Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a spine tingling horror feature, landing Oct 2025 on major streaming services

An hair-raising otherworldly thriller from dramatist / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an primeval horror when strangers become conduits in a malevolent experiment. Dropping on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish journey of staying alive and prehistoric entity that will alter scare flicks this October. Created by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and gothic cinema piece follows five teens who awaken sealed in a unreachable dwelling under the hostile will of Kyra, a tormented girl occupied by a timeless holy text monster. Anticipate to be absorbed by a screen-based display that intertwines gut-punch terror with folklore, coming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a classic pillar in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is reversed when the presences no longer descend from external sources, but rather within themselves. This represents the most primal corner of each of them. The result is a bone-chilling cognitive warzone where the drama becomes a relentless battle between divinity and wickedness.


In a bleak landscape, five campers find themselves confined under the evil influence and possession of a enigmatic spirit. As the survivors becomes helpless to oppose her dominion, detached and tormented by spirits beyond reason, they are required to wrestle with their worst nightmares while the hours without pity winds toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust grows and links crack, driving each member to challenge their identity and the principle of personal agency itself. The threat intensify with every breath, delivering a horror experience that marries paranormal dread with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to dive into primitive panic, an darkness older than civilization itself, filtering through soul-level flaws, and confronting a curse that threatens selfhood when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra was centered on something more primal than sorrow. She is innocent until the evil takes hold, and that transition is deeply unsettling because it is so emotional.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—providing subscribers in all regions can dive into this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first trailer, which has earned over strong viewer count.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, presenting the nightmare to global fright lovers.


Avoid skipping this soul-jarring ride through nightmares. Face *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to uncover these haunting secrets about the human condition.


For cast commentary, on-set glimpses, and reveals from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursed across your favorite networks and visit youngandcursed.com.





American horror’s major pivot: the 2025 season U.S. lineup braids together biblical-possession ideas, festival-born jolts, stacked beside series shake-ups

Beginning with pressure-cooker survival tales rooted in primordial scripture through to canon extensions alongside sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is shaping up as the richest as well as deliberate year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Top studios lock in tentpoles with familiar IP, while digital services flood the fall with debut heat paired with ancient terrors. On the independent axis, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is catching the uplift from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Since Halloween is the prized date, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, and now, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are disciplined, which means 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: High-craft horror returns

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s slate sets the tone with a statement play: a refreshed Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Steered by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. set for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. From director Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

At summer’s close, Warner’s pipeline bows the concluding entry of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson resumes command, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: retrograde shiver, trauma driven plotting, with ghostly inner logic. This time the stakes climb, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It books December, cornering year end horror.

Platform Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

At the smaller scale sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Also rising is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable featuring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No bloated mythology. No canon weight. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, under Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If packaged well, it could track like 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 currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror ascends again
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forecast: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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 must claw for air. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

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 trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The forthcoming 2026 spook cycle: continuations, non-franchise titles, And A hectic Calendar calibrated for nightmares

Dek The emerging scare slate packs in short order with a January traffic jam, subsequently spreads through midyear, and pushing into the holiday frame, braiding brand heft, fresh ideas, and shrewd counterplay. Studios and streamers are focusing on cost discipline, exclusive theatrical windows first, and short-form initiatives that pivot these offerings into four-quadrant talking points.

How the genre looks for 2026

The genre has become the sturdy swing in release strategies, a corner that can accelerate when it hits and still mitigate the floor when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year proved to executives that efficiently budgeted scare machines can drive pop culture, the following year continued the surge with auteur-driven buzzy films and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam pushed into 2025, where resurrections and festival-grade titles signaled there is space for varied styles, from franchise continuations to non-IP projects that scale internationally. The upshot for 2026 is a programming that looks unusually coordinated across players, with clear date clusters, a equilibrium of recognizable IP and new pitches, and a refocused stance on theater exclusivity that enhance post-theatrical value on premium digital and streaming.

Planners observe the category now acts as a flex slot on the grid. The genre can arrive on most weekends, furnish a clear pitch for trailers and UGC-friendly snippets, and exceed norms with moviegoers that respond on Thursday previews and sustain through the second frame if the entry lands. After a work stoppage lag, the 2026 setup reflects comfort in that playbook. The year commences with a loaded January lineup, then plants flags in spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while clearing room for a September to October window that reaches into the Halloween frame and into early November. The map also highlights the expanded integration of specialty distributors and SVOD players that can stage a platform run, stoke social talk, and go nationwide at the inflection point.

