Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes antediluvian malevolence, a chilling horror thriller, landing Oct 2025 on top streamers

A chilling metaphysical suspense film from scriptwriter / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an age-old terror when guests become tokens in a fiendish maze. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping account of perseverance and mythic evil that will revamp horror this ghoul season. Crafted by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and moody thriller follows five figures who arise caught in a off-grid hideaway under the hostile grip of Kyra, a female presence inhabited by a biblical-era ancient fiend. Anticipate to be hooked by a visual venture that integrates gut-punch terror with biblical origins, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a long-standing theme in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is challenged when the malevolences no longer manifest externally, but rather from their core. This echoes the most hidden part of the group. The result is a harrowing emotional conflict where the story becomes a constant tug-of-war between light and darkness.


In a bleak outland, five figures find themselves confined under the fiendish influence and domination of a haunted character. As the characters becomes helpless to oppose her will, detached and targeted by unknowns impossible to understand, they are compelled to confront their raw vulnerabilities while the countdown unforgivingly runs out toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion builds and alliances splinter, demanding each survivor to doubt their existence and the idea of self-determination itself. The pressure rise with every short lapse, delivering a paranormal ride that integrates unearthly horror with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to draw upon core terror, an spirit before modern man, manifesting in our fears, and exposing a being that threatens selfhood when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra involved tapping into something rooted in terror. She is innocent until the spirit seizes her, and that shift is deeply unsettling because it is so emotional.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for audiences beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—making sure households from coast to coast can experience this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its original promo, which has garnered over massive response.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, making the film to fans of fear everywhere.


Experience this soul-jarring voyage through terror. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to confront these haunting secrets about the soul.


For film updates, on-set glimpses, and insider scoops via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across your favorite networks and visit our film’s homepage.





U.S. horror’s inflection point: 2025 U.S. lineup integrates ancient-possession motifs, indie terrors, paired with tentpole growls

Running from fight-to-live nightmare stories rooted in primordial scripture and stretching into legacy revivals as well as keen independent perspectives, 2025 appears poised to be the most stratified along with tactically planned year since the mid-2010s.

Call it full, but it is also focused. major banners plant stakes across the year using marquee IP, in tandem SVOD players pack the fall with emerging auteurs in concert with legend-coded dread. Meanwhile, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is fueled by the momentum of a banner 2024 fest year. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, notably this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are disciplined, as a result 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: High-craft horror returns

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

Universal’s pipeline kicks off the frame with a risk-forward move: a reconceived Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in an immediate now. Directed by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. Booked into mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. From director Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

At summer’s close, the Warner Bros. banner launches the swan song from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. While the template is known, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson resumes command, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: nostalgic menace, trauma centered writing, plus otherworld rules that chill. This run ups the stakes, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The return delves further into myth, stretches the animatronic parade, speaking to teens and older millennials. It drops in December, buttoning the final window.

Platform Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a room scale body horror descent starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Then there is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable with Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It reads as sharp positioning. No bloated canon. No continuity burden. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Franchise Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, from Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Key Trends

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror swings back
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Projection: Fall stack and winter swing card

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The approaching fright Year Ahead: entries, new stories, as well as A stacked Calendar tailored for Scares

Dek: The arriving terror year clusters in short order with a January traffic jam, from there spreads through midyear, and straight through the holiday stretch, combining marquee clout, new voices, and savvy counter-scheduling. Studio marketers and platforms are relying on mid-range economics, theatrical-first rollouts, and social-driven marketing that turn these films into national conversation.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The horror sector has proven to be the consistent swing in programming grids, a lane that can scale when it catches and still insulate the risk when it fails to connect. After 2023 re-taught executives that efficiently budgeted shockers can steer the national conversation, the following year kept the drumbeat going with festival-darling auteurs and sleeper breakouts. The carry pushed into the 2025 frame, where revivals and arthouse crossovers made clear there is an opening for multiple flavors, from continued chapters to fresh IP that perform internationally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a grid that presents tight coordination across the market, with planned clusters, a equilibrium of established brands and first-time concepts, and a sharpened attention on exclusive windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium video on demand and streaming.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now serves as a schedule utility on the release plan. The genre can arrive on numerous frames, supply a clean hook for creative and short-form placements, and outpace with moviegoers that lean in on early shows and stay strong through the week two if the entry delivers. Exiting a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 configuration demonstrates conviction in that approach. The calendar launches with a front-loaded January stretch, then exploits spring through early summer for off-slot scheduling, while leaving room for a fall corridor that carries into spooky season and past the holiday. The program also illustrates the continuing integration of specialty distributors and streamers that can platform a title, ignite recommendations, and grow at the timely point.

