Age-old Terror surfaces: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled thriller, streaming October 2025 across global platforms

A terrifying ghostly fright fest from creator / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an prehistoric fear when newcomers become proxies in a supernatural ritual. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving chronicle of resilience and old world terror that will transform the horror genre this fall. Guided by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and cinematic feature follows five strangers who snap to sealed in a wooded cabin under the malevolent influence of Kyra, a female presence controlled by a 2,000-year-old religious nightmare. Steel yourself to be drawn in by a cinematic experience that melds deep-seated panic with mystical narratives, arriving on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a mainstay tradition in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is reversed when the beings no longer manifest beyond the self, but rather inside their minds. This echoes the darkest element of every character. The result is a bone-chilling internal warfare where the tension becomes a unforgiving struggle between purity and corruption.


In a desolate outland, five individuals find themselves cornered under the unholy dominion and curse of a obscure woman. As the group becomes incapable to escape her grasp, cut off and hunted by evils inconceivable, they are compelled to battle their raw vulnerabilities while the clock without pity winds toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust amplifies and alliances erode, prompting each survivor to examine their essence and the idea of conscious will itself. The pressure escalate with every passing moment, delivering a nightmarish journey that connects supernatural terror with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to awaken primitive panic, an threat rooted in antiquity, influencing emotional fractures, and examining a will that strips down our being when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra needed manifesting something more primal than sorrow. She is blind until the haunting manifests, and that transformation is harrowing because it is so visceral.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be available for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing streamers globally can experience this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its first preview, which has collected over a viral response.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, spreading the horror to viewers around the world.


Make sure to see this unforgettable path of possession. Confront *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to face these evil-rooted truths about inner darkness.


For film updates, extra content, and alerts from the cast and crew, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Instagram and Twitter and visit the movie’s homepage.





American horror’s major pivot: calendar year 2025 U.S. Slate Mixes biblical-possession ideas, signature indie scares, and IP aftershocks

Moving from life-or-death fear drawn from biblical myth to franchise returns alongside acutely observed indies, 2025 is emerging as the genre’s most multifaceted along with deliberate year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. major banners bookend the months by way of signature titles, simultaneously subscription platforms load up the fall with first-wave breakthroughs as well as ancient terrors. At the same time, indie storytellers is fueled by the tailwinds of 2024’s record festival wave. Since Halloween is the prized date, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and now, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are surgical, thus 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 deepens the push.

the Universal camp starts the year with a statement play: a contemporary Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Directed by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. landing in mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. From director Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer wanes, the Warner Bros. banner drops the final chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson resumes command, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: old school creep, trauma explicitly handled, plus otherworld rules that chill. This run ups the stakes, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The return delves further into myth, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It lands in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Offerings: Modest spend, serious shock

While the big screen favors titles you know, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a room scale body horror descent with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Then there is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga led by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing 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 reads as sharp positioning. No puffed out backstory. No sequel clutter. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They are more runway than museum.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. 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 tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, under 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.

What to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror retakes ground
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Forward View: Autumn density and winter pivot

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The oncoming Horror year to come: Sequels, non-franchise titles, in tandem with A jammed Calendar aimed at Scares

Dek The emerging genre slate builds from day one with a January crush, after that unfolds through summer, and carrying into the festive period, blending legacy muscle, new concepts, and well-timed counter-scheduling. Distributors with platforms are embracing responsible budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and social-fueled campaigns that turn genre titles into cross-demo moments.

Where horror stands going into 2026

Horror filmmaking has shown itself to be the steady tool in studio calendars, a corner that can lift when it clicks and still safeguard the liability when it under-delivers. After 2023 showed executives that modestly budgeted scare machines can drive audience talk, 2024 continued the surge with festival-darling auteurs and word-of-mouth wins. The tailwind pushed into 2025, where revived properties and critical darlings proved there is a lane for a variety of tones, from sequel tracks to one-and-done originals that play globally. The end result for 2026 is a lineup that looks unusually coordinated across the market, with purposeful groupings, a equilibrium of marquee IP and new concepts, and a re-energized priority on release windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium home window and home streaming.

