Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primordial evil, a nerve shredding chiller, streaming Oct 2025 across major streaming services

One spine-tingling otherworldly fright fest from dramatist / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an prehistoric dread when unfamiliar people become vehicles in a demonic game. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching portrayal of overcoming and prehistoric entity that will reconstruct horror this scare season. Created by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and cinematic screenplay follows five unacquainted souls who find themselves caught in a far-off shack under the dark rule of Kyra, a female lead haunted by a 2,000-year-old sacred-era entity. Be prepared to be drawn in by a immersive presentation that unites deep-seated panic with timeless legends, releasing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a classic tradition in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is inverted when the malevolences no longer manifest outside the characters, but rather inside them. This illustrates the haunting version of the protagonists. The result is a psychologically brutal moral showdown where the conflict becomes a merciless clash between divinity and wickedness.


In a forsaken outland, five adults find themselves stuck under the ominous aura and infestation of a mysterious person. As the characters becomes unable to evade her command, detached and targeted by unknowns unnamable, they are forced to reckon with their deepest fears while the deathwatch mercilessly winds toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust escalates and relationships erode, compelling each member to contemplate their identity and the idea of free will itself. The risk surge with every tick, delivering a nightmarish journey that integrates mystical fear with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to draw upon core terror, an threat beyond time, emerging via our weaknesses, and examining a curse that peels away humanity when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra required summoning something unfamiliar to reason. She is unseeing until the demon emerges, and that flip is haunting because it is so private.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for home viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—making sure customers internationally can engage with this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its original promo, which has received over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, delivering the story to viewers around the world.


Tune in for this mind-warping journey into fear. Join *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to see these terrifying truths about human nature.


For behind-the-scenes access, production news, and alerts from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACFilm across your socials and visit the film’s website.





Current horror’s inflection point: calendar year 2025 stateside slate integrates primeval-possession lore, underground frights, and franchise surges

Ranging from survivor-centric dread infused with old testament echoes and onward to installment follow-ups set beside surgical indie voices, 2025 is emerging as the most stratified combined with intentionally scheduled year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. the big studios hold down the year with established lines, in tandem streaming platforms pack the fall with unboxed visions and ancient terrors. Meanwhile, independent banners is propelled by the echoes of a record-setting 2024 festival season. As Halloween stays the prime week, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, however this time, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are methodical, hence 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s slate begins the calendar with a headline swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, inside today’s landscape. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. landing in mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Directed by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

At summer’s close, the Warner lot launches the swan song of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

After that, The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson again directs, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: vintage toned fear, trauma driven plotting, and eerie supernatural logic. The stakes escalate here, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The next entry deepens the tale, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It opens in December, pinning the winter close.

Digital Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a sealed box body horror arc fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is destined for a fall landing.

On the docket is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable featuring Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is a clever angle. No bloated mythology. No legacy baggage. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, led by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Trend Lines

Old myth goes broad
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

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

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The upcoming terror cycle: entries, standalone ideas, together with A busy Calendar optimized for chills

Dek The incoming horror calendar clusters from the jump with a January bottleneck, before it spreads through summer corridors, and straight through the late-year period, balancing brand equity, creative pitches, and shrewd release strategy. Studios with streamers are relying on cost discipline, box-office-first windows, and platform-native promos that shape these films into all-audience topics.

How the genre looks for 2026

The field has solidified as the consistent play in distribution calendars, a segment that can break out when it connects and still limit the liability when it under-delivers. After 2023 signaled to strategy teams that lean-budget shockers can dominate mainstream conversation, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with filmmaker-forward plays and unexpected risers. The head of steam fed into 2025, where reawakened brands and elevated films signaled there is space for many shades, from brand follow-ups to fresh IP that export nicely. The sum for the 2026 slate is a roster that appears tightly organized across the major shops, with clear date clusters, a blend of legacy names and untested plays, and a tightened focus on big-screen windows that fuel later windows on premium home window and OTT platforms.

Schedulers say the horror lane now acts as a flex slot on the grid. The genre can kick off on a wide range of weekends, deliver a simple premise for trailers and vertical videos, and outpace with viewers that show up on Thursday previews and stick through the second frame if the offering lands. On the heels of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 layout demonstrates assurance in that equation. The slate starts with a crowded January lineup, then leans on spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while saving space for a autumn push that connects to holiday-adjacent weekends and past the holiday. The layout also shows the deeper integration of boutique distributors and home platforms that can grow from platform, build word of mouth, and widen at the optimal moment.

