Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites age-old dread, a fear soaked thriller, premiering Oct 2025 across leading streamers

An bone-chilling paranormal terror film from narrative craftsman / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an archaic horror when drifters become proxies in a cursed game. Hitting screens this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving story of staying alive and ancient evil that will remodel scare flicks this autumn. Created by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and gothic film follows five characters who are stirred sealed in a cut-off cabin under the menacing grip of Kyra, a female lead consumed by a biblical-era biblical demon. Be prepared to be absorbed by a visual venture that unites visceral dread with biblical origins, landing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a time-honored theme in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is reimagined when the presences no longer originate externally, but rather from their psyche. This embodies the most hidden facet of all involved. The result is a harrowing cognitive warzone where the story becomes a unforgiving clash between moral forces.


In a isolated outland, five youths find themselves imprisoned under the unholy aura and inhabitation of a shadowy female presence. As the characters becomes incapable to oppose her will, isolated and followed by presences unnamable, they are made to stand before their darkest emotions while the clock mercilessly draws closer toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety grows and alliances splinter, coercing each person to scrutinize their essence and the foundation of conscious will itself. The stakes amplify with every instant, delivering a nightmarish journey that intertwines demonic fright with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to tap into core terror, an darkness from ancient eras, embedding itself in our fears, and testing a darkness that challenges autonomy when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra demanded embodying something beyond human emotion. She is ignorant until the entity awakens, and that evolution is haunting because it is so private.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for audiences beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—making sure households everywhere can dive into this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its intro video, which has received over six-figure audience.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, bringing the film to scare fans abroad.


Experience this soul-jarring descent into darkness. Explore *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to experience these fearful discoveries about our species.


For teasers, behind-the-scenes content, and reveals from the creators, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Instagram and Twitter and visit the film’s website.





Contemporary horror’s sea change: 2025 in focus American release plan melds ancient-possession motifs, festival-born jolts, in parallel with tentpole growls

Across endurance-driven terror saturated with old testament echoes and stretching into brand-name continuations plus incisive indie visions, 2025 looks like the most dimensioned plus strategic year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio majors hold down the year using marquee IP, in tandem streamers crowd the fall with new perspectives set against archetypal fear. In parallel, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is drafting behind the tailwinds of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the other windows are mapped with care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, yet in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are calculated, accordingly 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the base, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s distribution arm opens the year with a marquee bet: a refreshed Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. With Leigh Whannell at the helm fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. arriving mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Steered by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer wanes, the Warner Bros. banner unveils the final movement from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Even with a familiar chassis, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re engages, and the tone that worked before is intact: throwback unease, trauma in the foreground, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time the stakes climb, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The continuation widens the legend, thickens the animatronic pantheon, bridging teens and legacy players. It bows in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Firsts: Economy, maximum dread

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale starring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside 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 From Within: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Shaped and helmed 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 chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this film taps 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.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is an astute call. No bloated canon. No franchise baggage. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

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

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Series Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, under Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Dials to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror ascends again
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Forward View: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The upcoming chiller year to come: next chapters, Originals, plus A stacked Calendar Built For goosebumps

Dek: The upcoming terror cycle builds from the jump with a January logjam, following that runs through June and July, and running into the late-year period, weaving name recognition, new concepts, and data-minded calendar placement. Major distributors and platforms are prioritizing smart costs, theater-first strategies, and influencer-ready assets that elevate genre releases into national conversation.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The horror marketplace has shown itself to be the steady lever in annual schedules, a pillar that can scale when it resonates and still hedge the risk when it underperforms. After 2023 reconfirmed for strategy teams that mid-range pictures can own the zeitgeist, the following year extended the rally with filmmaker-forward plays and surprise hits. The momentum translated to the 2025 frame, where re-entries and awards-minded projects made clear there is room for many shades, from ongoing IP entries to director-led originals that scale internationally. The combined impact for 2026 is a run that is strikingly coherent across distributors, with strategic blocks, a mix of legacy names and first-time concepts, and a reinvigorated strategy on theater exclusivity that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium home window and digital services.

Planners observe the category now acts as a schedule utility on the calendar. Horror can debut on open real estate, provide a grabby hook for promo reels and reels, and exceed norms with patrons that show up on early shows and sustain through the subsequent weekend if the offering satisfies. Post a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 plan reflects faith in that dynamic. The calendar rolls out with a heavy January run, then taps spring and early summer for audience offsets, while keeping space for a late-year stretch that carries into Halloween and into the next week. The arrangement also reflects the greater integration of specialized imprints and platforms that can stage a platform run, stoke social talk, and grow at the strategic time.

