Age-old Horror Returns within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding thriller, landing October 2025 across major streaming services

An spine-tingling mystic scare-fest from cinematographer / director Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an long-buried force when unknowns become subjects in a cursed trial. Launching this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a intense saga of endurance and old world terror that will alter fear-driven cinema this cool-weather season. Helmed by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and eerie fearfest follows five people who suddenly rise trapped in a hidden wooden structure under the dark power of Kyra, a young woman inhabited by a timeless biblical demon. Ready yourself to be drawn in by a filmic journey that blends bone-deep fear with mythic lore, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a mainstay motif in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is challenged when the malevolences no longer manifest from external sources, but rather internally. This illustrates the darkest dimension of these individuals. The result is a emotionally raw internal warfare where the tension becomes a ongoing clash between purity and corruption.


In a barren terrain, five souls find themselves contained under the malicious control and domination of a secretive female presence. As the characters becomes incapable to evade her command, disconnected and attacked by entities beyond reason, they are compelled to acknowledge their inner horrors while the clock coldly runs out toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion intensifies and bonds disintegrate, requiring each survivor to evaluate their character and the nature of self-determination itself. The consequences surge with every tick, delivering a fear-soaked story that integrates otherworldly suspense with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to uncover deep fear, an curse rooted in antiquity, filtering through emotional vulnerability, and highlighting a being that forces self-examination when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra involved tapping into something outside normal anguish. She is unaware until the evil takes hold, and that pivot is deeply unsettling because it is so close.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for on-demand beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—so that audiences in all regions can engage with this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its original promo, which has gathered over massive response.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, making the film to international horror buffs.


Do not miss this cinematic fall into madness. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to uncover these terrifying truths about free will.


For sneak peeks, special features, and news directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across entertainment pages and visit the official website.





The horror genre’s inflection point: calendar year 2025 U.S. lineup integrates ancient-possession motifs, microbudget gut-punches, in parallel with tentpole growls

Running from endurance-driven terror grounded in ancient scripture to franchise returns as well as focused festival visions, 2025 is shaping up as the richest paired with blueprinted year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. the big studios plant stakes across the year through proven series, while streaming platforms pack the fall with discovery plays set against legend-coded dread. On the independent axis, the art-house flank is surfing the echoes from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, and in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are disciplined, and 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige fear returns

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s schedule fires the first shot with a headline swing: a modernized Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, instead in a current-day frame. Steered by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. Booked into mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Steered by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

When summer tapers, the Warner Bros. banner unveils the final movement from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: nostalgic menace, trauma driven plotting, and eerie supernatural logic. The bar is raised this go, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It lands in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Offerings: Small budgets, sharp fangs

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

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a close quarters body horror study including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

On the docket is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. 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. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. 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 a smart play. No overstuffed canon. No franchise baggage. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Series Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Dials to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

What’s Next: Fall stack and winter swing card

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The approaching terror calendar year ahead: continuations, filmmaker-first projects, and also A Crowded Calendar tailored for chills

Dek The brand-new genre year crowds right away with a January traffic jam, subsequently rolls through the warm months, and running into the year-end corridor, combining legacy muscle, fresh ideas, and strategic release strategy. Studios and platforms are betting on mid-range economics, theatrical-first rollouts, and short-form initiatives that elevate genre titles into cross-demo moments.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The horror marketplace has solidified as the most reliable swing in annual schedules, a vertical that can scale when it connects and still protect the downside when it doesn’t. After 2023 proved to decision-makers that responsibly budgeted genre plays can own audience talk, 2024 continued the surge with signature-voice projects and slow-burn breakouts. The momentum moved into 2025, where resurrections and awards-minded projects signaled there is an opening for varied styles, from returning installments to original one-offs that perform internationally. The result for the 2026 slate is a roster that shows rare alignment across the market, with mapped-out bands, a mix of familiar brands and untested plays, and a re-energized stance on release windows that feed downstream value on premium video on demand and digital services.

Studio leaders note the horror lane now acts as a fill-in ace on the grid. Horror can bow on a wide range of weekends, provide a easy sell for previews and vertical videos, and exceed norms with viewers that turn out on early shows and keep coming through the sophomore frame if the title pays off. In the wake of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 layout demonstrates faith in that playbook. The year gets underway with a weighty January lineup, then targets spring into early summer for genre counterpoints, while carving room for a October build that pushes into Halloween and into November. The map also reflects the expanded integration of arthouse labels and platforms that can develop over weeks, grow buzz, and broaden at the sweet spot.

