Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons antediluvian malevolence, a nightmare fueled thriller, premiering Oct 2025 across top streaming platforms

One hair-raising mystic shockfest from author / director Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an forgotten dread when drifters become conduits in a satanic maze. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing account of living through and ancient evil that will remodel fear-driven cinema this harvest season. Directed by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and gothic screenplay follows five strangers who regain consciousness caught in a wooded cottage under the ominous dominion of Kyra, a central character inhabited by a ancient sacred-era entity. Be prepared to be gripped by a narrative display that harmonizes bone-deep fear with biblical origins, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a iconic motif in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is radically shifted when the entities no longer emerge from external sources, but rather through their own souls. This echoes the malevolent layer of all involved. The result is a gripping moral showdown where the conflict becomes a merciless contest between heaven and hell.


In a desolate terrain, five friends find themselves cornered under the unholy rule and overtake of a shadowy person. As the survivors becomes incapacitated to oppose her rule, cut off and targeted by beings beyond comprehension, they are thrust to endure their soulful dreads while the timeline coldly moves toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety rises and connections implode, driving each participant to evaluate their self and the nature of conscious will itself. The threat mount with every heartbeat, delivering a horror experience that fuses mystical fear with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to draw upon pure dread, an malevolence rooted in antiquity, emerging via psychological breaks, and wrestling with a darkness that questions who we are when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra involved tapping into something past sanity. She is blind until the spirit seizes her, and that flip is harrowing because it is so visceral.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be released for audiences beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—offering customers worldwide can enjoy this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its first trailer, which has racked up over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, bringing the film to international horror buffs.


Experience this mind-warping fall into madness. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this launch day to see these haunting secrets about existence.


For sneak peeks, on-set glimpses, and press updates from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Instagram and Twitter and visit the official movie site.





Today’s horror Turning Point: calendar year 2025 U.S. calendar weaves primeval-possession lore, art-house nightmares, together with IP aftershocks

Beginning with life-or-death fear grounded in mythic scripture and stretching into canon extensions alongside sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 looks like the most variegated together with deliberate year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. Major studios plant stakes across the year with franchise anchors, as OTT services prime the fall with emerging auteurs alongside legend-coded dread. On the festival side, the independent cohort is surfing the momentum of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween holding the peak, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The fall stretch is the proving field, notably this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are calculated, therefore 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: High-craft horror returns

The top end is active. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s slate sets the tone with a headline swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, but a sharp contemporary setting. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. landing in mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Guided by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. Pictures releases the last chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson is back, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: retro dread, trauma centered writing, with ghostly inner logic. This run ups the stakes, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The new chapter enriches the lore, builds out the animatronic fear crew, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It arrives in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Offerings: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While cinemas swing on series strength, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a room scale body horror descent featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend with Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, 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. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped 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. That is a savvy move. No bloated canon. No canon weight. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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.

Key Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror retakes ground
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

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

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

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 fear calendar year ahead: brand plays, universe starters, plus A Crowded Calendar aimed at chills

Dek The brand-new horror calendar loads from day one with a January bottleneck, subsequently stretches through summer corridors, and continuing into the year-end corridor, fusing name recognition, untold stories, and tactical counterprogramming. The big buyers and platforms are betting on cost discipline, box-office-first windows, and platform-native promos that pivot these offerings into culture-wide discussion.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This category has shown itself to be the dependable play in programming grids, a vertical that can grow when it resonates and still limit the losses when it misses. After the 2023 year re-taught greenlighters that responsibly budgeted genre plays can galvanize audience talk, the following year extended the rally with visionary-driven titles and word-of-mouth wins. The energy flowed into 2025, where revivals and premium-leaning entries demonstrated there is a lane for a variety of tones, from continued chapters to original one-offs that scale internationally. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a programming that seems notably aligned across the major shops, with intentional bunching, a blend of legacy names and first-time concepts, and a tightened strategy on big-screen windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium digital and streaming.

Executives say the genre now functions as a swing piece on the calendar. The genre can arrive on a wide range of weekends, offer a simple premise for trailers and vertical videos, and punch above weight with patrons that show up on Thursday previews and return through the sophomore frame if the release delivers. Exiting a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 mapping exhibits belief in that engine. The slate starts with a crowded January lineup, then turns to spring and early summer for audience offsets, while reserving space for a October build that stretches into holiday-adjacent weekends and into post-Halloween. The program also illustrates the continuing integration of indie arms and SVOD players that can nurture a platform play, ignite recommendations, and roll out at the proper time.

