Age-old Evil Emerges within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked horror feature, streaming Oct 2025 on leading streamers

An eerie supernatural thriller from creator / director Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an ancient force when outsiders become pawns in a devilish maze. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful episode of resistance and archaic horror that will resculpt fear-driven cinema this harvest season. Produced by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and cinematic tale follows five unknowns who awaken stranded in a unreachable lodge under the unfriendly command of Kyra, a troubled woman inhabited by a two-thousand-year-old scriptural evil. Ready yourself to be enthralled by a big screen display that unites primitive horror with mythic lore, coming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a iconic theme in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is redefined when the monsters no longer originate from a different plane, but rather from their psyche. This depicts the deepest facet of these individuals. The result is a riveting spiritual tug-of-war where the emotions becomes a ongoing conflict between light and darkness.


In a remote no-man's-land, five adults find themselves confined under the sinister force and haunting of a secretive female figure. As the team becomes unresisting to evade her power, disconnected and preyed upon by powers indescribable, they are forced to reckon with their deepest fears while the deathwatch unforgivingly runs out toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease builds and bonds implode, compelling each member to challenge their being and the principle of free will itself. The pressure amplify with every beat, delivering a fear-soaked story that merges supernatural terror with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to dig into primal fear, an entity from ancient eras, emerging via emotional vulnerability, and challenging a power that challenges autonomy when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra was about accessing something unfamiliar to reason. She is in denial until the curse activates, and that evolution is shocking because it is so close.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for streaming beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing customers globally can watch this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its release of trailer #1, which has garnered over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, bringing the film to thrill-seekers globally.


Do not miss this cinematic voyage through terror. Face *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to witness these unholy truths about inner darkness.


For sneak peeks, director cuts, and announcements from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across Facebook and TikTok and visit the film’s website.





American horror’s sea change: calendar year 2025 U.S. rollouts melds old-world possession, signature indie scares, stacked beside IP aftershocks

Moving from last-stand terror inspired by old testament echoes and including installment follow-ups in concert with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 looks like the most stratified combined with carefully orchestrated year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio powerhouses lay down anchors with familiar IP, concurrently digital services flood the fall with first-wave breakthroughs as well as archetypal fear. On the festival side, festival-forward creators is riding the carry from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Since Halloween is the prized date, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, yet in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are precise, thus 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Premium dread reemerges

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 deepens the push.

the Universal banner sets the tone with a big gambit: a refashioned Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in a clear present-tense world. Under director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. set for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Eli Craig directs fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

By late summer, the Warner lot launches the swan song of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Even with a familiar chassis, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson resumes command, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: old school creep, trauma in the foreground, along with eerie supernatural rules. The bar is raised this go, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, stretches the animatronic parade, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It drops in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Platform Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a body horror chamber piece pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led 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. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of 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 bloated mythology. No brand fatigue. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

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 rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

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

Legacy Brands: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, led by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult 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.

Dials to Watch

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

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

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival Hype Equals Market 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.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forward View: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The forthcoming 2026 genre season: installments, filmmaker-first projects, plus A hectic Calendar engineered for jolts

Dek The upcoming terror slate crowds at the outset with a January crush, before it runs through summer corridors, and straight through the year-end corridor, fusing legacy muscle, inventive spins, and smart calendar placement. Studios with streamers are committing to cost discipline, cinema-first plans, and social-fueled campaigns that elevate these films into all-audience topics.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

This category has established itself as the most reliable swing in distribution calendars, a space that can expand when it breaks through and still hedge the risk when it does not. After the 2023 year reminded top brass that responsibly budgeted scare machines can steer pop culture, 2024 continued the surge with high-profile filmmaker pieces and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam pushed into the 2025 frame, where reboots and festival-grade titles demonstrated there is a market for different modes, from legacy continuations to filmmaker-driven originals that carry overseas. The upshot for 2026 is a roster that is strikingly coherent across companies, with clear date clusters, a blend of marquee IP and original hooks, and a recommitted focus on box-office windows that fuel later windows on paid VOD and home platforms.

Marketers add the horror lane now slots in as a flex slot on the slate. The genre can roll out on nearly any frame, offer a quick sell for promo reels and social clips, and outpace with ticket buyers that lean in on previews Thursday and continue through the sophomore frame if the release pays off. After a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 plan underscores certainty in that approach. The calendar kicks off with a busy January schedule, then turns to spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while leaving room for a fall cadence that connects to the Halloween corridor and past Halloween. The calendar also underscores the increasing integration of indie arms and OTT outlets that can launch in limited release, fuel WOM, and widen at the timely point.

