Antediluvian Evil Stirs in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising thriller, arriving October 2025 across major streaming services

A bone-chilling ghostly scare-fest from narrative craftsman / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an primordial entity when unfamiliar people become conduits in a satanic ritual. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping account of overcoming and primordial malevolence that will transform fear-driven cinema this scare season. Produced by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and atmospheric thriller follows five lost souls who emerge trapped in a cut-off wooden structure under the malignant manipulation of Kyra, a cursed figure dominated by a ancient biblical demon. Anticipate to be absorbed by a visual outing that melds raw fear with mystical narratives, releasing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a historical pillar in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is subverted when the demons no longer appear beyond the self, but rather through their own souls. This suggests the darkest aspect of these individuals. The result is a edge-of-seat psychological battle where the drama becomes a perpetual fight between innocence and sin.


In a wilderness-stricken wilderness, five adults find themselves trapped under the sinister grip and inhabitation of a enigmatic character. As the team becomes vulnerable to deny her power, severed and followed by evils beyond comprehension, they are made to stand before their inner horrors while the moments unceasingly strikes toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease builds and links fracture, requiring each cast member to examine their values and the notion of decision-making itself. The risk surge with every fleeting time, delivering a scare-fueled ride that marries otherworldly suspense with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to extract instinctual horror, an power born of forgotten ages, filtering through mental cracks, and navigating a darkness that peels away humanity when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra asked for exploring something rooted in terror. She is blind until the entity awakens, and that change is terrifying because it is so deep.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be available for horror fans beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring streamers in all regions can face this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its intro video, which has racked up over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, giving access to the movie to scare fans abroad.


Tune in for this haunted descent into darkness. Watch *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to see these nightmarish insights about inner darkness.


For previews, filmmaker commentary, and alerts via the production team, follow @YACFilm across fan hubs and visit our film’s homepage.





The horror genre’s sea change: calendar year 2025 stateside slate blends ancient-possession motifs, independent shockers, together with returning-series thunder

Across pressure-cooker survival tales rooted in near-Eastern lore and extending to canon extensions together with focused festival visions, 2025 looks like the most complex combined with precision-timed year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. leading studios hold down the year with known properties, in parallel SVOD players flood the fall with unboxed visions as well as scriptural shivers. In parallel, the artisan tier is surfing the carry of a peak 2024 circuit. Since Halloween is the prized date, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, notably this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are calculated, accordingly 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Premium genre swings back

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 presses the advantage.

the Universal banner opens the year with a risk-forward move: a refreshed Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, within a sleek contemporary canvas. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Booked into mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Eli Craig directs including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

When summer tapers, the WB camp bows the concluding entry from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re boards, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: retrograde shiver, trauma driven plotting, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The bar is raised this go, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, grows the animatronic horror lineup, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It books December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold case horror anthology threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is a near certain autumn drop.

On the docket is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to 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. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a clever angle. No overinflated mythology. No IP hangover. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

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.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, from Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

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

Platform originals gain bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Season Ahead: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The oncoming chiller release year: continuations, Originals, alongside A packed Calendar optimized for shocks

Dek: The brand-new horror cycle crowds at the outset with a January logjam, thereafter unfolds through peak season, and far into the December corridor, mixing marquee clout, new voices, and shrewd counterprogramming. The major players are relying on efficient budgets, box-office-first windows, and shareable marketing that position genre releases into national conversation.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The genre has solidified as the predictable play in annual schedules, a lane that can expand when it resonates and still cushion the exposure when it does not. After 2023 demonstrated to greenlighters that mid-range genre plays can lead the zeitgeist, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with visionary-driven titles and word-of-mouth wins. The momentum extended into the 2025 frame, where reboots and awards-minded projects confirmed there is a market for varied styles, from continued chapters to one-and-done originals that play globally. The sum for 2026 is a grid that shows rare alignment across studios, with purposeful groupings, a harmony of recognizable IP and untested plays, and a tightened focus on theater exclusivity that amplify PVOD and streaming on paid VOD and SVOD.

Studio leaders note the genre now performs as a wildcard on the slate. Horror can premiere on a wide range of weekends, offer a quick sell for marketing and social clips, and lead with ticket buyers that respond on first-look nights and keep coming through the next pass if the entry hits. Exiting a work stoppage lag, the 2026 layout demonstrates certainty in that engine. The slate starts with a busy January run, then uses spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while saving space for a late-year stretch that stretches into holiday-adjacent weekends and into the next week. The layout also illustrates the deeper integration of boutique distributors and OTT outlets that can nurture a platform play, stoke social talk, and go nationwide at the precise moment.

