Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives age-old dread, a fear soaked thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on major streaming services

This chilling metaphysical fright fest from cinematographer / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an prehistoric dread when outsiders become puppets in a demonic experiment. Launching this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish story of staying alive and forgotten curse that will resculpt fear-driven cinema this cool-weather season. Realized by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and emotionally thick suspense flick follows five individuals who are stirred confined in a unreachable house under the hostile manipulation of Kyra, a mysterious girl overtaken by a ancient sacred-era entity. Arm yourself to be gripped by a motion picture adventure that weaves together visceral dread with ancestral stories, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a long-standing element in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is reversed when the dark entities no longer develop from elsewhere, but rather within themselves. This represents the shadowy element of each of them. The result is a relentless mind game where the events becomes a brutal contest between purity and corruption.


In a wilderness-stricken outland, five figures find themselves stuck under the ominous effect and haunting of a obscure being. As the companions becomes defenseless to withstand her curse, exiled and targeted by evils indescribable, they are driven to wrestle with their emotional phantoms while the final hour mercilessly ticks toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety deepens and associations dissolve, urging each soul to reconsider their values and the idea of volition itself. The risk escalate with every tick, delivering a paranormal ride that harmonizes unearthly horror with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to tap into basic terror, an force that existed before mankind, influencing psychological breaks, and challenging a curse that questions who we are when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra required summoning something darker than pain. She is oblivious until the takeover begins, and that evolution is gut-wrenching because it is so visceral.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be available for worldwide release beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—allowing horror lovers everywhere can witness this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its intro video, which has seen over 100,000 views.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, giving access to the movie to lovers of terror across nations.


Join this mind-warping fall into madness. Confront *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to dive into these spiritual awakenings about the soul.


For sneak peeks, filmmaker commentary, and press updates from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across online outlets and visit the movie portal.





Modern horror’s sea change: 2025 in focus stateside slate integrates old-world possession, art-house nightmares, set against series shake-ups

Across survivor-centric dread inspired by old testament echoes as well as IP renewals in concert with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is tracking to be horror’s most layered paired with tactically planned year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. leading studios set cornerstones with established lines, while subscription platforms pack the fall with new voices plus primordial unease. At the same time, independent banners is fueled by the echoes of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The fall stretch is the proving field, yet in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are targeted, thus 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Premium genre swings back

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s slate sets the tone with a headline swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, inside today’s landscape. Directed by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. dated for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Helmed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

At summer’s close, Warner Bros. Pictures launches the swan song from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

After that, The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re teams, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: 70s style chill, trauma as text, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time the stakes climb, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The return delves further into myth, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It bows in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Firsts: No Budget, No Problem

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a close quarters body horror study anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable featuring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No puffed out backstory. No brand fatigue. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

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

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Lines: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, guided by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Dials to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror reemerges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The forthcoming 2026 genre Year Ahead: returning titles, universe starters, together with A packed Calendar aimed at chills

Dek The incoming terror season stacks from day one with a January traffic jam, then runs through the summer months, and pushing into the year-end corridor, combining name recognition, untold stories, and savvy counterweight. The big buyers and platforms are focusing on tight budgets, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that shape horror entries into national conversation.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has established itself as the sturdy release in release plans, a category that can grow when it resonates and still protect the drawdown when it does not. After 2023 proved to studio brass that cost-conscious shockers can dominate cultural conversation, the following year maintained heat with signature-voice projects and quiet over-performers. The trend moved into 2025, where reboots and festival-grade titles signaled there is demand for many shades, from franchise continuations to non-IP projects that resonate abroad. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a programming that reads highly synchronized across the field, with defined corridors, a blend of known properties and untested plays, and a sharpened stance on exhibition windows that drive downstream revenue on PVOD and platforms.

Insiders argue the space now performs as a wildcard on the programming map. The genre can kick off on a wide range of weekends, offer a quick sell for creative and social clips, and lead with ticket buyers that lean in on previews Thursday and sustain through the week two if the offering connects. Coming out of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 plan reflects comfort in that model. The calendar opens with a weighty January run, then plants flags in spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while clearing room for a fall corridor that flows toward Halloween and into post-Halloween. The program also illustrates the deeper integration of specialty arms and streaming partners that can launch in limited release, generate chatter, and scale up at the precise moment.