A further high-level trend is brand strategy across unified worlds and storied titles. The studios are not just turning out another chapter. They are setting up threaded continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a logo package that telegraphs a reframed mood or a cast configuration that reconnects a next film to a foundational era. At the in tandem, the auteurs behind the eagerly awaited originals are doubling down on hands-on technique, practical effects and concrete locations. That fusion gives the 2026 slate a solid mix of familiarity and shock, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount defines the early cadence with two high-profile entries that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, signaling it as both a passing of the torch and a back-to-basics character-focused installment. Production is active in Atlanta, and the narrative stance indicates a roots-evoking framework without going over the last two entries’ sisters storyline. A campaign is expected fueled by classic imagery, character spotlights, and a trailer cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will feature. As a summer relief option, this one will go after wide appeal through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick turns to whatever rules pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three defined plays. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is elegant, somber, and easily pitched: a grieving man onboards an synthetic partner that grows into a lethal partner. The date locates it at the front of a front-loaded month, with the studio’s marketing likely to bring back off-kilter promo beats and short reels that interweaves companionship and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a branding reveal to become an earned moment closer to the initial promo. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. His entries are presented as signature events, with a teaser that reveals little and a later trailer push that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The prime October weekend creates space for Universal to dominate 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has established that a gnarly, prosthetic-heavy execution can feel deluxe on a middle budget. Look for a splatter summer horror charge that leans into international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio lines up two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, continuing a dependable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what Sony is framing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both loyalists and general audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign pieces around lore, and creature builds, elements that can accelerate large-format demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets 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 minute detail and period language, this time driven by werewolf stories. The imprint this website has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is warm.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform tactics for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s genre slate transition to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a ladder that elevates both FOMO and trial spikes in the late-window. Prime Video combines acquired titles with worldwide buys and short theatrical plays when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in deep cuts, using well-timed internal promotions, Halloween hubs, and editorial rows to lengthen the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix stays opportunistic about original films and festival buys, securing horror entries closer to drop and coalescing around arrivals with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a one-two of limited theatrical footprints and prompt platform moves that turns chatter to conversion. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a curated basis. The platform has signaled readiness to acquire select projects with award winners or star-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation peaks.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 track with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is tight: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, reimagined for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has positioned a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then turning to the Christmas window to widen. That positioning has shown results for prestige horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception allows. Do not be surprised by 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 in parallel, using small theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their audience.

Brands and originals

By number, 2026 skews toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage legacy awareness. The caveat, as ever, is brand wear. The practical approach is to frame each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is spotlighting relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a continental coloration from a buzzed-about director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the packaging is assuring enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years clarify the plan. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that observed windows did not deter a parallel release from performing when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror surged in premium screens. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they pivot perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters shot consecutively, allows marketing to cross-link entries through cast and motif and to leave creative active without extended gaps.

Craft and creative trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind this year’s genre hint at a continued turn toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that spotlights mood and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in trade spotlights and technical spotlights before rolling out a tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for red-band excess, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and generates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta reframe that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on monster aesthetics and world-building, which lend themselves to expo activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that highlight pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that land in big rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

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 gloomy counterbalance amid marquee brands. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the palette of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Winter into spring stage summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads 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 playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Late summer into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a bridge slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited pre-release reveals that lean on concept not plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and holiday gift-card burn.

One-sentence dossiers

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s virtual companion becomes something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: tone-first 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 demanding boss try to survive on a rugged island as the control dynamic inverts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to horror, driven by Cronin’s on-set craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting narrative that frames the panic through a minor’s volatile internal vantage. Rating: to be announced. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A send-up revival that lampoons today’s horror trends and true crime preoccupations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new clan caught in returning horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A new start designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survivalist horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: undetermined. Production: in progress. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and ancient menace. Rating: TBA. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 and why now

Three pragmatic forces define this lineup. First, production that paused or re-sequenced in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, 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 outpaced straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on shareable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, clearing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will compete across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

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

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where modest-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 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, 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 ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, 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 seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, acoustics, and cinematography 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

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand power where it counts, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.