Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a hair raising chiller, streaming October 2025 across leading streamers

This eerie supernatural shockfest from cinematographer / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an primeval nightmare when drifters become victims in a satanic maze. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching journey of survival and primordial malevolence that will resculpt the fear genre this harvest season. Produced by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and tone-heavy tale follows five teens who arise isolated in a off-grid lodge under the ominous grip of Kyra, a central character dominated by a prehistoric biblical demon. Anticipate to be immersed by a screen-based spectacle that harmonizes soul-chilling terror with ancestral stories, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a recurring foundation in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is radically shifted when the dark entities no longer arise from a different plane, but rather from their core. This depicts the deepest shade of every character. The result is a intense spiritual tug-of-war where the emotions becomes a intense clash between innocence and sin.


In a unforgiving woodland, five adults find themselves sealed under the malevolent grip and overtake of a mysterious character. As the team becomes incapacitated to withstand her dominion, isolated and attacked by spirits beyond comprehension, they are driven to confront their darkest emotions while the seconds harrowingly edges forward toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia escalates and alliances splinter, requiring each survivor to evaluate their character and the philosophy of personal agency itself. The consequences amplify with every breath, delivering a chilling narrative that blends occult fear with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to dive into raw dread, an power rooted in antiquity, operating within mental cracks, and exposing a curse that challenges autonomy when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra demanded embodying something rooted in terror. She is ignorant until the demon emerges, and that pivot is shocking because it is so unshielded.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be available for streaming beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing watchers in all regions can enjoy this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its original clip, which has pulled in over notable views.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, spreading the horror to viewers around the world.


Don’t miss this mind-warping voyage through terror. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to face these terrifying truths about the human condition.


For behind-the-scenes access, extra content, and insider scoops from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursed across Facebook and TikTok and visit the official movie site.





Modern horror’s pivotal crossroads: the 2025 season U.S. Slate melds Mythic Possession, indie terrors, in parallel with series shake-ups

From last-stand terror drawn from scriptural legend through to returning series and keen independent perspectives, 2025 appears poised to be the richest along with calculated campaign year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. major banners lay down anchors by way of signature titles, while digital services stack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs as well as ancestral chills. In the indie lane, independent banners is buoyed by the carry of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween holding the peak, the other windows are mapped with care. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, notably this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are targeted, so 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige terror resurfaces

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal camp sets the tone with a bold swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, but a crisp modern milieu. With Leigh Whannell at the helm fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. Slated for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Under Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s pipeline launches the swan song of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson returns to the helm, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: period tinged dread, trauma centered writing, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The ante is higher this round, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, stretches the animatronic parade, courting teens and the thirty something base. It lands in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streamer Exclusives: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While the big screen favors titles you know, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a body horror chamber piece starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, 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. Before a platform date is locked, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga with Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Written and helmed 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 night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. That is a savvy move. No overstuffed canon. No brand fatigue. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Heritage Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, steered by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Signals and Trends

Ancient myth goes wide
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror ascends again
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

The big screen is a trust exercise
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forecast: Autumn density and winter pivot

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The new chiller Year Ahead: follow-ups, standalone ideas, as well as A Crowded Calendar aimed at chills

Dek The arriving horror calendar packs in short order with a January pile-up, from there runs through the warm months, and running into the holidays, weaving brand equity, untold stories, and tactical counter-scheduling. Distributors with platforms are betting on cost discipline, exclusive theatrical windows first, and social-driven marketing that pivot these films into cross-demo moments.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This space has solidified as the dependable lever in studio slates, a genre that can surge when it clicks and still cushion the floor when it under-delivers. After 2023 demonstrated to decision-makers that low-to-mid budget entries can shape the discourse, the following year maintained heat with auteur-driven buzzy films and slow-burn breakouts. The carry fed into the 2025 frame, where reboots and prestige plays underscored there is a market for several lanes, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that perform internationally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a roster that appears tightly organized across the industry, with planned clusters, a spread of marquee IP and original hooks, and a recommitted priority on cinema windows that increase tail monetization on premium home window and OTT platforms.

Schedulers say the genre now functions as a schedule utility on the release plan. Horror can premiere on a wide range of weekends, deliver a clean hook for marketing and reels, and over-index with fans that respond on Thursday nights and continue through the week two if the entry works. In the wake of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 setup reflects trust in that dynamic. The year commences with a stacked January band, then primes spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while keeping space for a autumn stretch that extends to All Hallows period and past Halloween. The arrangement also illustrates the continuing integration of indie arms and digital platforms that can stage a platform run, create conversation, and scale up at the timely point.