A reinforcing pattern is legacy care across brand ecosystems and legacy franchises. Studio teams are not just mounting another entry. They are looking to package story carry-over with a must-see charge, whether that is a logo package that flags a new vibe or a lead change that connects a latest entry to a heyday. At the in tandem, the directors behind the most anticipated originals are embracing physical effects work, special makeup and location-forward worlds. That fusion produces the 2026 slate a healthy mix of recognition and shock, which is why the genre exports well.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount opens strong with two spotlight pushes that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the front, angling it as both a succession moment and a classic-mode character-focused installment. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the narrative stance suggests a heritage-honoring campaign without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive leaning on legacy iconography, first images of characters, and a trailer cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will spotlight. As a summer relief option, this one will hunt mass reach through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format supporting quick pivots to whatever rules the social talk that spring.

Universal has three defined strategies. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is simple, tragic, and easily pitched: a grieving man sets up an intelligent companion that evolves into a harmful mate. The date lines it up at the front of a front-loaded month, with marketing at Universal likely to bring back uncanny-valley stunts and short reels that fuses intimacy and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a final title to become an attention spike closer to the debut look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s releases are treated as auteur events, with a minimalist tease and a second beat that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date gives the studio room to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on 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 is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has established that a gnarly, practical-effects forward style can feel cinematic on a lean spend. Look for a hard-R summer horror jolt that spotlights offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio deploys two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, holding a dependable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is selling as a new foundation 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 directive to serve both franchise faithful and casuals. The fall slot hands Sony window to build marketing units around narrative world, and creature builds, elements that can increase large-format demand and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by minute detail and period speech, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus Features has already locked the day for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is strong.

Digital platform strategies

Digital strategies for 2026 run on familiar rails. The Universal horror run transition to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a tiered path that enhances both week-one demand and viewer acquisition in the after-window. Prime Video blends acquired titles with global originals and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data signals it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in library engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, holiday hubs, and programmed rows to increase tail value on the annual genre haul. Netflix stays nimble about in-house releases and festival wins, scheduling horror entries near launch and positioning as event drops premieres with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a one-two of precision releases and swift platform pivots that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a per-project basis. The platform has signaled readiness to take on select projects with accomplished filmmakers or star-driven packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 slate 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 appeal is uncomplicated: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, retooled for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a theatrical rollout for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late stretch.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, curating the rollout through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday slot to move out. That positioning has served the company well for director-led genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception merits. Expect 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 jointly, using select theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By tilt, 2026 favors the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit legacy awareness. The trade-off, as ever, is overexposure. The near-term solution is to present each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is bringing forward character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French sensibility from a rising filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed 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 Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the bundle is steady enough to build pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Past-three-year patterns clarify the method. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that held distribution windows did not stop a day-date move from winning when the brand this page was sticky. In 2024, precision craft horror punched above its weight in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they change perspective and grow 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, builds a path for marketing to link the films through cast and motif and to sustain campaign assets without doldrums.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft rooms behind this year’s genre signal a continued emphasis on tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that leans on grain and menace rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in craft profiles and guild coverage before rolling out a mood teaser that leans on mood over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and generates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta reframe that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which play well in fan-con activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that underscore surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that sing on PLF.

How the year maps out

January is packed. 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 foggy reset amid larger brand plays. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the tone spread opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Pre-summer months set up the summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The 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 splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

August into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a transitional slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited previews that put concept first.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and holiday gift-card burn.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s algorithmic partner grows into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: fog-and-fear adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her demanding boss push to survive on a remote island as the power dynamic upends and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to terror, shaped by Cronin’s physical craft and quiet 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 residential haunting tale that twists the terror of a child’s wobbly read. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-grade and toplined paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A satire sequel that lampoons hot-button genre motifs and true-crime buzz. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites erupts, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a another family caught in long-buried horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

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 classic survival-horror tone over action-centric bombast. Rating: undetermined. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing. 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 era-faithful speech and bone-deep menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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

Why the moment is 2026

Three practical forces define this lineup. First, production that decelerated or recalendared in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest bite-size scare clips from test screenings, metered scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, offering breathing room for genre entries that can capture a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 left-field winner 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, acoustics, 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 Looks Exciting

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand heft where it matters, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for 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, cut sharp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the chills sell the seats.