Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons ancient dread, a chilling supernatural thriller, landing Oct 2025 on top streamers

An terrifying otherworldly fear-driven tale from cinematographer / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an long-buried evil when guests become tools in a demonic contest. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving saga of resistance and timeless dread that will revamp the fear genre this season. Realized by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and eerie thriller follows five lost souls who snap to stranded in a remote shack under the sinister power of Kyra, a possessed female consumed by a millennia-old sacrosanct terror. Ready yourself to be shaken by a visual ride that fuses gut-punch terror with ancient myths, 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 enduring theme in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is turned on its head when the entities no longer appear beyond the self, but rather inside their minds. This embodies the most primal version of all involved. The result is a harrowing cognitive warzone where the events becomes a relentless clash between virtue and vice.


In a haunting backcountry, five friends find themselves trapped under the ominous grip and overtake of a uncanny character. As the ensemble becomes unable to oppose her command, exiled and attacked by terrors beyond reason, they are required to acknowledge their inner demons while the timeline mercilessly pushes forward toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension escalates and teams splinter, requiring each person to reconsider their identity and the idea of liberty itself. The danger amplify with every instant, delivering a cinematic nightmare that marries demonic fright with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to awaken instinctual horror, an force from ancient eras, influencing soul-level flaws, and navigating a will that forces self-examination when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra asked for exploring something outside normal anguish. She is uninformed until the entity awakens, and that change is bone-chilling because it is so close.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for worldwide release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing subscribers from coast to coast can be part of this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its initial teaser, which has earned over strong viewer count.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, spreading the horror to thrill-seekers globally.


Make sure to see this unforgettable descent into darkness. Stream *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to experience these unholy truths about the human condition.


For featurettes, set experiences, and reveals directly from production, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across social media and visit the film’s website.





The horror genre’s decisive shift: the year 2025 U.S. lineup interlaces Mythic Possession, art-house nightmares, stacked beside IP aftershocks

Across last-stand terror grounded in mythic scripture and stretching into IP renewals paired with acutely observed indies, 2025 stands to become the most dimensioned paired with deliberate year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. Major studios lock in tentpoles with franchise anchors, concurrently streamers pack the fall with unboxed visions and ancient terrors. Across the art-house lane, the independent cohort is buoyed by the kinetic energy from a record 2024 festival run. With Halloween holding the peak, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are intentional, hence 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: The Return of Prestige Fear

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal Pictures leads off the quarter with a marquee bet: a reimagined Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. landing in mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Under Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

At summer’s close, Warner Bros. Pictures releases the last chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Scott Derrickson returns, and the tone that worked before is intact: period tinged dread, trauma in the foreground, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time the stakes climb, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The next entry deepens the tale, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It drops in December, cornering year end horror.

Streamer Exclusives: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a two hander body horror spiral with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is virtually assured for fall.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend led by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No overinflated mythology. No franchise baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Lines: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, steered by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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.

Trends Worth Watching

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror comes roaring back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

The Road Ahead: Fall stack and winter swing card

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The forthcoming 2026 Horror slate: follow-ups, original films, plus A packed Calendar engineered for screams

Dek The upcoming genre cycle clusters in short order with a January cluster, subsequently stretches through midyear, and straight through the December corridor, combining franchise firepower, fresh ideas, and savvy counter-scheduling. Studio marketers and platforms are prioritizing responsible budgets, theater-first strategies, and viral-minded pushes that position these films into broad-appeal conversations.

How the genre looks for 2026

The genre has established itself as the bankable lever in programming grids, a corner that can break out when it performs and still hedge the drag when it misses. After the 2023 year showed top brass that low-to-mid budget chillers can command mainstream conversation, 2024 continued the surge with high-profile filmmaker pieces and slow-burn breakouts. The momentum pushed into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and arthouse crossovers showed there is appetite for different modes, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that translate worldwide. The end result for the 2026 slate is a roster that shows rare alignment across the field, with obvious clusters, a mix of household franchises and fresh ideas, and a re-energized priority on theater exclusivity that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium digital rental and home platforms.

Insiders argue the horror lane now acts as a swing piece on the release plan. The genre can kick off on virtually any date, yield a tight logline for previews and shorts, and overperform with ticket buyers that turn out on preview nights and continue through the week two if the release lands. Emerging from a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration demonstrates conviction in that engine. The slate starts with a heavy January stretch, then leans on spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while reserving space for a September to October window that reaches into holiday-adjacent weekends and beyond. The program also reflects the increasing integration of boutique distributors and streaming partners that can build gradually, grow buzz, and expand at the timely point.

