Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a hair raising feature, premiering Oct 2025 across leading streamers

One blood-curdling unearthly nightmare movie from dramatist / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an long-buried malevolence when unfamiliar people become victims in a malevolent ceremony. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a intense episode of struggle and old world terror that will redefine the horror genre this harvest season. Helmed by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and cinematic tale follows five figures who emerge caught in a isolated house under the malignant sway of Kyra, a haunted figure inhabited by a biblical-era biblical demon. Get ready to be ensnared by a motion picture presentation that unites bodily fright with mystical narratives, unleashing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a legendary concept in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is radically shifted when the forces no longer come outside their bodies, but rather from within. This depicts the grimmest element of the protagonists. The result is a intense emotional conflict where the plotline becomes a constant contest between good and evil.


In a bleak natural abyss, five individuals find themselves confined under the dark force and haunting of a elusive character. As the team becomes helpless to evade her rule, disconnected and attacked by entities unnamable, they are driven to acknowledge their deepest fears while the countdown brutally edges forward toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion deepens and bonds collapse, compelling each figure to doubt their personhood and the structure of independent thought itself. The consequences grow with every fleeting time, delivering a frightening tale that connects spiritual fright with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to channel instinctual horror, an malevolence beyond recorded history, embedding itself in human fragility, and wrestling with a force that erodes the self when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra was about accessing something outside normal anguish. She is in denial until the haunting manifests, and that conversion is gut-wrenching because it is so private.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be available for streaming beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—delivering subscribers everywhere can enjoy this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its release of trailer #1, which has received over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, delivering the story to international horror buffs.


Tune in for this mind-warping fall into madness. Join *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to uncover these chilling revelations about the psyche.


For bonus footage, filmmaker commentary, and announcements directly from production, follow @YACMovie across Facebook and TikTok and visit the official movie site.





American horror’s decisive shift: calendar year 2025 domestic schedule Mixes primeval-possession lore, independent shockers, paired with Franchise Rumbles

Running from survival horror grounded in legendary theology to franchise returns set beside focused festival visions, 2025 appears poised to be horror’s most layered plus calculated campaign year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. leading studios bookend the months by way of signature titles, simultaneously streamers prime the fall with unboxed visions together with primordial unease. Meanwhile, the art-house flank is riding the tailwinds of 2024’s record festival wave. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A fat September–October lane is customary now, however this time, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are targeted, therefore 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 set the base, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s pipeline leads off the quarter with a confident swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in a clear present-tense world. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. set for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Helmed by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer winds down, the Warner lot delivers the closing chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Despite a known recipe, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re engages, and the memorable motifs return: 70s style chill, trauma explicitly handled, with ghostly inner logic. The ante is higher this round, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The return delves further into myth, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It books December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Digital Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, 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. With no dated platform window yet, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend toplined 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 story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No heavy handed lore. No IP hangover. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Long Running Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, under Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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.

What to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

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

SVOD originals harden up
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Laurels convert 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.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Season Ahead: Fall saturation and a winter joker

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight 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. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

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 spook year to come: next chapters, universe starters, paired with A stacked Calendar optimized for screams

Dek: The emerging horror calendar stacks early with a January cluster, subsequently extends through the mid-year, and continuing into the holidays, balancing series momentum, original angles, and savvy counterplay. The big buyers and platforms are focusing on tight budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and influencer-ready assets that convert the slate’s entries into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The field has solidified as the consistent move in studio lineups, a category that can grow when it resonates and still mitigate the losses when it underperforms. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for studio brass that mid-range shockers can lead the discourse, the following year held pace with festival-darling auteurs and unexpected risers. The momentum fed into 2025, where revivals and filmmaker-prestige bets confirmed there is capacity for a spectrum, from legacy continuations to original one-offs that play globally. The sum for 2026 is a schedule that seems notably aligned across companies, with defined corridors, a combination of known properties and new packages, and a refocused strategy on big-screen windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium digital and SVOD.

Schedulers say the category now slots in as a plug-and-play option on the programming map. Horror can arrive on virtually any date, provide a clear pitch for teasers and shorts, and outpace with patrons that turn out on early shows and keep coming through the second frame if the film hits. On the heels of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 mapping shows trust in that model. The slate commences with a thick January corridor, then primes spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while clearing room for a September to October window that reaches into spooky season and beyond. The map also shows the continuing integration of specialty arms and platforms that can nurture a platform play, create conversation, and grow at the strategic time.

