Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primeval horror, a nerve shredding chiller, streaming October 2025 across top streaming platforms

A frightening metaphysical suspense film from storyteller / director Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an primeval horror when drifters become proxies in a devilish game. Premiering October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a intense journey of struggle and timeless dread that will redefine genre cinema this autumn. Helmed by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and claustrophobic screenplay follows five young adults who snap to locked in a isolated hideaway under the malevolent control of Kyra, a female lead claimed by a 2,000-year-old biblical demon. Steel yourself to be seized by a immersive ride that weaves together gut-punch terror with arcane tradition, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a well-established pillar in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is redefined when the entities no longer appear outside their bodies, but rather within themselves. This suggests the darkest element of the protagonists. The result is a edge-of-seat inner struggle where the intensity becomes a merciless contest between light and darkness.


In a isolated backcountry, five adults find themselves imprisoned under the evil grip and grasp of a mysterious apparition. As the ensemble becomes unresisting to withstand her rule, stranded and stalked by forces beyond comprehension, they are forced to encounter their darkest emotions while the hours harrowingly counts down toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust swells and alliances erode, driving each figure to evaluate their personhood and the concept of self-determination itself. The pressure grow with every short lapse, delivering a scare-fueled ride that harmonizes occult fear with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to explore core terror, an force born of forgotten ages, manipulating emotional fractures, and highlighting a darkness that strips down our being when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra asked for exploring something outside normal anguish. She is oblivious until the control shifts, and that metamorphosis is soul-crushing because it is so personal.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for digital release beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—offering viewers anywhere can witness this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its original promo, which has received over strong viewer count.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, exporting the fear to thrill-seekers globally.


Witness this visceral exploration of dread. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to see these ghostly lessons about existence.


For cast commentary, director cuts, and press updates from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursed across social media and visit our horror hub.





American horror’s Turning Point: the 2025 cycle U.S. rollouts integrates Mythic Possession, festival-born jolts, set against returning-series thunder

Across last-stand terror steeped in near-Eastern lore and extending to series comebacks in concert with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is tracking to be the most variegated as well as blueprinted year of the last decade.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio powerhouses plant stakes across the year through proven series, in parallel streaming platforms saturate the fall with emerging auteurs alongside ancient terrors. Meanwhile, festival-forward creators is carried on the kinetic energy of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, however this time, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are exacting, thus 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: High-craft horror returns

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s schedule opens the year with an audacious swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Steered by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. targeting mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Under Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

Toward summer’s end, the WB camp sets loose the finale within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Even with a familiar chassis, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: nostalgic menace, trauma centered writing, and eerie supernatural logic. Here the stakes rise, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The new chapter enriches the lore, builds out the animatronic fear crew, speaking to teens and older millennials. It drops in December, locking down the winter tail.

SVOD Originals: No Budget, No Problem

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a room scale body horror descent featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Written 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 night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It reads as sharp positioning. No overinflated mythology. No sequel clutter. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Long Running Lines: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Key Trends

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror resurges
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

What’s Next: Fall stack and winter swing card

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

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

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



The 2026 spook season: entries, universe starters, together with A stacked Calendar Built For nightmares

Dek: The brand-new genre calendar packs early with a January glut, subsequently stretches through peak season, and far into the holiday stretch, marrying brand heft, original angles, and calculated counter-scheduling. Distributors with platforms are committing to responsible budgets, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that frame horror entries into national conversation.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The field has solidified as the consistent play in studio calendars, a lane that can accelerate when it lands and still protect the drawdown when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year demonstrated to buyers that efficiently budgeted chillers can galvanize social chatter, 2024 extended the rally with festival-darling auteurs and surprise hits. The upswing carried into the 2025 frame, where returns and festival-grade titles demonstrated there is room for multiple flavors, from brand follow-ups to filmmaker-driven originals that carry overseas. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a run that feels more orchestrated than usual across distributors, with defined corridors, a balance of known properties and fresh ideas, and a re-energized strategy on exhibition windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium home window and SVOD.

