Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primeval malevolence, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on leading streamers

An hair-raising spiritual horror tale from storyteller / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an mythic terror when drifters become pawns in a malevolent trial. Premiering October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing depiction of staying alive and forgotten curse that will alter genre cinema this cool-weather season. Produced by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and moody film follows five people who awaken locked in a unreachable shelter under the sinister control of Kyra, a troubled woman controlled by a time-worn religious nightmare. Steel yourself to be captivated by a narrative outing that harmonizes soul-chilling terror with arcane tradition, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a iconic element in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is radically shifted when the beings no longer emerge outside their bodies, but rather through their own souls. This embodies the shadowy corner of the cast. The result is a harrowing identity crisis where the conflict becomes a unyielding push-pull between virtue and vice.


In a unforgiving wilderness, five adults find themselves stuck under the ghastly influence and haunting of a obscure being. As the victims becomes powerless to resist her influence, left alone and preyed upon by spirits unnamable, they are cornered to endure their raw vulnerabilities while the deathwatch without pity runs out toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread rises and ties splinter, compelling each character to question their true nature and the philosophy of freedom of choice itself. The risk climb with every second, delivering a paranormal ride that harmonizes paranormal dread with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to dig into primitive panic, an presence beyond time, working through soul-level flaws, and dealing with a being that questions who we are when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra involved tapping into something beyond human emotion. She is blind until the possession kicks in, and that shift is haunting because it is so close.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for home viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—ensuring customers anywhere can watch this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its original promo, which has attracted over 100,000 views.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, taking the terror to international horror buffs.


Do not miss this bone-rattling exploration of dread. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to experience these ghostly lessons about mankind.


For featurettes, director cuts, and alerts via the production team, follow @YACFilm across your favorite networks and visit our spooky domain.





Current horror’s sea change: the 2025 season U.S. lineup integrates legend-infused possession, underground frights, together with brand-name tremors

Across life-or-death fear rooted in legendary theology and extending to returning series together with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is shaping up as the most stratified in tandem with carefully orchestrated year in recent memory.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. studio powerhouses stabilize the year through proven series, concurrently premium streamers pack the fall with new perspectives paired with scriptural shivers. On the festival side, independent banners is buoyed by the carry from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and now, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are precise, so 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige terror resurfaces

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 accelerates.

Universal Pictures begins the calendar with a big gambit: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, but a crisp modern milieu. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Slated for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. From director Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

At summer’s close, the Warner Bros. banner launches the swan song from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: nostalgic menace, trauma as theme, and a cold supernatural calculus. Here the stakes rise, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The next entry deepens the tale, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, speaking to teens and older millennials. It posts in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Offerings: Economy, maximum dread

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a room scale body horror descent led by 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 comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Also notable is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: 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. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held 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 dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is an astute call. No bloated mythology. No legacy baggage. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

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

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 is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Long Running Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

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

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.

Trends to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror swings back
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. 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.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Forward View: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

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



The oncoming scare season: continuations, original films, plus A jammed Calendar aimed at jolts

Dek: The arriving scare calendar lines up right away with a January bottleneck, following that flows through the summer months, and deep into the holiday stretch, balancing franchise firepower, untold stories, and savvy release strategy. The big buyers and platforms are focusing on smart costs, theatrical-first rollouts, and short-form initiatives that turn genre releases into culture-wide discussion.

Horror’s status entering 2026

Horror filmmaking has shown itself to be the steady tool in studio calendars, a space that can lift when it clicks and still mitigate the drag when it stumbles. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for top brass that lean-budget chillers can shape pop culture, 2024 sustained momentum with auteur-driven buzzy films and surprise hits. The run pushed into 2025, where revivals and filmmaker-prestige bets confirmed there is space for varied styles, from legacy continuations to original one-offs that travel well. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a schedule that feels more orchestrated than usual across the major shops, with obvious clusters, a equilibrium of familiar brands and untested plays, and a renewed eye on exhibition windows that fuel later windows on premium on-demand and platforms.

Schedulers say the category now behaves like a schedule utility on the calendar. Horror can open on virtually any date, supply a grabby hook for marketing and vertical videos, and outstrip with demo groups that appear on first-look nights and maintain momentum through the sophomore frame if the offering satisfies. In the wake of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 plan indicates belief in that playbook. The slate kicks off with a thick January corridor, then uses spring and early summer for audience offsets, while carving room for a autumn stretch that connects to All Hallows period and into early November. The layout also includes the stronger partnership of boutique distributors and streamers that can nurture a platform play, build word of mouth, and scale up at the proper time.

