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

This haunting ghostly nightmare movie from writer / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an forgotten nightmare when guests become proxies in a fiendish ceremony. Going live on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping saga of living through and ancient evil that will redefine the fear genre this ghoul season. Helmed by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and eerie story follows five lost souls who snap to sealed in a remote cottage under the ominous control of Kyra, a central character haunted by a biblical-era sacred-era entity. Arm yourself to be captivated by a audio-visual venture that weaves together instinctive fear with biblical origins, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a legendary pillar in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is redefined when the spirits no longer manifest outside the characters, but rather from their psyche. This embodies the deepest dimension of every character. The result is a emotionally raw cognitive warzone where the plotline becomes a unforgiving push-pull between right and wrong.


In a unforgiving terrain, five souls find themselves sealed under the malevolent control and haunting of a unknown woman. As the survivors becomes paralyzed to combat her manipulation, exiled and attacked by terrors inconceivable, they are forced to wrestle with their core terrors while the time harrowingly edges forward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease builds and connections disintegrate, requiring each person to rethink their true nature and the nature of decision-making itself. The stakes climb with every heartbeat, delivering a paranormal ride that fuses otherworldly panic with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to dig into primitive panic, an entity rooted in antiquity, influencing emotional vulnerability, and highlighting a being that erodes the self when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra required summoning something more primal than sorrow. She is insensitive until the curse activates, and that flip is terrifying because it is so unshielded.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for digital release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—ensuring viewers from coast to coast can get immersed in this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its initial teaser, which has received over a viral response.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, presenting the nightmare to fans of fear everywhere.


Mark your calendar for this soul-jarring path of possession. Stream *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to experience these chilling revelations about our species.


For behind-the-scenes access, production insights, and news from behind the lens, follow @YACFilm across media channels and visit our horror hub.





Current horror’s watershed moment: 2025 across markets U.S. rollouts braids together old-world possession, Indie Shockers, set against Franchise Rumbles

Kicking off with pressure-cooker survival tales infused with legendary theology and extending to franchise returns and cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is tracking to be the most variegated and intentionally scheduled year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. leading studios set cornerstones by way of signature titles, in tandem subscription platforms front-load the fall with debut heat as well as legend-coded dread. In parallel, the independent cohort is buoyed by the momentum from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, though in this cycle, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are methodical, as a result 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: High-craft horror returns

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 presses the advantage.

the Universal banner starts the year with a risk-forward move: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, but a sharp contemporary setting. Guided by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. landing in mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Eli Craig directs fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

Toward summer’s end, the WB camp releases the last chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re teams, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: retrograde shiver, trauma centered writing, and eerie supernatural logic. The bar is raised this go, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, broadens the animatronic terror cast, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It lands in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Plays: Tight funds, wide impact

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a two hander body horror spiral featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

In the mix sits Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative featuring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. 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. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in 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 canny scheduling. No heavy handed lore. No franchise baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Brands: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, with Francis Lawrence directing, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Signals and Trends

Mythic Horror Is 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 pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror comes roaring back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Season Ahead: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The oncoming terror release year: continuations, new stories, paired with A loaded Calendar optimized for chills

Dek: The new scare slate stacks in short order with a January pile-up, thereafter extends through summer corridors, and straight through the holidays, weaving name recognition, untold stories, and smart counterweight. Studio marketers and platforms are doubling down on right-sized spends, theatrical leads, and platform-native promos that pivot genre titles into water-cooler talk.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror filmmaking has become the steady move in release plans, a vertical that can break out when it hits and still mitigate the drag when it falls short. After 2023 reassured executives that responsibly budgeted shockers can galvanize the zeitgeist, the following year extended the rally with buzzy auteur projects and surprise hits. The upswing moved into the 2025 frame, where reboots and awards-minded projects confirmed there is an opening for multiple flavors, from franchise continuations to one-and-done originals that carry overseas. The takeaway for 2026 is a roster that shows rare alignment across the major shops, with purposeful groupings, a spread of brand names and untested plays, and a renewed stance on exclusive windows that feed downstream value on paid VOD and SVOD.

Buyers contend the genre now slots in as a utility player on the schedule. The genre can launch on almost any weekend, offer a sharp concept for ad units and short-form placements, and outpace with audiences that lean in on first-look nights and stay strong through the follow-up frame if the picture works. On the heels of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 mapping demonstrates belief in that approach. The year starts with a heavy January stretch, then leans on spring and early summer for counterweight, while leaving room for a fall run that reaches into spooky season and into post-Halloween. The schedule also illustrates the increasing integration of specialty arms and home platforms that can develop over weeks, spark evangelism, and scale up at the optimal moment.