An added macro current is series management across interlocking continuities and classic IP. The companies are not just releasing another next film. They are seeking to position lineage with a headline quality, whether that is a typeface approach that telegraphs a new vibe or a ensemble decision that reconnects a next entry to a classic era. At the alongside this, the filmmakers behind the eagerly awaited originals are embracing real-world builds, practical gags and location-forward worlds. That alloy gives the 2026 slate a robust balance of recognition and newness, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount marks the early tempo with two front-of-slate titles that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the lead, signaling it as both a baton pass and a foundation-forward character-centered film. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the story approach suggests a nostalgia-forward framework without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive anchored in brand visuals, character spotlights, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm slated for late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will feature. As a summer counter-slot, this one will drive broad awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format permitting quick shifts to whatever shapes genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three defined lanes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is clean, melancholic, and easily pitched: a grieving man installs an AI companion that mutates into a harmful mate. The date locates it at the front of a front-loaded month, with the Universal machine likely to replay off-kilter promo beats and micro spots that melds affection and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a title reveal to become an earned moment closer to the debut look. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s work are presented as auteur events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second trailer wave that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor offers Universal room to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate 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 guides, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has established that a visceral, makeup-driven execution can feel high-value on a disciplined budget. Expect a splatter summer horror hit that emphasizes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio deploys two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, maintaining a evergreen supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is positioning as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both core fans and new audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign pieces around universe detail, and creature design, elements that can drive large-format demand and convention buzz.

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 carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror defined by rigorous craft and dialect, this time set against lycan legends. Focus Features have a peek at this web-site has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is favorable.

How the platforms plan to play it

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal titles head to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a cadence that maximizes both debut momentum and sign-up momentum in the downstream. Prime Video blends licensed films with global acquisitions and small theatrical windows when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library pulls, using editorial spots, holiday hubs, and featured rows to keep attention on 2026 genre cume. Netflix retains agility about first-party entries and festival grabs, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and elevating as drops launches with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a staged of precision releases and accelerated platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a discrete basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to board select projects with accomplished filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly activity when the genre conversation swells.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 corridor with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is clean: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, refined for modern audio-visual craft. 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 announced a traditional cinema play for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the late stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through select festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the Christmas window to move out. That positioning has been successful for craft-driven horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception prompts. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using targeted theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their user base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By weight, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use fan equity. The challenge, as ever, is audience fatigue. The operating solution is to position each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is underscoring character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-inflected take from a ascendant talent. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and visionary-led titles keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the configuration is recognizable enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Recent comps clarify the plan. In 2023, a cinema-first model that kept streaming intact did not block a day-date try from working when the brand was strong. In 2024, art-forward horror outperformed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel new when they change perspective and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward 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 produced back-to-back, allows marketing to cross-link entries through protagonists and motifs and to keep assets alive without hiatuses.

How the films are being made

The creative meetings behind the upcoming entries foreshadow a continued tilt toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that foregrounds grain and menace rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room have a peek at these guys for financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft coverage before rolling out a first look that withholds plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and drives shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta inflection that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature weblink design and production design, which play well in convention floor stunts and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel must-have. Look for trailers that elevate pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that sing on PLF.

The schedule at a glance

January is busy. 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 atmospheric change-up amid bigger brand plays. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the tonal variety lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth persists.

Winter into spring prepare summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late-season stretch leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a transitional slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited advance reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s AI companion turns into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. 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 demanding boss struggle to survive on a remote island as the power balance of power shifts and dread encroaches. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to fear, grounded in Cronin’s physical craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting premise that plays with the dread of a child’s wobbly read. Rating: TBA. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal 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 send-up revival that skewers of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime manias. Rating: to be announced. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites bursts, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a young family anchored to older hauntings. Rating: TBD. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A fresh restart designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-driven horror over action fireworks. Rating: forthcoming. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: closely held. Rating: to be announced. Production: active. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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 antique diction and bone-deep menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a big-screen run before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 and why now

Three execution-level forces inform this lineup. First, production that downshifted or shifted in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more measured 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 releases. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on shareable moments from test screenings, select scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

The slot calculus is real. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, providing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will cluster across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 low-to-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 maximize those pockets. 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, 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 preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, lean 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 grain, audio design, and visuals 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 Strong 2026 Horizon

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is name recognition where it counts, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.