Antediluvian Evil awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding feature, rolling out October 2025 on leading streamers

One spine-tingling supernatural shockfest from narrative craftsman / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an timeless evil when drifters become conduits in a fiendish game. Releasing October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing account of endurance and primordial malevolence that will reshape scare flicks this scare season. Produced by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and gothic story follows five strangers who snap to sealed in a cut-off cabin under the hostile influence of Kyra, a female lead consumed by a 2,000-year-old religious nightmare. Be prepared to be immersed by a immersive spectacle that intertwines bone-deep fear with biblical origins, hitting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a recurring theme in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is subverted when the spirits no longer come externally, but rather inside their minds. This depicts the most sinister version of the players. The result is a edge-of-seat spiritual tug-of-war where the story becomes a perpetual battle between heaven and hell.


In a barren landscape, five young people find themselves isolated under the evil force and curse of a uncanny female figure. As the cast becomes unable to break her command, exiled and pursued by forces beyond reason, they are confronted to endure their darkest emotions while the doomsday meter unceasingly edges forward toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion deepens and links disintegrate, forcing each character to contemplate their core and the nature of personal agency itself. The risk intensify with every instant, delivering a chilling narrative that harmonizes paranormal dread with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to channel instinctual horror, an presence beyond time, working through psychological breaks, and highlighting a power that forces self-examination when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra needed manifesting something past sanity. She is ignorant until the invasion happens, and that flip is terrifying because it is so intimate.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be released for audience access beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—offering users worldwide can get immersed in this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its initial teaser, which has seen over strong viewer count.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, exporting the fear to international horror buffs.


Mark your calendar for this bone-rattling path of possession. Watch *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to see these dark realities about our species.


For cast commentary, director cuts, and alerts from those who lived it, follow @YACMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit our spooky domain.





Contemporary horror’s Turning Point: 2025 across markets U.S. calendar melds primeval-possession lore, Indie Shockers, paired with franchise surges

Spanning fight-to-live nightmare stories inspired by primordial scripture and extending to franchise returns in concert with incisive indie visions, 2025 is coalescing into the most stratified in tandem with strategic year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. the big studios are anchoring the year via recognizable brands, in parallel streamers front-load the fall with first-wave breakthroughs as well as legend-coded dread. At the same time, indie storytellers is propelled by the kinetic energy of 2024’s record festival wave. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, however this time, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are targeted, which means 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The majors are assertive. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal banner kicks off the frame with a headline swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in a modern-day environment. From director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. Slated for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Helmed by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer wanes, Warner Bros. releases the last chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re teams, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: retro dread, trauma driven plotting, and a cold supernatural calculus. This time, the stakes are raised, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The new chapter enriches the lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It hits in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a room scale body horror descent including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Also rising is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, 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 menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is a clever angle. No bloated mythology. No brand fatigue. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Franchise Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, Directed 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.

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

What to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror retakes ground
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

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

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

What’s Next: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The new terror Year Ahead: Sequels, new stories, together with A packed Calendar tailored for chills

Dek: The current genre calendar loads immediately with a January traffic jam, after that stretches through peak season, and far into the holidays, braiding franchise firepower, novel approaches, and smart counterweight. Studios and platforms are doubling down on right-sized spends, theatrical-first rollouts, and social-fueled campaigns that position the slate’s entries into culture-wide discussion.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The field has shown itself to be the dependable move in distribution calendars, a lane that can grow when it performs and still mitigate the losses when it underperforms. After 2023 reminded buyers that modestly budgeted pictures can shape pop culture, 2024 sustained momentum with high-profile filmmaker pieces and stealth successes. The momentum moved into the 2025 frame, where returns and prestige plays highlighted there is appetite for a variety of tones, from franchise continuations to non-IP projects that export nicely. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a slate that shows rare alignment across distributors, with strategic blocks, a blend of legacy names and fresh ideas, and a refocused stance on cinema windows that drive downstream revenue on premium on-demand and subscription services.

Marketers add the category now behaves like a utility player on the programming map. Horror can premiere on nearly any frame, furnish a grabby hook for creative and reels, and overperform with audiences that appear on Thursday previews and sustain through the week two if the offering hits. Following a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 mapping underscores belief in that setup. The year gets underway with a thick January band, then uses spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while keeping space for a October build that carries into the Halloween frame and past the holiday. The schedule also underscores the tightening integration of specialized imprints and digital platforms that can platform a title, generate chatter, and roll out at the right moment.