A parallel macro theme is IP stewardship across connected story worlds and legacy IP. Distribution groups are not just producing another sequel. They are shaping as brand continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a brandmark that indicates a tonal shift or a star attachment that links a incoming chapter to a original cycle. At the same time, the writer-directors behind the headline-grabbing originals are embracing material texture, practical effects and grounded locations. That interplay hands 2026 a solid mix of brand comfort and surprise, which is what works overseas.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount opens strong with two front-of-slate plays that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the lead, setting it up as both a legacy handover and a origin-leaning character-forward chapter. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the narrative stance suggests a legacy-leaning treatment without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected leaning on signature symbols, early character teases, and a tiered teaser plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will feature. As a summer relief option, this one will drive broad awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format permitting quick pivots to whatever tops the social talk that spring.

Universal has three unique strategies. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is crisp, melancholic, and easily pitched: a grieving man sets up an digital partner that turns into a deadly partner. The date sets it at the front of a busy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to recreate uncanny live moments and short-form creative that threads longing and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a public title to become an event moment closer to the early tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s releases are presented as must-see filmmaker statements, with a hinting teaser and a second beat that define feel without revealing the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor creates space for Universal to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has shown that a visceral, on-set effects led execution can feel elevated on a efficient spend. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror surge that embraces international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio sets two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, carrying a dependable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is positioning as a reimagined 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 mission to serve both core fans and new audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign creative around setting detail, and monster craft, elements that can increase premium booking interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror built on obsessive craft and textual fidelity, this time focused on werewolf legend. The specialty arm has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is positive.

How the platforms plan to play it

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on stable tracks. The Universal horror run move to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a ordering that optimizes both debut momentum and sign-up momentum in the later window. Prime Video continues to mix third-party pickups with global acquisitions and small theatrical windows when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in catalog discovery, using in-app campaigns, fright rows, and collection rows to keep attention on aggregate take. Netflix plays opportunist about original films and festival wins, scheduling horror entries on shorter runways and eventizing releases with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a one-two of targeted cinema placements and short jumps to platform that drives paid trials from buzz. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a situational basis. The platform has proven amenable to board select projects with accomplished filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 pipeline with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is simple: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, updated for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday frame to broaden. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-driven genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception warrants. Watch for 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 jointly, using boutique theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By count, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on marquee value. The question, as ever, is viewer burnout. The go-to fix is to market each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is spotlighting character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-accented approach from a fresh helmer. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and talent-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the package is known enough to generate pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Past-three-year patterns illuminate the template. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that maintained windows did not block a day-date move from succeeding when the brand was big. 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 recharged when they change perspective and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot in tandem, builds a path for marketing to connect the chapters through protagonists and motifs and to continue assets in field without pause points.

Craft and creative trends

The filmmaking conversations behind the 2026 slate suggest a continued emphasis on practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that emphasizes creep and texture rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft spotlights before rolling out a first look that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and sparks shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-aware reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will live or die on monster realization and design, which lend themselves to convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel key. Look for trailers that elevate pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that sing on PLF.

Month-by-month map

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 somber counterpoint amid big-brand pushes. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the menu of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth persists.

Late Q1 and spring tee up summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now sustains 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 spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

August and September into October leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited plot reveals that favor idea over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card burn.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s machine mate unfolds into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete 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 rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: mood-led 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 work to survive on a cut-off island as the power dynamic tilts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. 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 in the vault in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to dread, rooted in Cronin’s hands-on craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. 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 in-home haunting chiller that explores the unease of a child’s unreliable impressions. Rating: TBD. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A parody return that pokes at hot-button genre motifs and true-crime obsessions. Rating: TBA. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 detonates, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a fresh family anchored to residual nightmares. Rating: TBA. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A fresh restart designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on classic survival-horror tone over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBD. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing. 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 antique diction and raw menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three execution-level forces define this lineup. First, production that decelerated or recalendared in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and accelerated schedules. 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 exceeded straight-to-streaming launches. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest shareable moments from test screenings, managed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will line up across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence without needing superhero-level volume navigate here 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 midrange-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 exploit those windows. 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, sound, and cinematography that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Promising 2026

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand heft where it matters, distinct 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, protect the mystery, and let the shocks sell the seats.