A parallel macro theme is series management across shared universes and classic IP. Big banners are not just mounting another sequel. They are working to present story carry-over with a occasion, whether that is a title presentation that broadcasts a re-angled tone or a casting move that ties a next film to a foundational era. At the alongside this, the directors behind the eagerly awaited originals are leaning into real-world builds, practical effects and distinct locales. That pairing offers 2026 a smart balance of home base and novelty, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

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

Paramount defines the early cadence with two centerpiece projects that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the spine, presenting it as both a lineage transfer and a heritage-centered character-first story. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the creative posture signals a memory-charged treatment without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Count on a promo wave rooted in signature symbols, character previews, and a trailer cadence aimed at late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will play up. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will seek mass reach through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick switches to whatever dominates the social talk that spring.

Universal has three clear entries. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is tidy, sorrow-tinged, and premise-first: a grieving man sets up an intelligent companion that grows into a harmful mate. The date puts it at the front of a front-loaded month, with the studio’s marketing likely to bring back strange in-person beats and short-cut promos that fuses affection and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a final title to become an attention spike closer to the debut look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. The filmmaker’s films are positioned as marquee events, with a minimalist tease and a next wave of trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The pre-Halloween slot gives Universal room to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has proven that a flesh-and-blood, practical-effects forward method can feel high-value on a controlled budget. Frame it as a hard-R summer horror charge that embraces worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio lines up two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, keeping a reliable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is selling as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both fans and novices. The fall slot hands Sony window to build campaign pieces around setting detail, and creature work, elements that can accelerate format premiums and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror driven by rigorous craft and textual fidelity, this time steeped in lycan lore. The label has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is strong.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform strategies for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal titles feed copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ordering that enhances both week-one demand and platform bumps in the later phase. Prime Video continues to mix licensed films with international acquisitions and select theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library pulls, using prominent placements, spooky hubs, and handpicked rows to increase tail value on lifetime take. Netflix retains agility about Netflix originals and festival buys, dating horror entries near launch and framing as events releases with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a hybrid of limited theatrical footprints and fast windowing that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a situational basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to board select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-driven packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation swells.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 slate with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is simple: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, recalibrated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn stretch.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, stewarding the film through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday dates to broaden. That positioning has delivered for elevated genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception warrants. Watch for 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 as a pair, using select theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their community.

Known brands versus new stories

By number, 2026 bends toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on household recognition. The caveat, as ever, is audience fatigue. The standing approach is to sell each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is centering character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a continental coloration from a rising filmmaker. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and director-driven titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the bundle is known enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years help explain the template. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that honored streaming windows did not stop a simultaneous release test from hitting when the brand was robust. In 2024, director-craft horror hit big in large-format rooms. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they pivot perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot in tandem, enables marketing to cross-link entries through character arcs and themes and to hold creative in the market without long gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The craft rooms behind the 2026 slate indicate a continued move toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that foregrounds atmosphere and fear rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and technical spotlights before rolling out a teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has succeeded 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 sells overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta refresh that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will live or die on monster aesthetics and world-building, which work nicely for convention activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that center surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that land in big rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is loaded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid larger brand plays. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the tone spread carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Post-January through spring build the summer base. Scream 7 lands February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now sustains 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 divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. 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 rotated off PLF.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a transitional slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited information drops that prioritize concept over plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card use.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s digital partner unfolds into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 unyielding boss scramble to survive on a far-flung island as the power dynamic shifts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to fright, based on Cronin’s practical craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal 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 residential haunting setup that frames the panic through a child’s unreliable POV. Rating: TBA. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-crafted and star-fronted paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A parody return that teases hot-button genre motifs and true crime fervors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites erupts, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a young family anchored to lingering terrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on classic survival-horror tone over action-centric bombast. Rating: not yet rated. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: closely held. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 era-accurate language and raw menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three workable forces organize this lineup. First, production that slowed or reshuffled in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter 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 surpassed straight-to-streaming launches. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, precision scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where lean-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 left-field winner of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, 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 tempo and variety. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, tight deployments, 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 visual texture, aural design, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand gravity where needed, 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, produce clean trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the chills sell the seats.