Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites age-old dread, a fear soaked thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on major streaming services

A frightening metaphysical horror tale from scriptwriter / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an primordial horror when unfamiliar people become tools in a diabolical maze. Dropping October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing depiction of continuance and age-old darkness that will redefine genre cinema this cool-weather season. Realized by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and cinematic suspense flick follows five unknowns who find themselves sealed in a far-off cabin under the sinister will of Kyra, a haunted figure consumed by a millennia-old sacred-era entity. Prepare to be ensnared by a theatrical outing that combines primitive horror with ancient myths, arriving on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a iconic trope in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is turned on its head when the beings no longer appear externally, but rather from their core. This portrays the grimmest part of the victims. The result is a psychologically brutal mind game where the plotline becomes a merciless face-off between heaven and hell.


In a remote natural abyss, five teens find themselves cornered under the ominous influence and grasp of a enigmatic figure. As the survivors becomes incapacitated to fight her influence, isolated and targeted by forces mind-shattering, they are forced to reckon with their emotional phantoms while the timeline unceasingly counts down toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia amplifies and friendships implode, urging each figure to reconsider their identity and the integrity of liberty itself. The intensity rise with every breath, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that marries otherworldly suspense with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to uncover deep fear, an spirit born of forgotten ages, filtering through mental cracks, and questioning a entity that threatens selfhood when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra meant evoking something darker than pain. She is blind until the curse activates, and that change is soul-crushing because it is so raw.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for home viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—offering subscribers everywhere can engage with this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its first preview, which has gathered over 100,000 views.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, presenting the nightmare to thrill-seekers globally.


Do not miss this heart-stopping trip into the unknown. Face *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to witness these nightmarish insights about our species.


For featurettes, director cuts, and announcements from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursed across Instagram and Twitter and visit our horror hub.





Horror’s sea change: the 2025 season American release plan blends Mythic Possession, art-house nightmares, in parallel with legacy-brand quakes

Running from survivor-centric dread drawn from ancient scripture and stretching into returning series alongside pointed art-house angles, 2025 is shaping up as the most complex plus intentionally scheduled year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Top studios set cornerstones by way of signature titles, in tandem streaming platforms load up the fall with new voices together with mythic dread. Meanwhile, independent banners is catching the uplift from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A fat September–October lane is customary now, however this time, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are surgical, as a result 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 doubles down.

Universal Pictures sets the tone with a risk-forward move: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. targeting mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. From director Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

Toward summer’s end, the Warner lot drops the final chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re teams, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: retro dread, trauma as theme, along with eerie supernatural rules. This pass pushes higher, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, reaching teens and game grownups. It opens in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Platform Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. 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 quieter side is Together, a sealed box body horror arc featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story with Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is an astute call. No bloated mythology. No IP hangover. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They are more runway than museum.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Heritage Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, under Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With sharp marketing, it could translate to 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.

Trend Lines

Mythic lanes mainstream
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 does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror retakes ground
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Near Term Outlook: Fall crush plus winter X factor

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 battle for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The coming 2026 terror calendar year ahead: continuations, fresh concepts, plus A packed Calendar aimed at goosebumps

Dek The incoming scare season clusters up front with a January wave, following that unfolds through June and July, and continuing into the December corridor, mixing marquee clout, new concepts, and well-timed counterprogramming. Major distributors and platforms are relying on cost discipline, theatrical exclusivity first, and social-fueled campaigns that pivot these films into all-audience topics.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has turned into the steady move in studio calendars, a lane that can break out when it connects and still limit the liability when it underperforms. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for leaders that responsibly budgeted scare machines can drive pop culture, the following year carried the beat with festival-darling auteurs and quiet over-performers. The trend extended into 2025, where revivals and critical darlings demonstrated there is a market for diverse approaches, from ongoing IP entries to standalone ideas that translate worldwide. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a calendar that feels more orchestrated than usual across the major shops, with obvious clusters, a pairing of familiar brands and original hooks, and a re-energized focus on cinema windows that enhance post-theatrical value on paid VOD and home platforms.

Marketers add the category now works like a flex slot on the slate. Horror can roll out on virtually any date, offer a grabby hook for creative and vertical videos, and lead with audiences that show up on early shows and hold through the week two if the picture hits. Exiting a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 layout underscores faith in that playbook. The calendar starts with a front-loaded January block, then exploits spring through early summer for contrast, while saving space for a fall cadence that runs into All Hallows period and beyond. The gridline also features the deeper integration of specialty distributors and digital platforms that can nurture a platform play, spark evangelism, and expand at the right moment.