An added macro current is brand management across connected story worlds and heritage properties. The companies are not just greenlighting another follow-up. They are working to present connection with a headline quality, whether that is a title treatment that conveys a recalibrated tone or a casting move that anchors a next film to a classic era. At the concurrently, the have a peek here directors behind the marquee originals are favoring hands-on technique, practical effects and specific settings. That alloy gives 2026 a lively combination of trust and novelty, which is why the genre exports well.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount opens strong with two front-of-slate projects that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the heart, signaling it as both a passing of the torch and a origin-leaning character-first story. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach points to a nostalgia-forward approach without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive fueled by brand visuals, intro reveals, and a trailer cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reboots 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 on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will emphasize. As a counterweight in summer, this one will seek large awareness through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format permitting quick switches to whatever shapes the social talk that spring.

Universal has three unique lanes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is efficient, tragic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man implements an intelligent companion that mutates into a killer companion. The date slots it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s marketing likely to echo uncanny-valley stunts and short-form creative that threads affection and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a title reveal to become an teaser payoff closer to the early tease. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. The filmmaker’s films are branded as signature events, with a opaque teaser and a second trailer wave that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The prime October weekend gives Universal room to fill 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, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has shown that a gritty, hands-on effects method can feel elevated on a middle budget. Frame it as a viscera-heavy summer horror jolt that pushes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio launches two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, preserving a consistent supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is framing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both loyalists and general audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build campaign pieces around lore, and monster aesthetics, elements that can drive premium booking interest and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror defined by careful craft and period speech, this time focused on werewolf legend. The imprint has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is glowing.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform strategies for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s genre entries shift to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a pacing that boosts both opening-weekend urgency and platform bumps in the later window. Prime Video interleaves catalogue additions with global acquisitions and select theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library engagement, using featured rows, Halloween hubs, and programmed rows to maximize the tail on overall cume. Netflix keeps optionality about original films and festival snaps, scheduling horror entries near launch and turning into events premieres with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a paired of selective theatrical runs and rapid platforming that translates talk to trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a situational basis. The platform has signaled readiness to secure select projects with award winners or star-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for sustained usage when the genre conversation ramps.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 sequence with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is clear: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, modernized for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a theatrical-first plan for the title, an promising marker for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the autumn weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, managing the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then relying on the year-end corridor to expand. That positioning has delivered for filmmaker-first horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception warrants. Expect 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 in tandem, using targeted theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their audience.

Franchise entries versus originals

By share, 2026 tips toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use franchise value. The watch-out, as ever, is diminishing returns. The go-to fix is to package each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is underscoring character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-accented approach from a rising filmmaker. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the deal build is grounded enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and advance-audience nights.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that preserved streaming windows did not block a simultaneous release test from succeeding when the brand was powerful. In 2024, director-craft horror punched above its weight in premium formats. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reframe POV and widen scale. 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters shot in tandem, lets marketing to connect the chapters through character web and themes and to leave creative active without dead zones.

Technique and craft currents

The filmmaking conversations behind this year’s genre forecast a continued emphasis on physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that leans on creep and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in deep-dive features and technical spotlights before rolling out a first look that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and gathers shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta inflection that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature work and production design, which lend themselves to booth activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel irresistible. Look for trailers that emphasize pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that land in big rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is packed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid headline IP. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the spread of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth holds.

February through May prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s 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 and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Shoulder season into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a late-September window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited plot reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can play the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while riding click site holiday turnout and gift-card spend.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s digital partner unfolds into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot 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 heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. 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 prickly boss struggle to survive on a rugged island as the hierarchy flips and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 in the vault in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to horror, built on Cronin’s practical effects and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. 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 intimate haunting premise that teases the horror of a child’s inconsistent interpretations. Rating: TBD. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-crafted and star-fronted ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A parody return that skewers current genre trends and true crime fixations. Rating: TBA. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites breaks out, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further reopens, with a another family tethered to long-buried horrors. Rating: pending. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-driven horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: forthcoming. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in progress. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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: TBA. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three practical forces shape this lineup. First, production that stalled or reshuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic 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 placements. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on social-ready stingers from test screenings, precision scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can command a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will stack across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

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

The stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where cost-efficient genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, 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 beat and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, 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 scale over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, sound field, and framing 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, Lined Up To Scare

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand heft where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, guard the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.