A reinforcing pattern is brand management across connected story worlds and classic IP. Distribution groups are not just releasing another sequel. They are working to present lineage with a heightened moment, whether that is a brandmark that broadcasts a re-angled tone or a cast configuration that anchors a next film to a classic era. At the same time, the filmmakers behind the top original plays are embracing real-world builds, practical gags and concrete locations. That fusion hands 2026 a solid mix of familiarity and shock, which is how the films export.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount marks the early tempo with two prominent bets that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the heart, marketing it as both a handoff and a origin-leaning character-first story. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture indicates a roots-evoking angle without replaying the last two entries’ sibling arc. Look for a marketing run centered on classic imagery, initial cast looks, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm aimed at late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects 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 creatively for the first time since the early have a peek here 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will feature. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will pursue large awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format supporting quick shifts to whatever defines the discourse that spring.

Universal has three distinct projects. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is elegant, somber, and premise-first: a grieving man activates an synthetic partner that escalates into a killer companion. The date sets it at the front of a heavy month, with marketing at Universal likely to bring back odd public stunts and brief clips that hybridizes devotion and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a public title to become an attention spike closer to the first look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele titles are marketed as must-see filmmaker statements, with a minimalist tease and a follow-up trailer set that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The prime October weekend gives the studio room to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has shown that a gritty, in-camera leaning aesthetic can feel premium on a mid-range budget. Position this as a red-band summer horror surge that leans hard into offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio sets two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film Get More Info debuts August 21, 2026, continuing a reliable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is presenting as a clean-slate approach 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 explicit mandate to serve both franchise faithful and new audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build promo materials around lore, and monster craft, elements that can stoke format premiums and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on meticulous craft and period language, this time set against lycan legends. Focus has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is robust.

Streaming windows and tactics

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s slate feed copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a ordering that optimizes both week-one demand and sign-up spikes in the later phase. Prime Video will mix licensed content with global pickups and small theatrical windows when the data backs it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in library curation, using seasonal hubs, October hubs, and collection rows to prolong the run on aggregate take. Netflix stays opportunistic about in-house releases and festival additions, scheduling horror entries tight to release and making event-like go-lives with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a one-two of precision releases and rapid platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has shown appetite to purchase select projects with accomplished filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly activity when the genre conversation ramps.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 slate with two label 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 hit, recalibrated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a theatrical rollout for the title, an promising marker for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn stretch.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, marshalling the project through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas window to move out. That positioning has been successful for arthouse horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception encourages. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using limited theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Brands and originals

By weight, the 2026 slate tips toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness franchise value. The potential drawback, as ever, is fatigue. The standing approach is to pitch each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is elevating relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-flavored turn from a buzzed-about director. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles keep oxygen in the system. 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 stranded survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the bundle is recognizable enough to spark pre-sales and early previews.

Recent-year comps make sense of the logic. In 2023, a exclusive window model that observed windows did not deter a day-and-date experiment from working when the brand was powerful. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror punched above its weight in PLF. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they pivot perspective and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on 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 lensed sequentially, lets marketing to thread films through relationships and themes and to hold creative in the market without pause points.

Creative tendencies and craft

The shop talk behind this slate signal a continued shift toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that centers aura and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and medieval diction, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in feature stories and craft coverage before rolling out a initial teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and creates shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta inflection that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature craft and set design, which work nicely for fan-con activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel necessary. Look for trailers that elevate razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that play in premium auditoriums.

Month-by-month map

January is full. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid big-brand pushes. The month winds down 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 credible, but the mix of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Early-year through spring build the summer base. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with heritage buzz. 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 backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds 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 lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

August into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a transitional slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a peekaboo tease plan and limited teasers that elevate concept over story.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card use.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s digital partner grows into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January navigate to this website 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her prickly boss struggle to survive on a cut-off island as the pecking order reverses and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to chill, built on Cronin’s tactile craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting premise that mediates the fear via a youth’s volatile personal vantage. Rating: TBD. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that targets current genre trends and true-crime obsessions. Rating: TBA. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 breaks out, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new family anchored to past horrors. Rating: not yet rated. 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: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A new start designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: forthcoming. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: TBA. Production: moving forward. 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 antique diction and elemental dread. Rating: undetermined. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three execution-level forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that slowed or shuffled in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and leaner 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 exceeded straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate social-ready stingers from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

There is also the slotting calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can lead a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will cluster across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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 flow and breadth. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two 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 fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, acoustics, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Promising 2026

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand gravity where needed, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.