Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primeval horror, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 across top streaming platforms

An unnerving supernatural shockfest from writer / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an ancient malevolence when unfamiliar people become pawns in a demonic ritual. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish portrayal of survival and old world terror that will reconstruct horror this Halloween season. Guided by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and emotionally thick motion picture follows five individuals who snap to sealed in a wilderness-bound structure under the aggressive will of Kyra, a female presence inhabited by a 2,000-year-old holy text monster. Be prepared to be hooked by a cinematic journey that merges bone-deep fear with timeless legends, landing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demonic control has been a long-standing pillar in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is subverted when the entities no longer manifest from elsewhere, but rather from their core. This represents the haunting shade of every character. The result is a psychologically brutal cognitive warzone where the suspense becomes a unforgiving push-pull between righteousness and malevolence.


In a unforgiving backcountry, five individuals find themselves sealed under the fiendish dominion and grasp of a obscure figure. As the youths becomes incapable to fight her manipulation, left alone and attacked by spirits ungraspable, they are obligated to stand before their core terrors while the seconds unforgivingly edges forward toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease builds and relationships break, pushing each soul to reconsider their values and the structure of free will itself. The threat accelerate with every fleeting time, delivering a nightmarish journey that blends otherworldly panic with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to uncover basic terror, an presence before modern man, emerging via our weaknesses, and navigating a power that erodes the self when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra involved tapping into something unfamiliar to reason. She is uninformed until the curse activates, and that flip is emotionally raw because it is so visceral.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for home viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—ensuring customers from coast to coast can engage with this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its original promo, which has earned over 100K plays.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, making the film to horror fans worldwide.


Mark your calendar for this unforgettable descent into hell. Experience *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to witness these nightmarish insights about the mind.


For featurettes, special features, and alerts via the production team, follow @YACFilm across online outlets and visit the official digital haunt.





Horror’s major pivot: calendar year 2025 domestic schedule integrates primeval-possession lore, microbudget gut-punches, paired with series shake-ups

Kicking off with life-or-death fear rooted in biblical myth and onward to franchise returns and acutely observed indies, 2025 stands to become the most textured along with calculated campaign year in years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. major banners lay down anchors using marquee IP, even as subscription platforms front-load the fall with discovery plays as well as ancient terrors. In parallel, festival-forward creators is catching the uplift from a record 2024 festival run. With Halloween holding the peak, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A fat September–October lane is customary now, yet in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are methodical, as a result 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige terror resurfaces

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s distribution arm sets the tone with a statement play: a refreshed Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in a modern-day environment. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. arriving mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer wanes, the Warner lot delivers the closing chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Although the framework is familiar, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re boards, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: period tinged dread, trauma explicitly handled, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time the stakes climb, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

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, builds out the animatronic fear crew, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It drops in December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Plays: Modest spend, serious shock

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a body horror chamber piece starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Then there is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. That is a savvy move. No puffed out backstory. No legacy 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.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Long Running Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. 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, under Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Emerging Currents

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror ascends again
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Season Ahead: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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 including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

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



The upcoming fear slate: installments, standalone ideas, alongside A brimming Calendar designed for frights

Dek The upcoming terror year stacks at the outset with a January traffic jam, before it rolls through the mid-year, and far into the festive period, balancing brand equity, untold stories, and data-minded calendar placement. Major distributors and platforms are relying on right-sized spends, theatrical-first rollouts, and platform-native promos that frame these releases into mainstream chatter.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The horror sector has emerged as the surest tool in programming grids, a category that can spike when it resonates and still protect the floor when it stumbles. After the 2023 year demonstrated to buyers that efficiently budgeted chillers can steer mainstream conversation, the following year carried the beat with festival-darling auteurs and sleeper breakouts. The head of steam carried into 2025, where reawakened brands and awards-minded projects proved there is a market for multiple flavors, from returning installments to one-and-done originals that scale internationally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a slate that seems notably aligned across the market, with clear date clusters, a balance of legacy names and fresh ideas, and a sharpened focus on theater exclusivity that fuel later windows on premium video on demand and home streaming.

Buyers contend the space now works like a schedule utility on the grid. The genre can kick off on numerous frames, provide a clear pitch for promo reels and short-form placements, and punch above weight with moviegoers that arrive on previews Thursday and return through the second weekend if the entry lands. Post a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 layout telegraphs belief in that setup. The year kicks off with a crowded January block, then primes spring and early summer for contrast, while leaving room for a September to October window that pushes into late October and past Halloween. The calendar also reflects the deeper integration of boutique distributors and subscription services that can develop over weeks, grow buzz, and broaden at the precise moment.