Buyers contend the space now serves as a fill-in ace on the schedule. The genre can premiere on most weekends, generate a sharp concept for creative and vertical videos, and outpace with ticket buyers that appear on preview nights and continue through the follow-up frame if the film hits. Coming out of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 cadence exhibits comfort in that setup. The calendar launches with a front-loaded January window, then exploits spring through early summer for counterprogramming, while leaving room for a fall run that extends to Halloween and into post-Halloween. The layout also shows the greater integration of specialized imprints and SVOD players that can grow from platform, grow buzz, and widen at the precise moment.

An added macro current is brand strategy across shared universes and heritage properties. The studios are not just turning out another continuation. They are working to present lore continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a art treatment that indicates a fresh attitude or a star attachment that reconnects a incoming chapter to a vintage era. At the same time, the writer-directors behind the marquee originals are championing hands-on technique, special makeup and site-specific worlds. That pairing provides the 2026 slate a vital pairing of recognition and surprise, which is why the genre exports well.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount plants an early flag with two spotlight releases that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the front, presenting it as both a lineage transfer and a return-to-roots character-driven entry. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the creative posture hints at a fan-service aware campaign without going over the last two entries’ sibling arc. A campaign is expected driven by franchise iconography, character-first teases, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will lean on. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will chase large awareness through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick reframes to whatever rules pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three discrete projects. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is elegant, soulful, and premise-first: a grieving man onboards an virtual partner that grows into a this website murderous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s marketing likely to reprise strange in-person beats and short reels that fuses romance and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a official title to become an fan moment closer to the first look. 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 claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s work are marketed as auteur events, with a concept-forward tease and a second wave of trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-October frame affords Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a flesh-and-blood, physical-effects centered approach can feel deluxe on a lean spend. Position this as a grime-caked summer horror jolt that embraces overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio deploys two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, continuing a reliable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is calling a reimagined restart 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 mission to serve both players and new audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build materials around environmental design, and creature design, elements that can increase premium screens and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on minute detail and archaic language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The distributor has already locked the day for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is strong.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform tactics for 2026 run on proven patterns. The Universal horror run land on copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a pacing that amplifies both launch urgency and sign-up momentum in the downstream. Prime Video will mix acquired titles with global acquisitions and select theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library curation, using curated hubs, holiday hubs, and handpicked rows to sustain interest on aggregate take. Netflix stays opportunistic about internal projects and festival additions, scheduling horror entries toward the drop and positioning as event drops debuts with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a one-two of limited theatrical footprints and accelerated platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a selective basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to secure select projects with accomplished filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation peaks.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 corridor with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is straightforward: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, modernized for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a standard theatrical run for the title, an positive signal for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then working the December frame to increase reach. That positioning has delivered for elevated genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception warrants. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using mini theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Known brands versus new stories

By share, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on household recognition. The concern, as ever, is staleness. The operating solution is to frame each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is bringing forward character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French sensibility from a hot helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries deliver oxygen. 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 tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the assembly is familiar enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the strategy. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that maintained windows did not block a parallel release from succeeding when the brand was big. In 2024, art-forward horror over-performed in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they shift POV and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to relate entries through cast and motif and to sustain campaign assets without doldrums.

How the look and feel evolve

The craft rooms behind 2026 horror forecast a continued shift toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that emphasizes creep and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead features and technical spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that leans on mood over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and sparks shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta reframe that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature work and production design, which play well in con floor moments and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel definitive. Look for trailers that spotlight disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that work in PLF.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is packed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid headline IP. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the range of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

February through May seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s 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 heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Late-season stretch leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a late-September window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a minimalist tease strategy and limited plot reveals that favor idea over plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Project briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s intelligent companion turns into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

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 collide with a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: gothic-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 hard-edged boss scramble to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance of power shifts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-front survival film 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 from-today rework that returns the monster to horror, founded on Cronin’s tactile craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting premise that leverages the horror of a child’s uncertain interpretations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-financed and toplined spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A parody reboot that targets of-the-moment horror beats and true crime preoccupations. Rating: pending. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. 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 spreads, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a new clan anchored to returning horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A new start designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-first horror over action spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: closely held. Rating: TBD. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on historical diction and ancient menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the moment is 2026

Three workable forces define this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or shifted in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, managed scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will line up across five weekends, which reduces inter-title 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 benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 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 harvest those lanes. 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two 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 austere, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, sonics, and camera work 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

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand gravity where needed, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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, edit tight trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the shudders sell the seats.