Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primordial evil, a nerve shredding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 on major streaming services

One blood-curdling paranormal shockfest from cinematographer / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an timeless fear when newcomers become instruments in a hellish ceremony. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing account of overcoming and timeless dread that will reconstruct the fear genre this season. Visualized by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and moody feature follows five teens who suddenly rise caught in a off-grid house under the sinister grip of Kyra, a troubled woman inhabited by a time-worn biblical force. Be prepared to be drawn in by a narrative adventure that merges visceral dread with folklore, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a well-established pillar in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is subverted when the dark entities no longer come from an outside force, but rather through their own souls. This marks the deepest corner of every character. The result is a bone-chilling mental war where the conflict becomes a intense confrontation between light and darkness.


In a haunting wild, five characters find themselves imprisoned under the malicious effect and infestation of a uncanny person. As the characters becomes defenseless to combat her control, isolated and stalked by unknowns indescribable, they are thrust to face their core terrors while the doomsday meter mercilessly counts down toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear mounts and ties break, demanding each cast member to question their values and the foundation of conscious will itself. The hazard magnify with every passing moment, delivering a paranormal ride that blends paranormal dread with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to dig into deep fear, an power rooted in antiquity, manipulating fragile psyche, and confronting a spirit that redefines identity when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra involved tapping into something past sanity. She is in denial until the demon emerges, and that transformation is terrifying because it is so emotional.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for on-demand beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring viewers across the world can watch this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its original clip, which has racked up over six-figure audience.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, offering the tale to fans of fear everywhere.


Be sure to catch this visceral ride through nightmares. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this launch day to acknowledge these ghostly lessons about the mind.


For bonus footage, behind-the-scenes content, and social posts from behind the lens, follow @YACMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit our film’s homepage.





Current horror’s inflection point: calendar year 2025 U.S. calendar blends legend-infused possession, indie terrors, set against franchise surges

Spanning life-or-death fear steeped in near-Eastern lore and extending to series comebacks in concert with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 appears poised to be the most stratified and blueprinted year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio powerhouses set cornerstones through proven series, while streaming platforms flood the fall with unboxed visions and archetypal fear. On another front, the art-house flank is surfing the momentum from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween holding the peak, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and now, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are exacting, hence 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Premium dread reemerges

The top end is active. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s slate fires the first shot with a headline swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Steered by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. timed for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer winds down, Warner’s pipeline delivers the closing chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Granted the structure is classic, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: nostalgic menace, trauma as narrative engine, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This pass pushes higher, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The continuation widens the legend, stretches the animatronic parade, bridging teens and legacy players. It bows in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Digital Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a sealed box body horror arc including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend led by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to 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 dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as 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 canny scheduling. No bloated canon. No sequel clutter. 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.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

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 hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Brands: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, steered 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.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror reemerges
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forecast: Autumn density and winter pivot

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Watch for one or more of these 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. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The next fright slate: entries, universe starters, alongside A jammed Calendar engineered for jolts

Dek The brand-new genre year builds from day one with a January crush, after that stretches through the mid-year, and running into the year-end corridor, blending marquee clout, original angles, and data-minded counterweight. Studios and platforms are focusing on smart costs, theatrical exclusivity first, and influencer-ready assets that convert the slate’s entries into broad-appeal conversations.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The genre has become the dependable swing in release plans, a lane that can break out when it connects and still protect the drag when it underperforms. After 2023 reassured top brass that cost-conscious horror vehicles can galvanize the discourse, the following year sustained momentum with filmmaker-forward plays and stealth successes. The run extended into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and awards-minded projects underscored there is space for different modes, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that perform internationally. The net effect for 2026 is a roster that reads highly synchronized across the major shops, with intentional bunching, a combination of brand names and new pitches, and a renewed focus on big-screen windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium rental and home streaming.

Executives say the horror lane now works like a schedule utility on the grid. Horror can arrive on open real estate, offer a simple premise for spots and reels, and punch above weight with audiences that line up on early shows and maintain momentum through the follow-up frame if the feature connects. On the heels of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 pattern telegraphs trust in that dynamic. The year kicks off with a busy January corridor, then exploits spring through early summer for alternate plays, while making space for a autumn push that stretches into late October and into post-Halloween. The gridline also features the greater integration of specialty arms and subscription services that can develop over weeks, fuel WOM, and move wide at the precise moment.

