Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primeval horror, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 on major streaming services

An bone-chilling occult nightmare movie from writer / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an archaic terror when strangers become vehicles in a dark ordeal. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing depiction of staying alive and primordial malevolence that will reimagine the horror genre this October. Brought to life by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and eerie tale follows five strangers who wake up stranded in a far-off shelter under the hostile manipulation of Kyra, a mysterious girl inhabited by a antiquated Old Testament spirit. Prepare to be immersed by a narrative event that harmonizes primitive horror with mystical narratives, releasing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a classic motif in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is inverted when the presences no longer manifest outside their bodies, but rather internally. This illustrates the most sinister version of the protagonists. The result is a harrowing internal warfare where the plotline becomes a soul-crushing face-off between righteousness and malevolence.


In a barren landscape, five youths find themselves stuck under the possessive control and domination of a elusive female figure. As the protagonists becomes unable to evade her grasp, cut off and stalked by entities beyond comprehension, they are made to stand before their soulful dreads while the hours without pause ticks onward toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust intensifies and teams collapse, demanding each participant to reconsider their being and the philosophy of self-determination itself. The tension grow with every second, delivering a terror ride that connects otherworldly suspense with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to explore pure dread, an power that existed before mankind, emerging via our fears, and testing a will that threatens selfhood when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra demanded embodying something darker than pain. She is unseeing until the entity awakens, and that shift is shocking because it is so intimate.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for streaming beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—making sure users anywhere can engage with this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its original promo, which has garnered over massive response.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, giving access to the movie to fans of fear everywhere.


Witness this visceral ride through nightmares. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to face these chilling revelations about human nature.


For film updates, director cuts, and press updates from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursed across Instagram and Twitter and visit youngandcursed.com.





Current horror’s Turning Point: the 2025 cycle U.S. rollouts weaves old-world possession, independent shockers, together with legacy-brand quakes

From survivor-centric dread infused with old testament echoes to returning series plus keen independent perspectives, 2025 stands to become horror’s most layered and strategic year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. the big studios stabilize the year with franchise anchors, as digital services crowd the fall with fresh voices plus legend-coded dread. On the festival side, festival-forward creators is fueled by the momentum from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. As Halloween stays the prime week, the other windows are mapped with care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, however this time, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are surgical, accordingly 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Premium genre swings back

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s distribution arm starts the year with a statement play: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in an immediate now. Guided by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Slated for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Directed by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

At summer’s close, Warner Bros. Pictures launches the swan song from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Though the outline is tried, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson resumes command, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: 70s style chill, trauma driven plotting, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The bar is raised this go, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, grows the animatronic horror lineup, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It books December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable with Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. 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.

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 a clever angle. No overstuffed canon. No franchise baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony 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 first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, steered by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Key Trends

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror retakes ground
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

What’s Next: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The coming 2026 spook cycle: continuations, Originals, as well as A stacked Calendar tailored for jolts

Dek: The new genre calendar lines up at the outset with a January traffic jam, before it stretches through summer corridors, and continuing into the year-end corridor, blending brand heft, inventive spins, and smart release strategy. The major players are doubling down on mid-range economics, exclusive theatrical windows first, and social-fueled campaigns that elevate these releases into all-audience topics.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This category has established itself as the most reliable tool in studio calendars, a corner that can grow when it hits and still insulate the risk when it falls short. After 2023 showed decision-makers that mid-range shockers can command the national conversation, 2024 sustained momentum with high-profile filmmaker pieces and unexpected risers. The energy moved into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and premium-leaning entries underscored there is space for varied styles, from returning installments to non-IP projects that resonate abroad. The end result for 2026 is a roster that reads highly synchronized across companies, with strategic blocks, a mix of household franchises and original hooks, and a re-energized focus on box-office windows that drive downstream revenue on premium digital rental and home streaming.

Planners observe the category now acts as a schedule utility on the programming map. Horror can open on open real estate, create a easy sell for teasers and short-form placements, and punch above weight with crowds that lean in on early shows and return through the subsequent weekend if the title lands. In the wake of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 cadence shows faith in that engine. The slate begins with a weighty January stretch, then primes spring and early summer for counterweight, while clearing room for a fall run that carries into Halloween and beyond. The map also underscores the greater integration of indie distributors and digital platforms that can platform and widen, ignite recommendations, and expand at the optimal moment.

