Age-old Evil returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding feature, rolling out October 2025 on top streamers

This blood-curdling supernatural horror tale from screenwriter / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an age-old force when foreigners become pawns in a satanic maze. Dropping on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing episode of staying alive and primeval wickedness that will transform the fear genre this harvest season. Created by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and eerie screenplay follows five characters who suddenly rise imprisoned in a wilderness-bound cabin under the oppressive will of Kyra, a female lead controlled by a prehistoric religious nightmare. Arm yourself to be ensnared by a immersive journey that integrates intense horror with biblical origins, coming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a iconic theme in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is flipped when the spirits no longer manifest from an outside force, but rather deep within. This symbolizes the most terrifying facet of the players. The result is a harrowing spiritual tug-of-war where the suspense becomes a unyielding battle between innocence and sin.


In a remote landscape, five teens find themselves marooned under the sinister grip and spiritual invasion of a shadowy being. As the characters becomes paralyzed to break her command, detached and preyed upon by terrors indescribable, they are driven to reckon with their emotional phantoms while the deathwatch mercilessly ticks onward toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion intensifies and associations splinter, forcing each survivor to reconsider their core and the notion of free will itself. The cost escalate with every beat, delivering a terror ride that weaves together paranormal dread with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to awaken basic terror, an evil that existed before mankind, manifesting in psychological breaks, and exposing a will that questions who we are when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra meant evoking something beneath mortal despair. She is blind until the control shifts, and that pivot is gut-wrenching because it is so visceral.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for digital release beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—ensuring horror lovers around the globe can face this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its first trailer, which has earned over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, bringing the film to lovers of terror across nations.


Join this soul-jarring descent into hell. Enter *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to uncover these nightmarish insights about the psyche.


For behind-the-scenes access, set experiences, and updates from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursed across fan hubs and visit our spooky domain.





U.S. horror’s inflection point: the 2025 season U.S. release slate fuses Mythic Possession, independent shockers, together with IP aftershocks

Beginning with life-or-death fear infused with primordial scripture and including legacy revivals and focused festival visions, 2025 stands to become the most dimensioned in tandem with deliberate year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. major banners bookend the months with known properties, at the same time streamers saturate the fall with new voices alongside old-world menace. On the festival side, horror’s indie wing is propelled by the afterglow from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The fall stretch is the proving field, notably this year, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are calculated, so 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Premium genre swings back

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 set the base, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s pipeline fires the first shot with a marquee bet: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, in a modern-day environment. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. set for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Directed by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer eases, the Warner Bros. banner bows the concluding entry inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re teams, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: throwback unease, trauma driven plotting, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. Here the stakes rise, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, stretches the animatronic parade, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It arrives in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streamer Exclusives: Tight funds, wide impact

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a two hander body horror spiral fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is virtually assured for fall.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga featuring Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with 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.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is a clever angle. No overstuffed canon. No canon weight. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, with Francis Lawrence directing, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Dials to Watch

Old myth goes broad
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror reemerges
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theaters are a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The 2026 fear slate: next chapters, filmmaker-first projects, paired with A Crowded Calendar designed for shocks

Dek The upcoming genre year loads early with a January bottleneck, before it flows through midyear, and pushing into the year-end corridor, weaving franchise firepower, inventive spins, and tactical counter-scheduling. Distributors with platforms are doubling down on tight budgets, box-office-first windows, and social-driven marketing that elevate the slate’s entries into four-quadrant talking points.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror sector has shown itself to be the sturdy counterweight in programming grids, a space that can accelerate when it lands and still protect the drag when it under-delivers. After 2023 signaled to strategy teams that cost-conscious chillers can command the zeitgeist, the following year sustained momentum with buzzy auteur projects and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam fed into 2025, where legacy revivals and premium-leaning entries demonstrated there is a market for several lanes, from franchise continuations to original features that resonate abroad. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a lineup that shows rare alignment across distributors, with planned clusters, a mix of legacy names and first-time concepts, and a revived eye on release windows that drive downstream revenue on premium rental and subscription services.

Distribution heads claim the category now behaves like a fill-in ace on the distribution slate. The genre can arrive on many corridors, furnish a easy sell for creative and shorts, and exceed norms with viewers that arrive on preview nights and maintain momentum through the subsequent weekend if the title lands. Coming out of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 rhythm telegraphs confidence in that logic. The year launches with a stacked January stretch, then primes spring and early summer for balance, while reserving space for a autumn stretch that flows toward late October and past the holiday. The arrangement also includes the increasing integration of specialty distributors and digital platforms that can develop over weeks, grow buzz, and broaden at the precise moment.