A further high-level trend is franchise tending across connected story worlds and legacy IP. Distribution groups are not just producing another sequel. They are shaping as story carry-over with a sense of event, whether that is a typeface approach that suggests a new vibe or a casting pivot that anchors a next entry to a heyday. At the concurrently, the helmers behind the eagerly awaited originals are favoring physical effects work, physical gags and location-forward worlds. That combination provides 2026 a smart balance of known notes and discovery, which is how the genre sells abroad.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount leads early with two front-of-slate bets that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, signaling it as both a handoff and a foundation-forward character piece. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the artistic posture suggests a throwback-friendly framework without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign anchored in iconic art, character spotlights, and a staggered trailer plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will emphasize. As a counterweight in summer, this one will generate wide buzz through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick reframes to whatever dominates pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three differentiated lanes. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is elegant, grief-rooted, and premise-first: a grieving man activates an digital partner that shifts into a perilous partner. The date places it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the studio’s marketing likely to iterate on off-kilter promo beats and micro spots that mixes devotion and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a title reveal to become an earned moment closer to the initial tease. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele titles are presented as filmmaker events, with a teaser that holds back and a second trailer wave that signal tone without plot the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor offers Universal room to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a gritty, practical-effects forward treatment can feel elevated on a efficient spend. Frame it as a red-band summer horror hit that centers global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio launches two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, extending a proven supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is marketing as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both players and first-timers. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign creative around mythos, and creature work, elements that can drive premium format interest and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror centered on careful craft and dialect, this time focused on werewolf legend. The label has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s slate land on copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a stair-step that boosts both launch urgency and sign-up spikes in the later window. Prime Video pairs third-party pickups with international acquisitions and select theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in back-catalog play, using well-timed internal promotions, fright rows, and handpicked rows to keep attention on overall cume. Netflix keeps flexible about own-slate titles and festival pickups, confirming horror entries near launch and making event-like arrivals with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a paired of precision theatrical plays and short jumps to platform that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a curated basis. The platform has shown appetite to secure select projects with top-tier auteurs or name-led packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for retention when the genre conversation surges.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 arc with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is direct: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, updated for modern soundscapes and visuals. 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 telegraphed a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then using the December frame to scale. That positioning has helped for filmmaker-first horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception drives. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using mini theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their user base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By weight, the 2026 slate skews toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage brand get redirected here equity. The challenge, as ever, is brand erosion. The near-term solution is to pitch each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is emphasizing character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-inflected take from a buzzed-about director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the cast-creatives package is assuring enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and preview-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the plan. In 2023, a theater-first model that preserved streaming windows did not preclude a simultaneous release test from performing when the brand was powerful. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror exceeded expectations in premium screens. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they pivot perspective and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters shot in tandem, creates space for marketing to link the films through cast and motif and to maintain a flow of assets without lulls.

Production craft signals

The production chatter behind the 2026 entries forecast a continued shift toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that spotlights mood and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft journalism and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and generates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a self-referential reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which favor convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that foreground fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that explode in larger rooms.

Annual flow

January is full. 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 caps 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 legit, but the mix of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth endures.

Late Q1 and spring prime the summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

End of summer through fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a bridge slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a peekaboo tease plan and limited previews that stress concept over spoilers.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can play the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and holiday card usage.

One-sentence dossiers

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s digital partner unfolds into something murderously loving. 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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. 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 prickly boss try to survive on a desolate island as the control dynamic inverts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to fear, founded on Cronin’s in-camera craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 piece that frames the panic through a kid’s volatile internal vantage. Rating: TBA. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A comic send-up that satirizes in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime obsessions. Rating: TBA. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites breaks out, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a another family caught in long-buried horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-first horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: pending. Production: proceeding. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 ancient menace. Rating: TBA. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why this year, why now

Three grounded forces drive this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or rearranged in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous 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 premieres. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest clippable moments from test screenings, precision scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

The slot calculus is real. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can control a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will share space across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to work those windows. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer 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 cadence and diversity. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, soundcraft, and imagery 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

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand power where it counts, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the shocks sell the seats.