A notable top-line trend is IP stewardship across linked properties and classic IP. The companies are not just releasing another entry. They are looking to package story carry-over with a must-see charge, whether that is a logo package that broadcasts a fresh attitude or a casting choice that reconnects a fresh chapter to a initial period. At the simultaneously, the filmmakers behind the most buzzed-about originals are championing in-camera technique, in-camera effects and grounded locations. That interplay hands the 2026 slate a strong blend of home base and newness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount defines the early cadence with two marquee bets that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the core, setting it up as both a handoff and a DNA-forward character-focused installment. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture points to a fan-service aware framework without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected rooted in classic imagery, character previews, and a rollout cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

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 in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will foreground. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will hunt mass reach through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format enabling quick pivots to whatever leads trend lines that spring.

Universal has three differentiated strategies. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is efficient, soulful, and commercial: a grieving man activates an intelligent companion that shifts into a perilous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s marketing likely to bring back strange in-person beats and short reels that fuses companionship and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a public title to become an event moment closer to the early tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s work are sold as filmmaker events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second trailer wave that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor affords Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with my review here Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has demonstrated that a in-your-face, practical-effects forward style can feel elevated on a mid-range budget. Expect a hard-R summer horror shot that leans hard into offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio launches two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, holding a consistent supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is framing as a reimagined 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 well-defined brief to serve both franchise faithful and newcomers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build marketing units around world-building, and creature work, elements that can increase premium screens and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror driven by rigorous craft and dialect, this time focused on werewolf legend. The imprint has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is warm.

Where the platforms fit in

Windowing plans in 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal titles land on copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a stair-step that elevates both initial urgency and sub growth in the tail. Prime Video balances licensed content with global originals and select theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in back-catalog play, using featured rows, fright rows, and collection rows to stretch the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps options open about own-slate titles and festival grabs, scheduling horror entries near their drops and elevating as drops premieres with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a paired of tailored theatrical exposure and speedy platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a situational basis. The platform has been willing to secure select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-driven packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation builds.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 runway with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is clear: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, elevated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday corridor to increase reach. That positioning has paid off for elevated genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception supports. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using boutique theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Known brands versus new stories

By proportion, 2026 leans toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate cultural cachet. The trade-off, as ever, is viewer burnout. The operating solution is to sell each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is emphasizing character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is floating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-tinted vision from a buzzed-about director. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and visionary-led titles supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the team and cast is known enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years help explain the playbook. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that observed windows did not obstruct a same-day experiment from succeeding when the brand was strong. In 2024, auteur craft horror punched above its weight in premium screens. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reframe POV and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters shot back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to link the films through personae and themes and to keep assets in-market without lulls.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The director conversations behind the upcoming entries telegraph a continued emphasis on practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that elevates aura and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and era-true language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in craft journalism and craft coverage before rolling out a mood teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta recalibration that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster work and world-building, which play well in convention floor stunts and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that elevate pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that benefit on big speakers.

From winter to holidays

January is loaded. 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 atmospheric change-up amid bigger brand plays. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the palette of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Late winter and spring tee up summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Shoulder season into fall leans series. 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 bridge slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited previews that elevate concept over story.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and card redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s digital partner escalates into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete 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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: ambience-forward adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her prickly boss scramble to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance of power shifts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

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 terror, shaped by Cronin’s material craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 closed-door haunting narrative that threads the dread through a little one’s unsteady internal vantage. Rating: to be announced. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-financed and toplined ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A genre lampoon that skewers contemporary horror memes and true crime fervors. Rating: pending. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 detonates, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new household linked to lingering terrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: pending. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-driven horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: pending. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: not yet rated. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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

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

Why this year, why now

Three grounded forces shape this lineup. First, production that downshifted or shuffled in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and compressed 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 overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will coexist across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 surprise-hit pursuit 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 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. 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 beat and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, sonics, and image-making 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 Shapes Up Strong

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand heft where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, keep the secrets, and let the shocks sell the seats.