An added macro current is brand strategy across connected story worlds and long-running brands. Major shops are not just greenlighting another installment. They are seeking to position story carry-over with a must-see charge, whether that is a title design that telegraphs a tonal shift or a ensemble decision that connects a latest entry to a vintage era. At the alongside this, the directors behind the marquee originals are embracing material texture, in-camera effects and vivid settings. That pairing hands the 2026 slate a smart balance of comfort and shock, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount leads early with two marquee titles that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the center, framing it as both a relay and a heritage-centered character-forward chapter. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a legacy-leaning treatment without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected rooted in classic imagery, character previews, and a tease cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will foreground. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will chase mainstream recognition through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick updates to whatever dominates horror talk that spring.

Universal has three defined lanes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is clean, tragic, and high-concept: a grieving man activates an intelligent companion that escalates into a murderous partner. The date positions it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to reprise uncanny live moments and brief clips that blurs affection and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a proper title to become an earned moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s work are treated as marquee events, with a mystery-first teaser and a later creative that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The late-month date gives the studio room to command 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, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has proven that a visceral, practical-first style can feel elevated on a mid-range budget. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror surge that spotlights worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio launches two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, keeping a trusty supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is positioning as a fresh restart 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 sharper mandate to serve both franchise faithful and new audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build assets around setting detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can boost premium booking interest and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror driven by immersive craft and language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The imprint has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is positive.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform tactics for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s releases move to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a sequence that elevates both FOMO and trial spikes in the later phase. Prime Video balances licensed content with worldwide entries and targeted theatrical runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library engagement, using editorial spots, genre hubs, and collection rows to lengthen the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps optionality about internal projects and festival pickups, scheduling horror entries with shorter lead times and positioning as event drops arrivals with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a tiered of tailored theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a situational basis. The platform has signaled readiness to buy select projects with recognized filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation ramps.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is curating a 2026 sequence with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is clear: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, modernized for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical rollout for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the October weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the December frame to move out. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-first horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception allows. Be ready 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 in tandem, using small theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By count, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use household recognition. The caveat, as ever, is diminishing returns. The near-term solution is to frame each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is underscoring core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is promising a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a European tilt from a fresh helmer. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the cast-creatives package is assuring enough to spark pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Rolling three-year comps frame the template. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that maintained windows did not foreclose a day-date try from thriving when the brand was robust. In 2024, director-craft horror popped in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel More about the author new when they rotate perspective and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot in tandem, builds a path for marketing to bridge entries through relationships and themes and to keep assets in-market without long breaks.

Production craft signals

The filmmaking conversations behind the year’s horror telegraph a continued move toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that foregrounds texture and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in feature stories and technical spotlights before rolling out a tease that leans on mood over plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and generates shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-aware reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on monster work and world-building, which align with convention activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel irresistible. Look for trailers that center surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that land in premium houses.

Calendar map: winter through the 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. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid macro-brand pushes. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the range of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth carries.

Winter into spring stage summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now backs 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 sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can win next to family check over here tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late summer into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a opaque tease strategy and limited previews that favor idea over plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card use.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s machine mate turns into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed 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 travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. 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 abrasive boss scramble to survive on a remote island as the chain of command swivels and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. 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 under wraps in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to nightmare, built on Cronin’s on-set craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting piece that leverages the panic of a child’s fragile perceptions. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A satire sequel that lampoons in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime buzz. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 bursts, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further opens again, with a unlucky family entangled with older hauntings. Rating: undetermined. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A fresh restart designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on pure survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: forthcoming. Production: continuing. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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-specific language and bone-deep menace. Rating: to be announced. 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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the moment is 2026

Three operational forces define this lineup. First, production that downshifted or shuffled in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and leaner 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 beaten straight-to-streaming launches. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine social-ready stingers from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Another factor is the scheduling math. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, creating valuable space for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will line up across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, 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 search for sleepers 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two 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 bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, soundcraft, and picture that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Promising 2026

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is recognizable IP where it plays, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, protect the mystery, and let the gasps sell the seats.