Another broad trend is legacy care across shared IP webs and storied titles. Major shops are not just greenlighting another follow-up. They are aiming to frame continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a brandmark that flags a recalibrated tone or a casting pivot that ties a latest entry to a first wave. At the in tandem, the directors behind the headline-grabbing originals are celebrating real-world builds, special makeup and place-driven backdrops. That pairing delivers 2026 a lively combination of recognition and newness, which is how the films export.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount sets the tone early with two big-ticket plays that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the front, setting it up as both a cross-generational handoff and a DNA-forward character-forward chapter. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the creative stance telegraphs a fan-service aware strategy without covering again the last two entries’ sibling arc. Look for a marketing run anchored in classic imagery, character-first teases, and a rollout cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is big-screen 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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will stress. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will go after four-quadrant chatter through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format fitting quick redirects to whatever defines the discourse that spring.

Universal has three discrete entries. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is elegant, heartbroken, and concept-forward: a grieving man implements an intelligent companion that escalates into a harmful mate. The date nudges it to the front of a busy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to recreate odd public stunts and micro spots that fuses longing and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a public title to become an headline beat closer to the teaser. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His projects are treated as creative events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a next wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The spooky-season slot affords Universal to take 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, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has shown that a gnarly, physical-effects centered method can feel top-tier on a tight budget. Position this as a blood-and-grime summer horror charge that emphasizes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio deploys two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, carrying a dependable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is calling a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both diehards and curious audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build assets around mythos, and monster craft, elements that can fuel format premiums and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by obsessive craft and historical speech, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus’s team has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is robust.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform plans for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s genre entries land on copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a tiered path that optimizes both week-one demand and subscriber lifts in the late-window. Prime Video combines third-party pickups with world buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in catalog discovery, using in-app campaigns, genre hubs, and collection rows to stretch the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about originals and festival wins, confirming horror entries near their drops and elevating as drops debuts with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a staged of tailored theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that converts WOM to subscribers. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a situational basis. The platform has indicated interest to board select projects with name filmmakers or star packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for sustained usage when the genre conversation builds.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 slate with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is clean: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, refined for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the fall weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday corridor to open out. That positioning has served the company well for arthouse horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception merits. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using select theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their community.

Series vs standalone

By proportion, 2026 favors the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use name recognition. The trade-off, as ever, is diminishing returns. The workable fix is to pitch each entry as a new angle. Paramount is centering character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French sensibility from a hot helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries keep oxygen in the system. 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, casts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the packaging is familiar enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

The last three-year set contextualize the plan. In 2023, a theater-first model that honored streaming windows did not block a day-date move from performing when navigate here the brand was potent. In 2024, auteur craft horror rose in premium screens. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they pivot perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters lensed back-to-back, permits marketing to cross-link entries through character and theme and to sustain campaign assets without hiatuses.

Creative tendencies and craft

The craft rooms behind the year’s horror forecast a continued preference for practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that highlights tone and tension rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and era-true language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in trade spotlights and artisan spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that leans on mood over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and gathers shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta pivot that centers an original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on monster realization and design, which fit with booth activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel definitive. Look for trailers that accent pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that work in PLF.

Annual flow

January is busy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid heavier IP. 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 stiff, but the spread of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

February through May seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now sustains 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 spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is news spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can pop 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 recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a transitional slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited teasers that lean on concept not plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card use.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s algorithmic partner unfolds into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

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

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss battle to survive on a desolate island as the chain of command turns and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to chill, founded on Cronin’s practical effects and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting premise that interrogates the dread of a child’s inconsistent point of view. Rating: not yet rated. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that targets of-the-moment horror beats and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBA. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 global twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a new household snared by long-buried horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: pending. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survivalist horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: pending. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: forthcoming. Production: continuing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 primordial menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026 and why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces organize this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shifted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming placements. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on social-ready stingers from test screenings, precision scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Calendar math also matters. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will compete across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, 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 ratchet upward, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, smart allocations, 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 detail, soundscape, and picture that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Promising 2026

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand heft 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 late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.