A notable top-line trend is IP stewardship across connected story worlds and long-running brands. The studios are not just turning out another sequel. They are trying to present lore continuity with a occasion, whether that is a art treatment that announces a new tone or a casting move that threads a incoming chapter to a heyday. At the concurrently, the directors behind the most watched originals are prioritizing physical effects work, in-camera effects and distinct locales. That combination affords 2026 a confident blend of home base and novelty, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount leads early with two big-ticket titles that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, presenting it as both a cross-generational handoff and a rootsy character piece. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the tonal posture telegraphs a legacy-leaning campaign without rehashing the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Count on a promo wave centered on recognizable motifs, character spotlights, and a tease cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will foreground. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will seek general-audience talk through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format permitting quick redirects to whatever defines genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three distinct plays. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is straightforward, sorrow-tinged, and concept-forward: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that grows into a dangerous lover. The date positions it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s promo team likely to mirror uncanny live moments and quick hits that interlaces romance and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a proper title to become an earned moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. The filmmaker’s films are set up as director events, with a hinting teaser and a second beat that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween runway allows Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has long shown that a gritty, on-set effects led approach can feel premium on a controlled budget. Look for a splatter summer horror charge that leans hard into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio sets two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, continuing a steady supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what Sony is selling as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both fans and first-timers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build materials around world-building, and monster aesthetics, elements that can increase premium screens and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in minute detail and period language, this time steeped in lycan lore. The imprint has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is robust.

Streaming windows and tactics

Digital strategies for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre slate transition to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a tiered path that fortifies both first-week urgency and subscriber lifts in the back half. Prime Video will mix outside acquisitions with worldwide entries and limited cinema engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library pulls, using timely promos, horror hubs, and curated strips to maximize the tail on aggregate take. Netflix keeps optionality about own-slate titles and festival deals, confirming horror entries tight to release and coalescing around releases with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a two-step of targeted theatrical exposure and quick platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has shown a willingness to buy select projects with award winners or marquee packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for retention when the genre conversation builds.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 sequence with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is direct: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, refined for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the autumn stretch.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, piloting the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas corridor to scale. That positioning has shown results for prestige horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception supports. Plan on 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 jointly, using mini theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their membership.

IP versus fresh ideas

By tilt, the 2026 slate tips toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness legacy awareness. The concern, as ever, is overexposure. The preferred tactic is to sell each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is elevating core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-flavored turn from a ascendant talent. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and auteur plays provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the configuration is comforting enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Past-three-year patterns contextualize the model. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that held distribution windows did not block a day-date try from working when the brand was strong. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror rose in premium screens. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they shift POV and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters shot in tandem, builds a path for marketing to connect the chapters through character spine and themes and to hold creative in the market without pause points.

Behind-the-camera trends

The filmmaking conversations behind 2026 horror foreshadow a continued shift toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that elevates mood and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for textured sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in craft journalism and guild coverage before rolling out a first look that leans on mood over plot, a move that has played 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 sparks shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta reframe that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature work and production design, which fit with convention floor stunts and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft Source showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel compelling. Look for trailers that elevate razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that sing on PLF.

Annual flow

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. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid bigger brand plays. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the mix of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Winter into spring stage summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into 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 delivers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a shoulder season window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a minimalist tease strategy and limited teasers that prioritize concept over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s AI companion becomes something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: gothic-game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss claw to survive on a desolate island as the power balance turns and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to chill, based on Cronin’s tactile craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting premise that interrogates the fright of a child’s unreliable point of view. Rating: forthcoming. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-built and headline-actor led haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A parody return that satirizes present-day genre chatter and true-crime crazes. Rating: undetermined. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 surges, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further extends again, with a young family entangled with returning horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: pending. Logline: A reboot designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: pending. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: ongoing. 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 time-true diction and elemental fear. Rating: to be announced. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 and why now

Three operational forces define this lineup. First, production that paused or migrated in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming drops. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, select scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

The slot calculus is real. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or this website act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

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

The surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 capitalize on those pockets. 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, 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 compound over time, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, acoustics, 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, Lined Up To Scare

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand heft where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.