Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes antediluvian malevolence, a chilling horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on major streaming services

A terrifying occult horror tale from writer / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an primeval fear when unknowns become tools in a hellish maze. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing saga of overcoming and archaic horror that will revolutionize horror this spooky time. Crafted by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and cinematic screenplay follows five unacquainted souls who find themselves caught in a off-grid wooden structure under the hostile sway of Kyra, a female lead claimed by a 2,000-year-old scriptural evil. Ready yourself to be gripped by a theatrical experience that fuses deep-seated panic with arcane tradition, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a historical concept in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is inverted when the demons no longer appear outside the characters, but rather deep within. This symbolizes the malevolent corner of the cast. The result is a harrowing emotional conflict where the emotions becomes a unyielding contest between good and evil.


In a isolated wild, five friends find themselves contained under the malicious rule and spiritual invasion of a enigmatic spirit. As the group becomes helpless to combat her rule, isolated and followed by spirits unimaginable, they are compelled to endure their deepest fears while the final hour harrowingly counts down toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust mounts and ties erode, requiring each participant to contemplate their values and the notion of conscious will itself. The intensity surge with every breath, delivering a fear-soaked story that intertwines supernatural terror with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to evoke elemental fright, an threat from prehistory, emerging via emotional vulnerability, and examining a evil that redefines identity when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra needed manifesting something outside normal anguish. She is innocent until the demon emerges, and that flip is gut-wrenching because it is so unshielded.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for streaming beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—offering viewers anywhere can experience this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its release of trailer #1, which has earned over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, taking the terror to international horror buffs.


Join this soul-jarring descent into hell. Enter *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to experience these fearful discoveries about the human condition.


For teasers, director cuts, and social posts from the creators, follow @YACMovie across social media and visit the official movie site.





Horror’s tipping point: 2025 across markets stateside slate weaves primeval-possession lore, underground frights, and series shake-ups

Kicking off with grit-forward survival fare steeped in biblical myth through to returning series and sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is shaping up as the richest along with carefully orchestrated year in ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio majors bookend the months with franchise anchors, concurrently streaming platforms front-load the fall with new voices paired with ancestral chills. In parallel, indie storytellers is riding the backdraft from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, and in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are exacting, and 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s schedule begins the calendar with a headline swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. landing in mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

When summer tapers, Warner Bros. Pictures delivers the closing chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re boards, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: 70s style chill, trauma as narrative engine, plus otherworld rules that chill. This pass pushes higher, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, reaching teens and game grownups. It lands in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Offerings: Low budgets, big teeth

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a two hander body horror spiral including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend with Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with 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. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, 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 threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It looks like sharp programming. No overweight mythology. No sequel clutter. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just 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.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Long Running Lines: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Key Trends

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror returns
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Near Term Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

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. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The oncoming spook slate: Sequels, new stories, in tandem with A packed Calendar engineered for Scares

Dek: The incoming terror year lines up at the outset with a January crush, after that extends through the summer months, and straight through the winter holidays, fusing brand equity, creative pitches, and well-timed calendar placement. Distributors with platforms are embracing mid-range economics, theater-first strategies, and influencer-ready assets that shape genre releases into national conversation.

Where horror stands going into 2026

Horror has emerged as the steady counterweight in annual schedules, a segment that can grow when it clicks and still limit the losses when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year reminded leaders that responsibly budgeted pictures can own audience talk, the following year carried the beat with director-led heat and slow-burn breakouts. The carry pushed into 2025, where reboots and filmmaker-prestige bets showed there is demand for a spectrum, from series extensions to original features that travel well. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a programming that appears tightly organized across distributors, with purposeful groupings, a harmony of familiar brands and original hooks, and a refocused emphasis on exclusive windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium video on demand and home streaming.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now slots in as a wildcard on the slate. The genre can arrive on virtually any date, generate a tight logline for trailers and shorts, and outperform with fans that show up on opening previews and keep coming through the next weekend if the movie connects. Post a production delay era, the 2026 plan underscores conviction in that approach. The calendar launches with a loaded January block, then targets spring into early summer for contrast, while leaving room for a autumn push that flows toward All Hallows period and into the next week. The calendar also spotlights the ongoing integration of boutique distributors and subscription services that can platform a title, build word of mouth, and grow at the proper time.