A further high-level trend is IP cultivation across shared IP webs and legacy IP. Studios are not just turning out another installment. They are looking to package ongoing narrative with a heightened moment, whether that is a title presentation that broadcasts a reframed mood or a star attachment that threads a next entry to a original cycle. At the very same time, the visionaries behind the top original plays are leaning into on-set craft, special makeup and vivid settings. That mix produces 2026 a smart balance of home base and invention, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount opens strong with two high-profile releases that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the heart, angling it as both a relay and a origin-leaning character-focused installment. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the narrative stance hints at a fan-service aware approach without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Count on a promo wave anchored in classic imagery, early character teases, and a promo sequence landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will emphasize. As a summer alternative, this one will build mainstream recognition through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format permitting quick updates to whatever leads trend lines that spring.

Universal has three discrete releases. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is tight, loss-driven, and logline-clear: a grieving man brings home an intelligent companion that evolves into a fatal companion. The date places it at the front of a busy month, with the marketing arm likely to renew uncanny live moments and short-form creative that mixes intimacy and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a public title to become an PR pop closer to the first look. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s releases are presented as director events, with a concept-forward tease and a later trailer push that shape mood without giving away the concept. The prime October weekend gives Universal room to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work 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 heads, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a gnarly, makeup-driven treatment can feel elevated on a tight budget. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror blast that leans into global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio rolls out two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, carrying a consistent supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is framing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both players and fresh viewers. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign creative around environmental design, and creature effects, elements that can lift IMAX and PLF uptake and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in immersive craft and period language, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus has already set the date for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is positive.

Streaming windows and tactics

Windowing plans in 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s genre entries head to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a ladder that elevates both first-week urgency and subscription bumps in the tail. Prime Video combines licensed titles with global originals and short theatrical plays when the data supports it. Max and Hulu press their this contact form advantages in catalog discovery, using seasonal hubs, seasonal hubs, and featured rows to lengthen the tail on lifetime take. Netflix stays opportunistic about originals and festival pickups, finalizing horror entries closer to drop and turning into events premieres with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a tiered of selective theatrical runs and short jumps to platform that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a discrete basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to invest in select projects with name filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation swells.

Specialized lanes

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 uncomplicated: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, refined for modern sound and cinematography. 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 traditional cinema play for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the back half.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas window to go wider. That positioning has delivered for elevated genre with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception drives. Anticipate 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 as a pair, using targeted theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Brands and originals

By proportion, 2026 leans in favor of the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness marquee value. The watch-out, as ever, is fatigue. The go-to fix is to present each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is elevating character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French sensibility from a hot helmer. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the package is assuring enough to generate pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Rolling three-year comps announce the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that maintained windows did not hamper a day-and-date experiment from succeeding when the brand was compelling. In 2024, art-forward horror hit big in premium formats. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they angle differently and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, this website 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 paired-chapter approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, permits marketing to relate entries through character spine and themes and to hold creative in the market without lulls.

How the films are being made

The creative meetings behind the year’s horror signal a continued turn toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that highlights unease and texture rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in craft profiles and artisan spotlights before rolling out a teaser that withholds plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and this content gathers shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta reframe that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature execution and sets, which favor booth activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel must-have. Look for trailers that underscore fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that sing on PLF.

Calendar cadence

January is crowded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid larger brand plays. The month caps 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 meaningful, but the mix of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Q1 into Q2 tee up summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into 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 jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can win 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 moved through premium slots.

Shoulder season into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event occupies October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a slow-reveal plan and limited plot reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can win the holiday when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card spend.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s synthetic partner becomes something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy extends 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 apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a mutable 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 tough boss scramble to survive on a desolate island as the power dynamic inverts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to nightmare, anchored by Cronin’s on-set craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. 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 domestic haunting chiller that refracts terror through a minor’s flickering point of view. Rating: to be announced. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: major-studio and toplined eerie 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 genre lampoon that needles of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBA. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new family lashed to residual nightmares. Rating: undetermined. 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: to be disclosed. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A clean reboot designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survivalist horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: to be announced. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: forthcoming. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 elemental menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three workable forces organize this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or recalendared in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest turnkey scare beats from test screenings, select scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can seize a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will cluster across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. 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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, 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 texture, 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.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand heft where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, guard the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.