Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens ancient terror, a nerve shredding chiller, streaming Oct 2025 across major streaming services

One eerie ghostly horror tale from storyteller / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an mythic force when drifters become tools in a cursed experiment. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching portrayal of staying alive and primeval wickedness that will revolutionize genre cinema this scare season. Produced by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and shadowy fearfest follows five lost souls who come to stuck in a wooded dwelling under the oppressive power of Kyra, a cursed figure inhabited by a time-worn Old Testament spirit. Brace yourself to be seized by a narrative presentation that intertwines bodily fright with legendary tales, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a recurring tradition in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is twisted when the fiends no longer develop beyond the self, but rather deep within. This represents the most primal version of the group. The result is a relentless mental war where the plotline becomes a ongoing contest between good and evil.


In a remote backcountry, five figures find themselves sealed under the fiendish force and grasp of a obscure figure. As the protagonists becomes vulnerable to oppose her command, disconnected and targeted by presences beyond comprehension, they are driven to wrestle with their greatest panics while the hours unforgivingly ticks toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust deepens and partnerships erode, coercing each figure to evaluate their existence and the nature of liberty itself. The tension escalate with every tick, delivering a frightening tale that integrates paranormal dread with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to tap into pure dread, an malevolence born of forgotten ages, emerging via fragile psyche, and testing a force that erodes the self when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra needed manifesting something rooted in terror. She is ignorant until the possession kicks in, and that metamorphosis is deeply unsettling because it is so internal.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for public screening beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—making sure fans worldwide can engage with this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its original clip, which has garnered over a viral response.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, taking the terror to scare fans abroad.


Don’t miss this unforgettable descent into hell. Watch *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to see these terrifying truths about mankind.


For cast commentary, making-of footage, and insider scoops from the creators, follow @YACMovie across platforms and visit the official website.





Current horror’s decisive shift: the year 2025 domestic schedule interlaces Mythic Possession, festival-born jolts, together with IP aftershocks

Beginning with grit-forward survival fare drawn from old testament echoes and extending to returning series plus cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is lining up as the genre’s most multifaceted in tandem with intentionally scheduled year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. top-tier distributors stabilize the year through proven series, in parallel OTT services crowd the fall with unboxed visions paired with primordial unease. Meanwhile, indie storytellers is propelled by the uplift of a banner 2024 fest year. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The fall stretch is the proving field, yet in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are exacting, therefore 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Premium genre swings back

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

the Universal banner lights the fuse with a bold swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in a clear present-tense world. Led by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Booked into mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Guided by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

By late summer, Warner’s schedule launches the swan song of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Although the framework is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 follows. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re boards, and those signature textures resurface: throwback unease, trauma foregrounded, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This pass pushes higher, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, thickens the animatronic pantheon, reaching teens and game grownups. It opens in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

SVOD Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a body horror chamber piece featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

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

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. From writer director 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. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in 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 reads as sharp positioning. No puffed out backstory. No franchise baggage. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Trend Lines

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Forecast: Fall crush plus winter X factor

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The oncoming Horror calendar year ahead: installments, original films, And A hectic Calendar tailored for Scares

Dek: The current scare season crams immediately with a January cluster, after that stretches through the summer months, and well into the year-end corridor, marrying marquee clout, new voices, and tactical calendar placement. The major players are committing to right-sized spends, theatrical-first rollouts, and shareable marketing that frame these releases into four-quadrant talking points.

The landscape of horror in 2026

This category has turned into the most reliable counterweight in studio calendars, a pillar that can accelerate when it catches and still hedge the drawdown when it misses. After the 2023 year reassured leaders that cost-conscious horror vehicles can command social chatter, the following year carried the beat with buzzy auteur projects and slow-burn breakouts. The upswing fed into the 2025 frame, where returns and awards-minded projects signaled there is a market for diverse approaches, from continued chapters to original features that travel well. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a run that shows rare alignment across companies, with defined corridors, a spread of household franchises and novel angles, and a tightened priority on release windows that power the aftermarket on premium rental and digital services.

Schedulers say the space now behaves like a plug-and-play option on the distribution slate. Horror can kick off on virtually any date, generate a simple premise for teasers and shorts, and exceed norms with viewers that turn out on advance nights and sustain through the week two if the movie pays off. Exiting a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 cadence reflects confidence in that logic. The year rolls out with a busy January block, then primes spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while clearing room for a autumn stretch that reaches into All Hallows period and afterwards. The gridline also illustrates the tightening integration of specialty distributors and digital platforms that can develop over weeks, grow buzz, and go nationwide at the right moment.