A parallel macro theme is legacy care across shared universes and long-running brands. Major shops are not just rolling another continuation. They are looking to package lore continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a title treatment that broadcasts a refreshed voice or a casting pivot that ties a upcoming film to a first wave. At the parallel to that, the helmers behind the most anticipated originals are embracing tactile craft, practical gags and place-driven backdrops. That alloy gives 2026 a smart balance of brand comfort and invention, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

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

Paramount opens strong with two big-ticket plays 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 core, steering it as both a legacy handover and a DNA-forward character-centered film. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach hints at a roots-evoking bent without rehashing the last two entries’ sibling arc. A campaign is expected driven by heritage visuals, character previews, and a staggered trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side get redirected here for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will foreground. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will seek broad awareness through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format making room for quick pivots to whatever leads the conversation that spring.

Universal has three discrete entries. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is efficient, loss-driven, and commercial: a grieving man purchases an intelligent companion that escalates into a harmful mate. The date locates it at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s campaign likely to bring back eerie street stunts and short-form creative that threads devotion and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a final title to become an earned moment closer to the initial tease. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. His projects are treated as auteur events, with a minimalist tease and a second beat that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor 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 commands, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has long shown that a flesh-and-blood, physical-effects centered approach can feel high-value on a moderate cost. Look for a hard-R summer horror jolt that emphasizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio deploys two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, carrying a dependable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is describing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both devotees and novices. The fall slot gives Sony time to build materials around lore, and creature work, elements that can lift large-format demand and fan-culture participation.

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 builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by careful craft and archaic language, this time set against lycan legends. The imprint has already locked the day for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is warm.

Platform lanes and windowing

Streaming click to read more playbooks in 2026 run on stable tracks. The Universal horror run feed copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a pacing that maximizes both launch urgency and platform bumps in the later phase. Prime Video interleaves licensed films with international acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in catalog engagement, using timely promos, spooky hubs, and editorial rows to lengthen the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix plays opportunist about in-house releases and festival buys, timing horror entries tight to release and elevating as drops drops with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a tiered of focused cinema runs and rapid platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has been willing to invest in select projects with acclaimed directors or headline-cast packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation swells.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is curating a 2026 lane with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is clean: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, upgraded for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn stretch.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, escorting the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then using the Christmas corridor to expand. That positioning has shown results for auteur horror with wider appeal. 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 reasonable expectation is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception encourages. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using targeted theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subs.

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 harness fan equity. The watch-out, as ever, is brand wear. The near-term solution is to sell each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is foregrounding core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a continental coloration from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays 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 marooned survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the bundle is steady enough to build pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Past-three-year patterns illuminate the playbook. In 2023, a cinema-first model that respected streaming windows did not obstruct a hybrid test from hitting when the brand was trusted. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror rose in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they reframe POV and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances 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 shot back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to interlace chapters through character arcs and themes and to sustain campaign assets without hiatuses.

How the look and feel evolve

The filmmaking conversations behind the 2026 slate point to a continued lean toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that emphasizes creep and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in long-lead features and technical spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and sparks shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta reframe that centers an original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature and environment design, which work nicely for fan conventions and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel necessary. Look for trailers that center disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that play in premium auditoriums.

Calendar cadence

January is jammed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid 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 real, but the menu of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth carries.

Q1 into Q2 set up the summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late-season stretch leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a slow-reveal plan and limited teasers that center concept over reveals.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and card redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s synthetic partner becomes something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot 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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed 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 encounter a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 unyielding boss fight to survive on a remote island as the power balance flips and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

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 renewed vision that returns the monster to chill, anchored by Cronin’s practical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. 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 story that pipes the unease through a kid’s flickering perspective. Rating: rating pending. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed and star-fronted haunting thriller.

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 spoof revival that skewers contemporary horror memes and true-crime manias. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 erupts, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new family snared by ancient dread. Rating: forthcoming. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: forthcoming. 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: undetermined. Production: advancing in development with date locked. 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: 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 era-accurate language and elemental menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three workable forces organize this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-sequenced in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming drops. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work turnkey scare beats from test screenings, metered scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can control a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will share space across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

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

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where lean-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, 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 rhythm and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, 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 sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, disciplined footprints, 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 materiality, 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.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is name recognition where it counts, new vision where it lands, 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, protect the mystery, and let the shocks sell the seats.