A parallel macro theme is franchise tending across connected story worlds and legacy IP. Distribution groups are not just pushing another follow-up. They are setting up threaded continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a brandmark that indicates a tonal shift or a star attachment that links a next entry to a classic era. At the alongside this, the visionaries behind the headline-grabbing originals are celebrating physical effects work, real effects and distinct locales. That mix offers 2026 a vital pairing of brand comfort and invention, which is the formula for international play.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount marks the early tempo with two front-of-slate projects that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the lead, signaling it as both a cross-generational handoff and a origin-leaning character-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative stance indicates a memory-charged approach without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected leaning on legacy iconography, early character teases, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm aimed at late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will play up. As a summer relief option, this one will seek wide appeal through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format permitting quick turns to whatever shapes the discourse that spring.

Universal has three distinct releases. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is simple, somber, and easily pitched: a grieving man implements an AI companion that becomes a perilous partner. The date sets it at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s marketing likely to recreate odd public stunts and short reels that interweaves companionship and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under placeholder labels 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 branding reveal to become an marketing beat closer to the early tease. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. The filmmaker’s films are set up as auteur events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second wave of trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor gives Universal room to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a blood-soaked, practical-effects forward execution can feel elevated on a middle budget. Position this as a hard-R summer horror jolt that spotlights international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

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

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is presenting as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both diehards and first-timers. The fall slot allows Sony to build artifacts around environmental design, and creature builds, elements that can fuel premium booking interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets 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 built on obsessive craft and period language, this time driven by werewolf stories. The company has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is positive.

Digital platform strategies

Digital strategies for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal titles feed copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a cadence that expands both opening-weekend urgency and sign-up spikes in the downstream. Prime Video will mix third-party pickups with global acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in deep cuts, using in-app campaigns, fright rows, and curated strips to prolong the run on the annual genre haul. Netflix plays opportunist about Netflix films and festival additions, dating horror entries closer to drop and making event-like launches with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a one-two of precision releases and short jumps to platform that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a discrete basis. The platform has indicated interest to invest in select projects with acclaimed directors or marquee packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation heats up.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 slate with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is simple: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, retooled for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the back half.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the year-end corridor to open out. That positioning has shown results for elevated genre with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception supports. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using limited theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their membership.

IP versus fresh ideas

By volume, 2026 favors the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness marquee value. The risk, as ever, is brand erosion. The pragmatic answer is to present each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is emphasizing core character and DNA 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-inflected take from a ascendant talent. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the packaging is assuring enough to drive advance ticketing and first-night audiences.

Recent-year comps announce the plan. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept streaming intact did not deter a parallel release from thriving when the brand was compelling. In 2024, director-craft horror punched above its weight in premium formats. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they shift POV and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, builds a path for marketing to connect the chapters through personae and themes and to leave creative active without long gaps.

How the films are being made

The shop talk behind the upcoming entries forecast a continued bias toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that centers mood and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft spotlights before rolling out a tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and sparks shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-aware reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature design and production design, which lend themselves to convention activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel primary. Look for trailers that spotlight precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that explode in larger rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is busy. 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 brooding contrast amid heftier brand moves. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the variety of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

Late Q1 and spring seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into 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 playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies hard-R 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 moved through premium slots.

August and September into October leans brand. 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 occupies October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited disclosures that favor idea over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf Young & Cursed on December 25 is a position that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday gift-card burn.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s algorithmic partner mutates into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

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 encounter a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 demanding boss struggle to survive on a far-flung island as the chain of command shifts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to terror, built on Cronin’s material craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting story that teases the terror of a child’s wobbly impressions. Rating: TBA. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-crafted and star-led eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A satire sequel that lampoons present-day genre chatter and true-crime buzz. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new family entangled with older hauntings. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-driven horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: to be announced. 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: awaiting confirmation. Logline: closely held. Rating: undetermined. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and elemental menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the moment is 2026

Three pragmatic forces inform this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or reshuffled in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined 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 drops. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine meme-ready beats from test screenings, precision scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Calendar math also matters. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will cluster across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

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

The sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where lower and 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 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, 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 fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, soundscape, 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 Looks Exciting

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is name recognition where it counts, filmmaker vision where it matters, 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, hold the mystery, and let the screams sell the seats.