Age-old Terror Stirs within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked supernatural thriller, streaming Oct 2025 on major platforms

One eerie supernatural horror tale from scriptwriter / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an prehistoric nightmare when strangers become instruments in a hellish ceremony. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing depiction of staying alive and primordial malevolence that will revolutionize fear-driven cinema this scare season. Realized by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and moody suspense flick follows five teens who are stirred ensnared in a isolated hideaway under the oppressive influence of Kyra, a young woman occupied by a biblical-era holy text monster. Prepare to be absorbed by a big screen spectacle that integrates deep-seated panic with legendary tales, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a enduring foundation in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is challenged when the demons no longer emerge from beyond, but rather from their psyche. This suggests the shadowy layer of the players. The result is a gripping psychological battle where the tension becomes a perpetual confrontation between righteousness and malevolence.


In a unforgiving forest, five individuals find themselves marooned under the malicious presence and inhabitation of a unidentified character. As the cast becomes defenseless to fight her will, stranded and preyed upon by powers unfathomable, they are forced to endure their emotional phantoms while the moments ruthlessly edges forward toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion rises and relationships implode, driving each cast member to challenge their essence and the foundation of decision-making itself. The danger magnify with every passing moment, delivering a terror ride that weaves together ghostly evil with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to tap into instinctual horror, an malevolence beyond time, operating within mental cracks, and confronting a presence that redefines identity when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra meant channeling something past sanity. She is in denial until the takeover begins, and that metamorphosis is shocking because it is so private.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for worldwide release beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—giving subscribers no matter where they are can engage with this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its original clip, which has collected over notable views.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, extending the thrill to international horror buffs.


Make sure to see this unforgettable exploration of dread. Stream *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to acknowledge these unholy truths about the mind.


For behind-the-scenes access, production insights, and updates from behind the lens, follow @YACFilm across platforms and visit our horror hub.





Current horror’s inflection point: the 2025 cycle U.S. rollouts weaves old-world possession, independent shockers, in parallel with legacy-brand quakes

Running from survivor-centric dread infused with old testament echoes as well as franchise returns plus keen independent perspectives, 2025 is coalescing into the most dimensioned paired with intentionally scheduled year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio powerhouses lock in tentpoles using marquee IP, while OTT services front-load the fall with new voices paired with ancient terrors. On the independent axis, festival-forward creators is buoyed by the afterglow of a banner 2024 fest year. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, but this year, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are intentional, and 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige fear returns

The top end is active. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s schedule lights the fuse with a confident swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a clear present-tense world. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. timed for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Directed by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer winds down, Warner’s schedule bows the concluding entry of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Although the framework is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Next is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson again directs, and those signature textures resurface: throwback unease, trauma explicitly handled, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This time the stakes climb, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It drops in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Offerings: Modest spend, serious shock

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

More contained by design is Together, a close quarters body horror study starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, 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 horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. That is a savvy move. No puffed out backstory. No legacy baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

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, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy IP: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, with Francis Lawrence directing, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Mythic lanes mainstream
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 retakes ground
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Big screen is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Season Ahead: Fall saturation and a winter joker

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

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.

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 plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The 2026 terror release year: Sequels, original films, together with A brimming Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek: The arriving terror year clusters early with a January crush, following that extends through summer corridors, and well into the winter holidays, combining brand equity, inventive spins, and calculated calendar placement. The big buyers and platforms are betting on responsible budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and viral-minded pushes that elevate these pictures into national conversation.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror has shown itself to be the surest play in distribution calendars, a genre that can surge when it breaks through and still insulate the liability when it misses. After the 2023 year re-taught top brass that cost-conscious genre plays can dominate mainstream conversation, the following year continued the surge with signature-voice projects and word-of-mouth wins. The carry flowed into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and arthouse crossovers showed there is a market for many shades, from ongoing IP entries to director-led originals that scale internationally. The sum for the 2026 slate is a schedule that feels more orchestrated than usual across the major shops, with obvious clusters, a equilibrium of familiar brands and new packages, and a recommitted eye on theatrical windows that increase tail monetization on PVOD and home platforms.

Distribution heads claim the space now functions as a swing piece on the programming map. Horror can arrive on numerous frames, yield a clean hook for previews and social clips, and punch above weight with viewers that line up on opening previews and sustain through the next weekend if the picture works. Emerging from a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 layout underscores assurance in that model. The slate opens with a weighty January lineup, then targets spring into early summer for counterweight, while clearing room for a fall corridor that pushes into holiday-adjacent weekends and into early November. The arrangement also illustrates the continuing integration of specialized labels and streaming partners that can develop over weeks, stoke social talk, and go nationwide at the inflection point.