Studio leaders note the space now serves as a flex slot on the slate. Horror can launch on open real estate, generate a sharp concept for marketing and vertical videos, and outpace with viewers that come out on Thursday previews and stay strong through the follow-up frame if the title connects. Coming out of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 cadence demonstrates belief in that equation. The slate starts with a loaded January window, then plants flags in spring and early summer for alternate plays, while keeping space for a autumn stretch that reaches into late October and past Halloween. The calendar also features the expanded integration of indie arms and OTT outlets that can launch in limited release, create conversation, and go nationwide at the right moment.

A parallel macro theme is brand curation across unified worlds and legacy IP. Studio teams are not just rolling another chapter. They are aiming to frame story carry-over with a premium feel, whether that is a title presentation that announces a fresh attitude or a star attachment that threads a upcoming film to a first wave. At the parallel to that, the filmmakers behind the most anticipated originals are favoring hands-on technique, makeup and prosthetics and specific settings. That fusion hands 2026 a smart balance of recognition and invention, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount plants an early flag with two big-ticket plays that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the core, presenting it as both a legacy handover and a origin-leaning character-centered film. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a throwback-friendly framework without rehashing the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Look for a marketing run leaning on recognizable motifs, first-look character reveals, and a staggered trailer plan aimed at 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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will double down on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will hunt mainstream recognition through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick redirects to whatever dominates the conversation that spring.

Universal has three discrete lanes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is straightforward, sorrow-tinged, and concept-forward: a grieving man implements an virtual partner that unfolds into a murderous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a thick month, with the Universal machine likely to renew creepy live activations and short reels that hybridizes love and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a title drop to become an teaser payoff closer to the debut look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. The filmmaker’s films are marketed as creative events, with a teaser that holds back and a subsequent trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date affords Universal to lead 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has established that a gnarly, in-camera leaning aesthetic can feel big on a lean spend. Frame it as a splatter summer horror surge that embraces international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio rolls out two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, carrying a steady supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is describing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both devotees and curious audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build materials around setting detail, and creature work, elements that can increase premium screens and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in careful craft and language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The imprint has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal titles head to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ladder that boosts both launch urgency and sign-up momentum in the tail. Prime Video will mix acquired titles with global acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data backs it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in catalog discovery, using timely promos, genre hubs, and handpicked rows to increase tail value on aggregate take. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix films and festival acquisitions, finalizing horror entries closer to drop and framing as events arrivals with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a hybrid of targeted theatrical exposure and fast windowing that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a curated basis. The platform has been willing to take on select projects with accomplished filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for sustained usage when the genre conversation intensifies.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 track with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is tight: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, updated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the September weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday slot to widen. That positioning has helped for elevated genre with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception justifies. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using select theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Series vs standalone

By share, 2026 favors the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap marquee value. The risk, as ever, is overexposure. The preferred tactic is to package each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is emphasizing character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-flavored turn from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the configuration is recognizable enough to accelerate early sales and advance-audience nights.

Recent-year comps frame the approach. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that honored streaming windows did not hamper a simultaneous release test from delivering when the brand was big. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror outperformed in premium screens. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they shift POV and scale the storytelling. 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, permits marketing to relate entries through character and theme and to continue assets in field without dead zones.

How the films are being made

The production chatter behind the 2026 slate hint at a continued bias toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is on track for its April check over here 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that leans on texture and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at gristle and gore, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta-horror reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster work and world-building, which lend themselves to expo activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that accent disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in premium houses.

Annual flow

January is heavy. 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 tonal palate cleanser amid macro-brand pushes. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the palette of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Pre-summer months tee up summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

End of summer through fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a late-September window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited previews that prioritize concept over plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film have a peek at these guys resonates with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s artificial companion shifts into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: aura-driven 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 severe boss push to survive on a remote island as the power balance inverts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to menace, grounded in Cronin’s practical craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting piece that frames the panic through a youth’s uncertain inner lens. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: wrapped. 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 needles current genre trends and true-crime crazes. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further extends again, with a young family linked to lingering terrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A restart designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on classic survival-horror tone over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 raw menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why this year, why now

Three workable forces drive this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or re-slotted in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, metered scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will compete across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the navigate here animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where lean-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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, 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 compound over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, sonics, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand equity where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, lock the reveals, and let the scares sell the seats.