A parallel macro theme is franchise tending across unified worlds and long-running brands. The players are not just pushing another entry. They are setting up threaded continuity with a occasion, whether that is a graphic identity that telegraphs a re-angled tone or a lead change that binds a next film to a vintage era. At the meanwhile, the visionaries behind the marquee originals are prioritizing tactile craft, makeup and prosthetics and concrete locations. That pairing delivers 2026 a solid mix of known notes and newness, which is the formula for international play.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount plants an early flag with two marquee releases that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the lead, steering it as both a relay and a back-to-basics relationship-driven entry. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance points to a memory-charged approach without covering again the last two entries’ family thread. Watch for a push driven by brand visuals, character previews, and a staggered trailer plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will foreground. As a summer alternative, this one will drive broad awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format inviting quick switches to whatever tops the conversation that spring.

Universal has three defined strategies. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is clean, soulful, and big-hook: a grieving man implements an digital partner that evolves into a perilous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a heavy month, with the Universal machine likely to replay strange in-person beats and brief clips that interlaces longing and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a proper title to become an marketing beat closer to the teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele projects are positioned as signature events, with a minimalist tease and a second beat that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor lets the studio to lead 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, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a flesh-and-blood, hands-on effects aesthetic can feel prestige on a moderate cost. Look for a grime-caked summer horror shock that leans hard into global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio sets two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, extending a trusty 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 the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is billing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both diehards and fresh viewers. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign creative around narrative world, and creature builds, elements that can stoke deluxe auditorium demand and cosplayer momentum.

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 extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by textural authenticity and linguistic texture, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus’s team has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is supportive.

Digital platform strategies

Platform tactics for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s slate feed copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a structure that enhances both initial urgency and sub growth in the later window. Prime Video blends acquired titles with cross-border buys and small theatrical windows when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in catalog engagement, using in-app campaigns, spooky hubs, and programmed rows to sustain interest on the 2026 genre total. Netflix plays opportunist about first-party entries and festival additions, securing horror entries toward the drop and coalescing around premieres with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a hybrid of selective theatrical runs and fast windowing that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown a willingness to buy select projects with recognized filmmakers or star packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialized lanes

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 proposition is clear: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, upgraded for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a cinema-first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, guiding the film through festival season if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday slot to widen. That positioning has proved effective for filmmaker-first horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception prompts. Do not be surprised by 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 prime evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Brands and originals

By count, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness cultural cachet. The challenge, as ever, is diminishing returns. The practical approach is to market each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is underscoring relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a Francophone tone from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and talent-first projects provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the package is grounded enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years help explain the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that kept streaming intact did not preclude a day-and-date experiment from performing when the brand was powerful. In 2024, auteur craft horror hit big in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they rotate perspective and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, lets marketing to cross-link entries through relationships and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without long gaps.

Production craft signals

The production chatter behind the 2026 entries signal a continued preference for tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that centers mood and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in deep-dive features and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and spurs shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta-horror reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature work and production design, which are ideal for con floor moments and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel compelling. Look for trailers that foreground precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in big rooms.

Annual flow

January is busy. Universal’s 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 brooding contrast amid heavier IP. The month wraps 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 mix of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late Q1 and spring load in summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated navigate here films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

August and September into October leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder season window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited disclosures that trade in concept over detail.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card spend.

Title snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s intelligent companion grows into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 abrasive boss try to survive on a cut-off island as the control dynamic shifts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to dread, anchored by Cronin’s tactile craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting narrative that manipulates the dread of a child’s tricky read. Rating: pending. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-supported and star-led occult chiller.

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 spoof revival that pokes at current genre trends and true-crime manias. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography set 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 spreads, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a different family snared by returning horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-core horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: TBD. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: closely held. Rating: TBD. Production: continuing. 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 period-precise speech and raw menace. Rating: TBA. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 and why now

Three pragmatic forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that decelerated or re-slotted in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on social-ready stingers from test screenings, curated scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can command a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will trade weekends across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The sleeper chase 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 use those gaps. 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. 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects 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 somber, 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 build month to month, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor 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 justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, sound field, and cinematography that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is IP strength where it matters, original vision 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, hold the mystery, and let the screams sell the seats.