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

A bone-chilling supernatural suspense story from dramatist / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an prehistoric fear when passersby become pawns in a cursed contest. Streaming this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping depiction of resistance and primordial malevolence that will alter terror storytelling this scare season. Helmed by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and shadowy suspense flick follows five individuals who arise caught in a hidden cabin under the malignant dominion of Kyra, a tormented girl possessed by a legendary holy text monster. Ready yourself to be absorbed by a theatrical adventure that integrates deep-seated panic with ancient myths, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a legendary element in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is reversed when the forces no longer form from external sources, but rather from within. This symbolizes the most sinister element of these individuals. The result is a bone-chilling cognitive warzone where the narrative becomes a unyielding battle between innocence and sin.


In a forsaken no-man's-land, five youths find themselves cornered under the fiendish grip and control of a elusive figure. As the ensemble becomes incapacitated to deny her command, stranded and stalked by unknowns ungraspable, they are compelled to wrestle with their deepest fears while the timeline unceasingly strikes toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear escalates and partnerships fracture, driving each member to contemplate their identity and the idea of volition itself. The tension amplify with every heartbeat, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that intertwines ghostly evil with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to dig into core terror, an spirit before modern man, feeding on our weaknesses, and dealing with a spirit that tests the soul when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra asked for exploring something unfamiliar to reason. She is clueless until the evil takes hold, and that evolution is harrowing because it is so unshielded.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be available for audiences beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring watchers from coast to coast can face this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first trailer, which has garnered over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, presenting the nightmare to thrill-seekers globally.


Do not miss this haunted exploration of dread. Experience *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to confront these terrifying truths about our species.


For bonus footage, production insights, and promotions from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across fan hubs and visit our film’s homepage.





Modern horror’s pivotal crossroads: the 2025 cycle stateside slate interlaces Mythic Possession, independent shockers, and Franchise Rumbles

Running from endurance-driven terror saturated with primordial scripture all the way to series comebacks paired with pointed art-house angles, 2025 is lining up as the most variegated plus tactically planned year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. leading studios stabilize the year with familiar IP, at the same time platform operators saturate the fall with new perspectives and primordial unease. On another front, the independent cohort is catching the uplift from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and now, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are calculated, thus 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The top end is active. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s schedule sets the tone with a big gambit: a contemporary Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, inside today’s landscape. With Leigh Whannell at the helm anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. targeting mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Directed by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

At summer’s close, Warner’s slate sets loose the finale from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Next is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson returns to the helm, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: nostalgic menace, trauma driven plotting, with ghostly inner logic. This run ups the stakes, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The next entry deepens the tale, broadens the animatronic terror cast, bridging teens and legacy players. It hits in December, pinning the winter close.

Platform Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a room scale body horror descent starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

On the docket is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Conceived and directed 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 the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No overweight mythology. No canon weight. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Long Running Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

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

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, from Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Trends to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror resurges
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Near Term Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The upcoming fear Year Ahead: returning titles, universe starters, and also A brimming Calendar optimized for shocks

Dek: The new scare slate clusters up front with a January glut, before it runs through midyear, and running into the holiday frame, weaving franchise firepower, inventive spins, and tactical alternatives. Studio marketers and platforms are focusing on lean spends, big-screen-first runs, and social-fueled campaigns that convert horror entries into all-audience topics.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror has become the predictable release in release strategies, a vertical that can lift when it breaks through and still hedge the downside when it stumbles. After 2023 showed executives that disciplined-budget chillers can lead the zeitgeist, 2024 sustained momentum with buzzy auteur projects and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam fed into 2025, where reawakened brands and elevated films signaled there is space for many shades, from series extensions to non-IP projects that play globally. The takeaway for 2026 is a lineup that seems notably aligned across the industry, with intentional bunching, a combination of household franchises and new packages, and a sharpened commitment on big-screen windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on PVOD and digital services.

Planners observe the genre now works like a fill-in ace on the rollout map. Horror can premiere on almost any weekend, provide a quick sell for trailers and social clips, and outpace with patrons that line up on advance nights and stick through the second weekend if the release connects. Post a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 cadence reflects conviction in that setup. The year rolls out with a thick January corridor, then targets spring into early summer for balance, while making space for a fall corridor that pushes into the Halloween frame and into the next week. The layout also features the continuing integration of indie distributors and home platforms that can develop over weeks, fuel WOM, and roll out at the inflection point.

