of the cast. The result is a harrowing mind game where the story becomes a relentless fight between virtue and vice.


In a isolated terrain, five youths find themselves sealed under the dark aura and domination of a obscure person. As the survivors becomes powerless to evade her rule, exiled and tormented by terrors beyond reason, they are pushed to confront their raw vulnerabilities while the seconds harrowingly draws closer toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension intensifies and bonds implode, driving each character to reconsider their self and the structure of independent thought itself. The intensity intensify with every instant, delivering a terror ride that marries otherworldly panic with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to evoke elemental fright, an presence from prehistory, influencing soul-level flaws, and navigating a being that strips down our being when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra required summoning something deeper than fear. She is blind until the possession kicks in, and that change is haunting because it is so internal.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be released for on-demand beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—ensuring watchers across the world can watch this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its original clip, which has earned over massive response.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, spreading the horror to a worldwide audience.


Make sure to see this haunted fall into madness. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this launch day to experience these dark realities about the human condition.


For previews, production insights, and news via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit our film’s homepage.





Modern horror’s inflection point: the 2025 season U.S. calendar melds primeval-possession lore, Indie Shockers, set against IP aftershocks

Spanning survival horror suffused with old testament echoes as well as brand-name continuations alongside incisive indie visions, 2025 stands to become the most stratified along with blueprinted year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. the big studios hold down the year through proven series, even as streamers pack the fall with fresh voices and archetypal fear. On the independent axis, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is carried on the momentum from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the other windows are mapped with care. The fall stretch is the proving field, but this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are targeted, and 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige terror resurfaces

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the base, 2025 doubles down.

Universal Pictures sets the tone with a bold swing: a modernized Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a crisp modern milieu. Directed by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. timed for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Under Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer eases, Warner’s slate delivers the closing chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. While the template is known, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson resumes command, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: throwback unease, trauma foregrounded, along with eerie supernatural rules. The bar is raised this go, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It lands in December, securing the winter cap.

Digital Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story starring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a smart play. No overweight mythology. No IP hangover. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

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

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy IP: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Trends to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror retakes ground
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Forecast: 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 including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

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



The upcoming spook lineup: Sequels, standalone ideas, paired with A jammed Calendar calibrated for screams

Dek The new scare season lines up from day one with a January glut, after that runs through the warm months, and carrying into the late-year period, balancing marquee clout, fresh ideas, and calculated counterweight. The big buyers and platforms are committing to tight budgets, theatrical leads, and social-fueled campaigns that turn genre titles into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This space has become the sturdy option in release plans, a pillar that can spike when it connects and still mitigate the exposure when it stumbles. After 2023 reconfirmed for decision-makers that disciplined-budget shockers can steer the national conversation, the following year kept the drumbeat going with signature-voice projects and surprise hits. The energy pushed into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and premium-leaning entries proved there is appetite for many shades, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that play globally. The sum for 2026 is a lineup that is strikingly coherent across the major shops, with strategic blocks, a equilibrium of household franchises and new packages, and a re-energized eye on theater exclusivity that increase tail monetization on premium digital rental and home platforms.

Insiders argue the space now acts as a swing piece on the distribution slate. Horror can roll out on a wide range of weekends, offer a sharp concept for teasers and UGC-friendly snippets, and exceed norms with audiences that come out on Thursday nights and stick through the second weekend if the release pays off. Emerging from a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 mapping telegraphs trust in that setup. The slate begins with a front-loaded January schedule, then targets spring into early summer for audience offsets, while reserving space for a autumn stretch that extends to spooky season and into the next week. The gridline also spotlights the increasing integration of indie distributors and home platforms that can develop over weeks, fuel WOM, and move wide at the strategic time.

A parallel macro theme is IP stewardship across brand ecosystems and storied titles. Major shops are not just making another next film. They are seeking to position continuity with a occasion, whether that is a logo package that conveys a new tone or a star attachment that links a next entry to a classic era. At the in tandem, the writer-directors behind the most buzzed-about originals are championing tactile craft, makeup and prosthetics and site-specific worlds. That interplay gives the 2026 slate a healthy mix of brand comfort and novelty, which is how the genre sells abroad.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount sets the tone early with two headline plays that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the center, steering it as both a handoff and a origin-leaning relationship-driven entry. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative stance points to a legacy-leaning campaign without retreading the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Plan for a rollout driven by classic imagery, character spotlights, and a rollout cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will feature. As a summer contrast play, this one will build large awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format supporting quick switches to whatever rules the conversation that spring.

Universal has three distinct lanes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is straightforward, grief-rooted, and logline-clear: a grieving man installs an machine companion that mutates into a murderous partner. The date slots it at the front of a stacked January, with the studio’s marketing likely to iterate on 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 assumed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a branding reveal to become an headline beat closer to the debut look. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s pictures are framed as creative events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second trailer wave that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The spooky-season slot affords Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate 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 leads, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has demonstrated that a visceral, on-set effects led method can feel premium on a middle budget. Position this as a red-band summer horror hit that maximizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio lines up two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, maintaining a evergreen supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is describing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign creative around environmental design, and monster craft, elements that can fuel deluxe auditorium demand and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in meticulous craft and period speech, this time set against lycan legends. Focus Features has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is robust.

Platform lanes and windowing

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on predictable routes. The studio’s horror films move to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a stair-step that fortifies both debut momentum and sign-up momentum in the tail. Prime Video interleaves library titles with worldwide buys and limited cinema engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog discovery, using timely promos, genre hubs, and curated strips to keep attention on lifetime take. Netflix keeps flexible about first-party entries and festival buys, dating horror entries closer to launch and positioning as event drops debuts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys More about the author a two-step of targeted theatrical exposure and speedy platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be critical 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+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a per-project basis. The platform has been willing to buy select projects with award winners or name-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for monthly engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

Indie and specialty outlook

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 setup is simple: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, retooled for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall 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 gritty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late stretch.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, stewarding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday corridor to scale. That positioning has served the company well for filmmaker-driven genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception prompts. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using precision theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By share, 2026 favors the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use franchise value. The concern, as ever, is audience fatigue. The near-term solution is to brand each entry as a new angle. Paramount is bringing forward character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a Francophone tone from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the bundle is grounded enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Three-year comps illuminate the approach. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that held distribution windows did not preclude a hybrid test from working when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror rose in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reframe POV 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 paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, lets marketing to relate entries through personae and themes and to keep assets in-market without extended gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft conversations behind the year’s horror telegraph a continued emphasis on practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that foregrounds atmosphere and fear rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft profiles and guild coverage before rolling out a teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for red-band excess, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and produces shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a self-aware reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature execution and sets, which favor con floor moments and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel essential. Look for trailers that highlight fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that play in premium auditoriums.

How the year maps out

January is stacked. 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 foggy reset amid larger brand plays. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the range of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth holds.

Q1 into Q2 seed summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The 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 underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

August into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a bridge slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited disclosures that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and holiday card usage.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s digital partner turns into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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 ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 hard-edged boss claw to survive on a isolated island as the chain of command upends and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to chill, driven by Cronin’s on-set craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting story that plays with the panic of a child’s inconsistent impressions. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A comic send-up that riffs on in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fascinations. Rating: undetermined. Production: principal photography set 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: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a unlucky family snared by past horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: pending. Logline: A restart designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival-driven horror over action spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in progress. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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 historical diction and ancient menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026, why now

Three hands-on forces organize this lineup. First, production that downshifted or re-slotted in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming launches. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work clippable moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will share space across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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 tempo and variety. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, acoustics, and imagery 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.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand gravity where needed, creative ambition where it counts, 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, roll out exact trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the screams sell the seats.