A further high-level trend is series management across shared IP webs and long-running brands. The studios are not just greenlighting another return. They are seeking to position connection with a marquee sheen, whether that is a typeface approach that indicates a refreshed voice or a ensemble decision that threads a new entry to a original cycle. At the alongside this, the helmers behind the top original plays are leaning into on-set craft, practical gags and distinct locales. That fusion produces the 2026 slate a strong blend of known notes and discovery, which is what works overseas.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount marks the early tempo with two big-ticket bets that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the core, presenting it as both a succession moment and a return-to-roots character piece. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the directional approach suggests a throwback-friendly bent without repeating the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Watch for a push driven by franchise iconography, character spotlights, and a promo sequence timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

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 as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will emphasize. As a summer alternative, this one will generate general-audience talk through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick switches to whatever dominates trend lines that spring.

Universal has three differentiated projects. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is tight, soulful, and easily pitched: a grieving man sets up an synthetic partner that unfolds into a perilous partner. The date positions it at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s team likely to echo eerie street stunts and brief clips that blurs romance and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a final title to become an headline beat closer to the teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s work are positioned as filmmaker events, with a hinting teaser and a follow-up trailer set that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The late-October frame creates space for Universal to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has long shown that a raw, practical-effects forward method can feel cinematic on a moderate cost. Expect a red-band summer horror jolt that leans into global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio mounts two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, maintaining a proven supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is calling a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both diehards and newcomers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign pieces around mythos, and practical creature work, elements that can fuel IMAX and PLF uptake and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by rigorous craft and textual fidelity, this time driven by werewolf stories. The label has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is supportive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre entries feed copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a stair-step that maximizes both FOMO and platform bumps in the late-window. Prime Video balances catalogue additions with cross-border buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in back-catalog play, using well-timed internal promotions, seasonal hubs, and staff picks to maximize the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays nimble about originals and festival grabs, timing horror entries near their drops and coalescing around arrivals with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a two-step of targeted cinema placements and fast windowing that translates talk to trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a discrete basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to buy select projects with established auteurs or star-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation heats up.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 arc with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is tight: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, elevated 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 flagged a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the fall weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday slot to broaden. That positioning has helped for elevated genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception drives. Be ready 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 as partners, using select theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Brands and originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate bends toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate franchise value. The watch-out, as ever, is brand erosion. The near-term solution is to market each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is emphasizing character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-inflected take from a fresh helmer. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and director-first projects provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the bundle is recognizable enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Comparable trends from recent years illuminate the method. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that kept streaming intact did not foreclose a same-day experiment from hitting when the brand was strong. In click to read more 2024, craft-forward auteur horror punched above its weight in premium large format. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they change perspective and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward 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 produced back-to-back, allows marketing to link the films through character and theme and to maintain a flow of assets without lulls.

How the look and feel evolve

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind this slate foreshadow a continued turn toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that highlights tone and tension rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in trade spotlights and artisan spotlights before rolling out a tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and produces shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta recalibration that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster aesthetics and world-building, which play well in booth activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel necessary. Look for trailers that underscore pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that land in premium houses.

Release calendar overview

January is loaded. 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 tonal palate cleanser amid heavier IP. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the tonal variety creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Early-year through spring seed summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late summer into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited advance reveals that favor idea over plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift card usage.

Project briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s synthetic partner escalates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

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 changing 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 unyielding boss claw to survive on a uninhabited island as the control balance upends and fear my company crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, check over here April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to fright, driven by Cronin’s material craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting chiller that teases the chill of a child’s unreliable impressions. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-supported and A-list fronted spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that lampoons present-day genre chatter and true-crime manias. Rating: pending. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 spreads, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further extends again, with a different family tethered to returning horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A restart designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survivalist horror over action spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: TBD. Production: in progress. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and ancient menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. 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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 lands now

Three practical forces define this lineup. First, production that downshifted or shuffled in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and leaner 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 surpassed straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine social-ready stingers from test screenings, managed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

The slot calculus is real. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will line up across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play 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 shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

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

A Promising 2026

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is IP strength where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.