A reinforcing pattern is IP cultivation across linked properties and heritage properties. Studio teams are not just pushing another follow-up. They are setting up brand continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a title presentation that More about the author suggests a new vibe or a casting pivot that binds a next film to a heyday. At the very same time, the helmers behind the most anticipated originals are prioritizing real-world builds, practical effects and place-driven backdrops. That alloy provides the 2026 slate a smart balance of comfort and novelty, which is what works overseas.

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

Paramount defines the early cadence with two prominent titles that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the center, angling it as both a lineage transfer and a classic-mode character-focused installment. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture signals a roots-evoking angle without recycling the last two entries’ sisters thread. Watch for a push leaning on signature symbols, character previews, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

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 set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will double down on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will hunt four-quadrant chatter through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format inviting quick shifts to whatever rules genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three distinct strategies. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is tight, melancholic, and big-hook: a grieving man adopts an intelligent companion that turns into a perilous partner. The date sets it at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s promo team likely to mirror uncanny-valley stunts and brief clips that interweaves companionship and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a final title to become an attention spike closer to the early tease. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s releases are framed as marquee events, with a teaser that reveals little and a subsequent trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The late-month date affords Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on 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 directs, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has proven that a raw, in-camera leaning method can feel elevated on a tight budget. Position this as a red-band summer horror rush that spotlights international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio deploys two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, holding a trusty supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is presenting as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both loyalists and first-timers. The fall slot allows Sony to build assets around setting detail, and practical creature work, elements that can lift deluxe auditorium demand and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by historical precision and period speech, this time circling werewolf lore. The specialty arm has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is positive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre slate window into copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ordering that expands both FOMO and trial spikes in the tail. Prime Video stitches together licensed films with international acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in catalog discovery, using editorial spots, fright rows, and programmed rows to sustain interest on overall cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about originals and festival deals, dating horror entries with shorter lead times and making event-like drops with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a laddered of precision theatrical plays and accelerated platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be material 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+ treats carefully horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has shown a willingness to acquire select projects with recognized filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for monthly engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

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 proposition is clear: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, recalibrated 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 indicated a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday frame to go wider. That positioning has been successful for auteur horror with award possibilities. 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 likely scenario is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception allows. Keep an eye on 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 together, using limited runs to spark the evangelism that fuels their audience.

Series vs standalone

By proportion, 2026 leans in favor of the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on fan equity. The trade-off, as ever, is fatigue. The pragmatic answer is to market each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is centering character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is promising a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-tinted vision from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the deal build is steady enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Three-year comps make sense of the model. In 2023, a cinema-first model that kept streaming intact did not block a day-date try from working when the brand was strong. In 2024, art-forward horror outperformed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they rotate perspective and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues 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 consecutively, builds a path for marketing to thread films through cast and motif and to keep assets in-market without lulls.

Behind-the-camera trends

The production chatter behind this slate telegraph a continued lean toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that emphasizes texture and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and era-true language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in craft journalism and craft coverage before rolling out a tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta pivot that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature design and production design, which favor expo activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel must-have. Look for trailers that emphasize hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that benefit on big speakers.

Annual flow

January is jammed. 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 somber counterpoint amid heftier brand moves. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the tonal variety ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth holds.

Q1 into Q2 seed summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Shoulder season into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder season window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited advance reveals that put concept first.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday gift-card burn.

One-sentence dossiers

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s machine mate grows into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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: Filmed in tandem 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 ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. 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 cut-off island as the power balance tilts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 renewed take that returns the monster to menace, built on Cronin’s on-set craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting tale that threads the dread through a kid’s shifting inner lens. Rating: forthcoming. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-built and star-fronted occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that teases contemporary horror memes and true crime fervors. Rating: TBA. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites detonates, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a different family tethered to past horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A new start designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on pure survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: undetermined. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: TBD. Production: advancing. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and elemental fear. Rating: TBD. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three pragmatic forces shape this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or re-sequenced in 2024 needed slack 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 repeatable beats from test screenings, metered 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. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will trade weekends across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can make hay in 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 fit below the $40–$50 million line, 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit 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 cold, 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 warm up 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 win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, sonics, and camera work 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, Ready To Roar

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is recognizable IP where it plays, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, guard the secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.