A reinforcing pattern is legacy care across interlocking continuities and veteran brands. Big banners are not just greenlighting another sequel. They are shaping as brand continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a title presentation that announces a re-angled tone or a casting pivot that links a incoming chapter to a original cycle. At the meanwhile, the creative leads behind the marquee originals are doubling down on real-world builds, in-camera effects and grounded locations. That convergence gives the 2026 slate a strong blend of recognition and newness, 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 original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the core, setting it up as both a relay and a back-to-basics character study. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative stance indicates a heritage-honoring campaign without replaying the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Count on a promo wave driven by iconic art, early character teases, and a tiered teaser plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reawakens 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 on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will foreground. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will hunt wide appeal through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format inviting quick switches to whatever tops the conversation that spring.

Universal has three defined lanes. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is elegant, heartbroken, and big-hook: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that mutates into a killer companion. The date lines it up at the front of a competition-heavy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to reprise viral uncanny stunts and bite-size content that fuses love and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a proper title to become an PR pop closer to the first look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s releases are positioned as marquee events, with a hinting teaser and a follow-up trailer set that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The late-month date lets the studio to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use 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 commands, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has made clear that a in-your-face, practical-first method can feel high-value on a mid-range budget. Look for a blood-soaked summer horror hit that pushes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio rolls out two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, preserving a steady supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is billing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both core fans and curious audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build assets around world-building, and creature builds, elements that can fuel premium screens and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by minute detail and textual fidelity, this time driven by werewolf stories. The specialty arm has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is enthusiastic.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform tactics for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre slate head to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a tiered path that elevates both initial urgency and subscriber lifts in the post-theatrical. Prime Video continues to mix licensed titles with international acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in archive usage, using in-app campaigns, seasonal hubs, and curated rows to increase tail value on overall cume. Netflix keeps flexible about internal projects and festival pickups, timing horror entries tight to release and making event-like launches with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a tiered of focused cinema runs and quick platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has signaled readiness to take on select projects with top-tier auteurs or star packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for monthly activity when the genre conversation ramps.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 slate with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is direct: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, recalibrated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the fall weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday dates to scale. That positioning has worked well for elevated genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception merits. Expect 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 jointly, using small theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their audience.

Known brands versus new stories

By count, 2026 tips toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap household recognition. The question, as ever, is brand erosion. The pragmatic answer is to present each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is spotlighting character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-inflected take from a emerging director. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the package is familiar enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and early previews.

Rolling three-year comps make sense of the approach. In 2023, a cinema-first model that observed windows did not foreclose a day-date move from winning when the brand was sticky. In 2024, art-forward horror punched above its weight in large-format rooms. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they reorient and expand the canvas. 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 double feature plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, permits marketing to connect the chapters through protagonists and motifs and to continue assets in field without dead zones.

How the films are being made

The shop talk behind 2026 horror suggest a continued bias toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that elevates unease and texture rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and medieval diction, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft features before rolling out a preview that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and creates shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a self-referential reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster aesthetics and world-building, which are ideal for convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel definitive. Look for trailers that elevate pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that benefit on big speakers.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is busy. 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 moody palate cleanser amid marquee brands. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the variety of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late winter and spring prime the summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy revives 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 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can deliver 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 shuffled through big rooms.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a early fall window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited asset reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card spend.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s artificial companion escalates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: tone-first 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 difficult boss try to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance of power swivels and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-forward 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 fresh reimagining that returns the monster to menace, grounded in Cronin’s practical craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting premise that refracts terror through a child’s volatile point of view. Rating: rating pending. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

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 parody return that pokes at hot-button genre motifs and true crime fixations. Rating: to be announced. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites ignites, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned great post to read for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new clan lashed to older hauntings. Rating: to be announced. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A clean reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survivalist horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

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

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and bone-deep menace. Rating: pending. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 lands now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces inform this lineup. First, production that stalled or reshuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify bite-size scare clips from test screenings, controlled scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can lead a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will stack across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where lower and 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 press those advantages. 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run 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 shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, soundcraft, 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 shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand gravity where needed, distinct 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the chills sell the seats.