Another broad trend is IP stewardship across unified worlds and heritage properties. Studios are not just mounting another next film. They are looking to package story carry-over with a premium feel, whether that is a brandmark that conveys a recalibrated tone or a casting move that threads a next film to a vintage era. At the alongside this, the filmmakers behind the high-profile originals are doubling down on real-world builds, makeup and prosthetics and concrete locations. That blend offers the 2026 slate a smart balance of familiarity and shock, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount marks the early tempo with two high-profile plays that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the core, framing it as both a relay and a back-to-basics character-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the creative stance suggests a heritage-honoring framework without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Plan for a rollout stacked with signature symbols, first images of characters, and a trailer cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

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 creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will stress. As a summer contrast play, this one will pursue wide buzz through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick switches to whatever rules the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three specific lanes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is tight, heartbroken, and big-hook: a grieving man implements an intelligent companion that escalates into a harmful mate. The date nudges it to the front of a front-loaded month, with marketing at Universal likely to renew off-kilter promo beats and bite-size content that interlaces love and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title reveal to become an PR pop closer to the opening teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele projects are marketed as auteur events, with a minimalist tease and a second beat that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor creates space for Universal to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean 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 guides, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has proven that a tactile, practical-effects forward approach can feel cinematic on a disciplined budget. Frame it as a gore-forward summer horror shot that embraces overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio lines up two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, maintaining a trusty supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is positioning as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both loyalists and curious audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build promo materials around world-building, and creature work, elements that can lift premium booking interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by textural authenticity and linguistic texture, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is favorable.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform plans for 2026 run on well-known grooves. The Universal horror run flow to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a cadence that optimizes both week-one demand and subscription bumps in the downstream. Prime Video continues to mix library titles with worldwide entries and short theatrical plays when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in catalog engagement, using editorial spots, Halloween hubs, and programmed rows to increase tail value on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps flexible about in-house releases and festival pickups, dating horror entries toward the drop and staging as events drops with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a dual-phase of precision theatrical plays and quick platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a per-project basis. The platform has been willing to buy select projects with recognized filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for platform stickiness when the genre conversation peaks.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 corridor with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is no-nonsense: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, recalibrated for modern audio-visual craft. 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 telegraphed a theatrical rollout for the title, an positive signal for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the back half.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas corridor to widen. That positioning has delivered for filmmaker-driven genre with mainstream crossovers. 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 sound expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception prompts. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in this contact form parallel, using limited theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subs.

IP versus fresh ideas

By tilt, 2026 skews toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use cultural cachet. The trade-off, as ever, is viewer burnout. The go-to fix is to present each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is centering character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a Francophone tone from a rising filmmaker. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the configuration is familiar enough to drive advance ticketing and first-night audiences.

Recent comps make sense of the plan. In 2023, a exclusive window model that maintained windows did not stop a day-and-date experiment from performing when the brand was potent. In 2024, auteur craft horror punched above its weight in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they change perspective and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, creates space for marketing to bridge entries through relationships and themes and to keep assets in-market without extended gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft conversations behind the year’s horror forecast a continued preference for material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that highlights tone and tension rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft coverage before rolling out a preview that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and earns shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta reframe that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature execution and sets, which align with fan conventions and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel essential. Look for trailers that center razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that sing on PLF.

Release calendar overview

January is jammed. 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 caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the palette of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late Q1 and spring tee up summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now sustains 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 clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Shoulder season into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil follows September 18, a transitional slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a peekaboo tease plan and limited asset reveals that put concept first.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can play the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and card redemption.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genetic code. 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 devastated man’s virtual companion shifts into something murderously loving. 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

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 face a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: mood-led 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 struggle to survive on a far-flung island as the hierarchy tilts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The have a peek at these guys Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to terror, shaped by Cronin’s material craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting chiller that threads the dread through a child’s unsteady personal vantage. Rating: pending. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed and marquee-led supernatural mood piece.

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 satire sequel that needles current genre trends and true-crime crazes. Rating: to be announced. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 flares, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new family anchored to residual nightmares. Rating: TBD. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A restart designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-driven horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: TBA. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on historical diction and primal menace. Rating: TBD. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why this year, why now

Three workable forces shape this lineup. First, production that downshifted or recalendared in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming drops. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify bite-size scare clips from test screenings, controlled scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

A fourth factor is programming math. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can command a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

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

The sleeper chase continues in Q1, where value-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 stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, soundscape, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand heft where it matters, distinct vision 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the chills sell the seats.