Another broad trend is IP cultivation across ongoing universes and established properties. Big banners are not just pushing another chapter. They are setting up lineage with a heightened moment, whether that is a typeface approach that suggests a re-angled tone or a lead change that links a upcoming film to a classic era. At the alongside this, the visionaries behind the most watched originals are favoring on-set craft, makeup and prosthetics and site-specific worlds. That convergence gives the 2026 slate a healthy mix of assurance and freshness, which is why the genre exports well.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount sets the tone early with two high-profile plays that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the spine, framing it as both a lineage transfer and a back-to-basics character study. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the narrative stance points to a roots-evoking framework without repeating the last two entries’ sibling arc. A campaign is expected leaning on franchise iconography, initial cast looks, and a rollout cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reignites 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 creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will emphasize. As a summer relief option, this one will drive broad awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format supporting quick switches to whatever owns pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three specific lanes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is efficient, soulful, and commercial: a grieving man adopts an artificial companion that shifts into a killer companion. The date lines it up at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s campaign likely to recreate viral uncanny stunts and short-form creative that interlaces companionship and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a branding reveal to become an fan moment closer to the first look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele projects are framed as event films, with a hinting teaser and a second wave of trailers that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date affords Universal to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has consistently shown that a in-your-face, makeup-driven mix can feel cinematic on a efficient spend. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror surge that spotlights worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio lines up two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, extending a trusty supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is billing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both devotees and first-timers. The fall slot allows Sony to build campaign pieces around narrative world, and creature builds, elements that can stoke format premiums and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by careful craft and linguistic texture, this time driven by werewolf stories. The imprint has already locked the day for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is supportive.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform tactics for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s slate head to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a tiered path that elevates both opening-weekend urgency and sub growth in the tail. Prime Video continues to mix outside acquisitions with global originals and select theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in catalog engagement, using seasonal hubs, horror hubs, and handpicked rows to increase tail value on overall cume. Netflix keeps flexible about Netflix films and festival deals, confirming horror entries toward the drop and coalescing around go-lives with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a tiered of limited theatrical footprints and prompt platform moves that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has been willing to purchase select projects with established auteurs or name-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for platform stickiness when the genre conversation swells.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 track with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is clear: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, modernized for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the fall weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday slot to widen. That positioning has proved effective for filmmaker-driven genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception warrants. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using limited runs to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Franchises versus originals

By share, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on name recognition. The watch-out, as ever, is staleness. The workable fix is to present each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is foregrounding character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is promising a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-accented approach from a emerging director. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and auteur plays bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the package is comforting enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Past-three-year patterns contextualize the logic. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept streaming intact did not block a day-and-date experiment from hitting when the brand was robust. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror surged in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they angle differently and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters filmed consecutively, provides the means for marketing to connect the chapters through relationships and themes and to keep assets alive without doldrums.

Creative tendencies and craft

The creative meetings behind the 2026 slate indicate a continued shift toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that underscores creep and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in deep-dive features and artisan spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers Young & Cursed and gathers shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta pivot that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature execution and sets, which work nicely for expo activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel must-have. Look for trailers that spotlight hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that work in PLF.

How the year maps out

January is stacked. 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 foggy reset amid marquee brands. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the palette of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Pre-summer months seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited teasers that trade in concept over detail.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card redemption.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s virtual companion shifts into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss work to survive on a isolated island as the chain of command upends and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to horror, based on Cronin’s physical craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting chiller that mediates the fear via a minor’s shifting subjective view. Rating: to be announced. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed and marquee-led 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 satirical comeback that satirizes contemporary horror memes and true-crime obsessions. Rating: undetermined. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites flares, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new family tethered to lingering terrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A new start designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on true survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: underway. 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 historical diction and ancient menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026, why now

Three practical forces organize this lineup. First, production that decelerated or re-slotted in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on turnkey scare beats from test screenings, select scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

There is also the slotting calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will line up across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. 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 outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to work those windows. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, 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 Strong 2026 Horizon

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand heft where it matters, fresh vision 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, keep the secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.