A companion trend is legacy care across brand ecosystems and legacy IP. Studios are not just making another chapter. They are setting up threaded continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a title presentation that flags a new tone or a star attachment that bridges a latest entry to a vintage era. At the in tandem, the helmers behind the marquee originals are championing material texture, makeup and prosthetics and distinct locales. That interplay affords 2026 a healthy mix of known notes and freshness, which is what works overseas.

Studio navigate to this website by studio strategy signals

Paramount marks the early tempo with two centerpiece moves that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the front, signaling it as both a cross-generational handoff and a back-to-basics relationship-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach telegraphs a classic-referencing mode without recycling the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run centered on classic imagery, early character teases, and a trailer cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will foreground. As a summer contrast play, this one will seek four-quadrant chatter through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format fitting quick shifts to whatever dominates trend lines that spring.

Universal has three distinct projects. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is straightforward, soulful, and concept-forward: a grieving man installs an synthetic partner that escalates into a killer companion. The date locates it at the front of a thick month, with the marketing arm likely to recreate odd public stunts and micro spots that melds longing and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under working 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 permits a public title to become an attention spike closer to the debut look. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s pictures are marketed as event films, with a minimalist tease and a later trailer push that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date affords Universal to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has demonstrated that a raw, in-camera leaning execution can feel big on a efficient spend. Look for a red-band summer horror shock that emphasizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio launches two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, keeping a trusty supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is presenting as a new foundation 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 focus to serve both devotees and curious audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build artifacts around world-building, and monster aesthetics, elements that can drive PLF interest and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in meticulous craft and dialect, this time focused on werewolf legend. The distributor has already set the date for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is enthusiastic.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform windowing in 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s genre slate flow to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a pacing that optimizes both initial urgency and sign-up spikes in the later phase. Prime Video stitches together catalogue additions with global originals and short theatrical plays when the data points to it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog engagement, using seasonal hubs, seasonal hubs, and curated rows to lengthen the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix retains agility about first-party entries and festival deals, scheduling horror entries with shorter get redirected here lead times and staging as events releases with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a one-two of tailored theatrical exposure and rapid platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a situational 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-qualifying thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly activity when the genre conversation swells.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 lane with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is uncomplicated: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, recalibrated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical-first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then using the holiday slot to expand. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-first horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception supports. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using mini theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their community.

Balance of brands and originals

By skew, the 2026 slate bends toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use fan equity. The watch-out, as ever, is viewer burnout. The pragmatic answer is to position each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is spotlighting character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French sensibility from a emerging director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a crash-survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the configuration is recognizable enough to generate pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Three-year comps outline the strategy. In 2023, a theater-first model that maintained windows did not block a hybrid test from paying off when check over here the brand was big. In 2024, auteur craft horror over-performed in premium large format. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reorient and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds 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 shot back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to connect the chapters through character spine and themes and to sustain campaign assets without long gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft conversations behind the 2026 entries point to a continued shift toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that spotlights grain and menace rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and era-true language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in long-lead press and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a preview that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and spurs shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta recalibration that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature work and production design, which match well with con floor moments and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel must-have. Look for trailers that underscore pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that work in PLF.

Release calendar overview

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 brooding contrast amid headline IP. The month wraps 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 menu of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth carries.

February through May load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can hit 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 cycled through PLF.

August and September into October leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a late-September window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited teasers that favor idea over plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card spend.

Film-by-film briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s algorithmic partner becomes something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back 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 heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical 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 fight to survive on a lonely island as the control balance swivels and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to nightmare, shaped by Cronin’s practical craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: 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 toys with the terror of a child’s tricky perspective. Rating: TBA. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-crafted and star-fronted 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 teases of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fixations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: cameras due to roll 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 detonates, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further widens again, with a another family linked to residual nightmares. Rating: to be announced. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival-driven horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: pending. 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: pending. Logline: closely held. Rating: to be announced. Production: moving forward. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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-precise speech and ancient menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the moment is 2026

Three operational forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that downshifted or re-slotted in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more structured 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 placements. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work bite-size scare clips from test screenings, precision scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

The slot calculus is real. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will cluster across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 surprise-hit pursuit 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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first quiet 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. 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 reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, 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 maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, 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 surface detail, soundcraft, and camera work 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

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is recognizable IP where it plays, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, keep the secrets, and let the shocks sell the seats.