A reinforcing pattern is IP cultivation across unified worlds and legacy IP. Big banners are not just greenlighting another continuation. They are moving to present brand continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a title presentation that announces a re-angled tone or a ensemble decision that binds a next film to a heyday. At the very same time, the helmers behind the most watched originals are championing practical craft, on-set effects and vivid settings. That combination hands the 2026 slate a robust balance of assurance and freshness, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount opens strong with two spotlight moves that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, positioning the film as both a passing of the torch and a return-to-roots character piece. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the authorial approach conveys a legacy-leaning framework without repeating the last two entries’ sibling arc. Plan for a rollout built on franchise iconography, early character teases, and a promo sequence arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will spotlight. As a summer relief option, this one will build large awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format supporting quick switches to whatever rules trend lines that spring.

Universal has three distinct lanes. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is tidy, loss-driven, and premise-first: a grieving man onboards an virtual partner that shifts into a killer companion. The date places it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to bring back off-kilter promo beats and short-form creative that hybridizes romance and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a proper title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first look. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s pictures are framed as event films, with a concept-forward tease and a later trailer push that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The spooky-season slot gives the studio room to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work 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 heads, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has made clear that a gritty, practical-effects forward treatment can feel big on a controlled budget. Frame it as a gore-forward summer horror hit that leans hard into global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio sets two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, keeping a trusty supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is describing as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both diehards and novices. The fall slot provides the studio time to build artifacts around environmental design, and monster design, elements that can fuel PLF interest and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by careful craft and period speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. The company has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is strong.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform windowing in 2026 run on predictable routes. The studio’s horror films land on copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a structure that optimizes both debut momentum and viewer acquisition in the after-window. Prime Video balances outside acquisitions with global originals and select theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library pulls, using featured rows, holiday hubs, and staff picks to sustain interest on lifetime take. Netflix plays opportunist about Netflix originals and festival pickups, dating horror entries closer to drop and framing as events premieres with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a laddered of limited theatrical footprints and fast windowing that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to invest in select projects with recognized filmmakers or A-list packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for platform stickiness when the genre conversation ramps.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 slate with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is straightforward: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, retooled for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then working the December frame to move out. That positioning has paid off for arthouse horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception merits. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using mini theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By volume, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage name recognition. The risk, as ever, is staleness. The preferred tactic is to package each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is centering character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-accented approach from a ascendant talent. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and director-driven titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched 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 focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the cast-creatives package is comforting enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

The last three-year set frame the model. In 2023, a theater-first model that honored streaming windows did not stop a day-and-date experiment from paying off when the brand was trusted. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror popped in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they change perspective and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters filmed in sequence, lets marketing to relate entries through protagonists and motifs and to leave creative active without extended gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft conversations behind the year’s horror telegraph a continued emphasis on practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that highlights unease and texture rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in feature stories and artisan spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that elevates tone over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta reframe that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which work nicely for convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel compelling. Look for trailers that spotlight disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that sing on PLF.

The schedule at a glance

January is crowded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid big-brand pushes. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the spread of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Winter into spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into 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 delivers brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can succeed 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.

Late-season stretch leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a late-September window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a opaque tease strategy and limited previews that favor idea over plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card redemption.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s digital partner escalates into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. 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 abrasive boss struggle to survive on a far-flung island as the control dynamic reverses and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. 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 kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to nightmare, based on Cronin’s practical effects and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 domestic haunting piece that manipulates the panic of a child’s shaky read. Rating: TBD. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that needles current genre trends and true-crime crazes. Rating: to be announced. Production: cameras due to navigate here roll fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 erupts, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new clan entangled with ancient dread. Rating: TBA. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A new start designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on pure survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: pending. Production: in progress. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and elemental fear. Rating: undetermined. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three practical forces frame this lineup. First, production that stalled or shifted in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and shorter schedules. 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 overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify shareable moments from test screenings, curated scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will cluster across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

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

The underdog chase continues in Q1, where lower and 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 shock over-performer 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 cadence and diversity. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

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

2026 Looks Exciting

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is name recognition where it counts, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the scares sell the seats.