An added macro current is legacy care across brand ecosystems and legacy franchises. Distribution groups are not just pushing another chapter. They are trying to present connection with a headline quality, whether that is a typeface approach that conveys a reframed mood or a casting choice that binds a incoming chapter to a early run. At the in tandem, the visionaries behind the most watched originals are returning to physical effects work, physical gags and grounded locations. That fusion produces the 2026 slate a solid mix of familiarity and shock, which is what works overseas.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount fires first with two spotlight projects that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the heart, signaling it as both a succession moment and a back-to-basics character-focused installment. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance points to a classic-referencing framework without replaying the last two entries’ sisters thread. Watch for a push leaning on heritage visuals, character spotlights, and a staggered trailer plan slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will stress. As a summer relief option, this one will pursue wide appeal through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format permitting quick turns to whatever owns the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three defined bets. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is efficient, melancholic, and logline-clear: a grieving man adopts an synthetic partner that mutates into a lethal partner. The date nudges it to the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to bring back eerie street stunts and short-cut promos that mixes romance and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a proper title to become an headline beat closer to the early tease. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele projects are marketed as director events, with a hinting teaser and a later creative that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The spooky-season slot affords Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has proven that a flesh-and-blood, hands-on effects method can feel prestige on a middle budget. Expect a grime-caked summer horror surge that centers international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio places two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, maintaining a proven supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is billing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both loyalists and novices. The fall slot gives Sony time to build campaign creative around lore, and creature work, elements that can lift premium booking interest and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in obsessive craft and textual fidelity, this time set against lycan legends. Focus’s team has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is favorable.

Where the platforms fit in

Digital strategies for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s slate window into copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a structure that boosts both launch urgency and sign-up momentum in the late-window. Prime Video blends library titles with global originals and short theatrical plays when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in deep cuts, using prominent placements, Halloween hubs, and curated rows to lengthen the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix films and festival wins, securing horror entries toward the drop and framing as events debuts with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a staged of precision releases and accelerated platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a curated basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to secure select projects with award winners or celebrity-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for sustained usage when the genre conversation surges.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 sequence with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is no-nonsense: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, reimagined for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a big-screen first plan for the title, an promising marker for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the late-season weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, escorting the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday dates to broaden. That positioning has helped for filmmaker-first horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception encourages. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using limited runs to kindle evangelism that fuels their membership.

Franchise entries versus originals

By weight, 2026 leans toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use franchise value. The watch-out, as ever, is overexposure. The practical approach is to package each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is spotlighting character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-inflected take from a buzzed-about director. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the deal build is known enough to accelerate early sales and preview-night crowds.

Recent-year comps make sense of the method. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that preserved streaming windows did not stop a same-day experiment from succeeding when the brand was powerful. In 2024, art-forward horror exceeded expectations in PLF. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they pivot perspective and raise the stakes. 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 back-to-back plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, creates space for marketing to bridge entries through character web and themes and to keep assets alive without hiatuses.

Production craft signals

The craft conversations behind the upcoming entries foreshadow a continued move 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 reinforces the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that underscores creep and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft profiles and department features before rolling out a atmospheric tease that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and spurs shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a self-aware reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster work and world-building, which favor convention activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel essential. Look for trailers that foreground pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that explode in larger rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is jammed. Universal’s 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 brooding contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the tone spread carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Pre-summer months stage summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to 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 comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have 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 done well. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited plot reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can play the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s synthetic partner grows into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed 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 coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie 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 collide with a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: aura-driven 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 severe boss try to survive on a remote island as the chain of command inverts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to nightmare, driven by Cronin’s hands-on craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 in-home haunting scenario that interrogates the panic of a child’s fragile perspective. Rating: not yet rated. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-financed and marquee-led supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A parody return that satirizes present-day genre chatter and true-crime manias. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new clan tethered to ancient dread. Rating: to be announced. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A clean reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on true survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: not yet rated. Production: active. 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 language and primal menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three execution-level forces frame this lineup. First, production that paused or rearranged in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine shareable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

A fourth factor is programming math. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, making room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will line up across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, soundscape, and visual design 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

Slots this website move. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is franchise muscle where it helps, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, guard the secrets, and let the gasps sell the seats.