Antediluvian Terror Surfaces within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled supernatural thriller, rolling out October 2025 across top streamers

One hair-raising mystic suspense story from screenwriter / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an timeless terror when newcomers become instruments in a devilish conflict. Releasing October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping depiction of endurance and forgotten curse that will resculpt scare flicks this October. Crafted by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and moody motion picture follows five strangers who regain consciousness ensnared in a isolated hideaway under the ominous dominion of Kyra, a tormented girl claimed by a timeless holy text monster. Arm yourself to be drawn in by a motion picture presentation that blends bodily fright with legendary tales, landing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a iconic motif in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is radically shifted when the presences no longer form from external sources, but rather deep within. This illustrates the most hidden facet of the players. The result is a relentless mental war where the story becomes a perpetual struggle between moral forces.


In a haunting outland, five characters find themselves contained under the fiendish aura and curse of a elusive being. As the victims becomes vulnerable to reject her will, stranded and targeted by creatures mind-shattering, they are cornered to encounter their core terrors while the seconds coldly runs out toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear mounts and friendships collapse, pressuring each person to examine their identity and the philosophy of conscious will itself. The risk climb with every minute, delivering a scare-fueled ride that marries spiritual fright with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to uncover pure dread, an presence that predates humanity, working through human fragility, and dealing with a presence that forces self-examination when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra was about accessing something rooted in terror. She is unaware until the curse activates, and that turn is emotionally raw because it is so private.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for home viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing subscribers around the globe can be part of this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its intro video, which has received over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, taking the terror to horror fans worldwide.


Mark your calendar for this haunted exploration of dread. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to dive into these fearful discoveries about the mind.


For exclusive trailers, production news, and news from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursed across Instagram and Twitter and visit the film’s website.





Today’s horror sea change: 2025 U.S. calendar melds old-world possession, indie terrors, alongside tentpole growls

Ranging from grit-forward survival fare inspired by mythic scripture and onward to installment follow-ups and acutely observed indies, 2025 is coalescing into the most stratified together with carefully orchestrated year since the mid-2010s.

Call it full, but it is also focused. major banners set cornerstones with familiar IP, while streamers pack the fall with fresh voices in concert with scriptural shivers. On another front, the art-house flank is carried on the tailwinds of a banner 2024 fest year. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the other windows are mapped with care. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, yet in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are disciplined, so 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: The Return of Prestige Fear

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 set the base, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s distribution arm kicks off the frame with a bold swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. With Leigh Whannell at the helm fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. timed for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. Pictures releases the last chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. While the template is known, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re engages, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: throwback unease, trauma in the foreground, plus otherworld rules that chill. This pass pushes higher, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The follow up digs further into canon, thickens the animatronic pantheon, courting teens and the thirty something base. It bows in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Offerings: No Budget, No Problem

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a two hander body horror spiral starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story starring 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 movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: 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

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Authored and directed 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. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No heavy handed lore. No continuity burden. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their 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, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Series Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

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

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, under Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror returns
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The approaching fright calendar year ahead: returning titles, standalone ideas, plus A jammed Calendar designed for screams

Dek: The fresh scare year crams in short order with a January traffic jam, thereafter flows through summer, and well into the festive period, fusing name recognition, untold stories, and data-minded counterweight. Studio marketers and platforms are focusing on cost discipline, cinema-first plans, and short-form initiatives that shape the slate’s entries into mainstream chatter.

How the genre looks for 2026

The horror marketplace has become the dependable tool in distribution calendars, a lane that can scale when it clicks and still cushion the losses when it misses. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for leaders that responsibly budgeted scare machines can dominate social chatter, 2024 sustained momentum with festival-darling auteurs and surprise hits. The run moved into the 2025 frame, where revivals and arthouse crossovers proved there is a lane for different modes, from brand follow-ups to non-IP projects that resonate abroad. The aggregate for 2026 is a run that seems notably aligned across the market, with mapped-out bands, a pairing of familiar brands and original hooks, and a reinvigorated priority on cinema windows that drive downstream revenue on premium home window and home streaming.

Marketers add the genre now performs as a fill-in ace on the programming map. The genre can roll out on nearly any frame, offer a clear pitch for spots and reels, and overperform with fans that respond on advance nights and keep coming through the sophomore frame if the title delivers. In the wake of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 cadence signals comfort in that playbook. The calendar rolls out with a busy January stretch, then turns to spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while reserving space for a autumn stretch that extends to spooky season and past the holiday. The program also highlights the greater integration of indie distributors and home platforms that can develop over weeks, stoke social talk, and scale up at the optimal moment.

A notable top-line trend is series management across unified worlds and heritage properties. Big banners are not just greenlighting another sequel. They are moving to present lineage with a heightened moment, whether that is a title design that broadcasts a recalibrated tone or a cast configuration that connects a upcoming film to a classic era. At the in tandem, the directors behind the high-profile originals are leaning into physical effects work, practical gags and vivid settings. That interplay gives the 2026 slate a confident blend of trust and invention, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount plants an early flag with two marquee releases that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the lead, angling it as both a handoff and a return-to-roots character-first story. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the authorial approach signals a classic-referencing treatment without rehashing the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Watch for a push centered on brand visuals, character spotlights, and a promo sequence targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will spotlight. As a summer relief option, this one will build general-audience talk through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format making room for quick updates to whatever shapes the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three unique entries. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is straightforward, tragic, and big-hook: a grieving man sets up an virtual partner that evolves into a deadly partner. The date places it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to recreate uncanny-valley stunts and snackable content that hybridizes longing and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a official title to become an attention spike closer to the initial promo. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s releases are framed as marquee events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second trailer wave that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date lets the studio to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a tactile, physical-effects centered approach can feel deluxe on a controlled budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror rush that embraces global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio launches two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, preserving a reliable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is presenting as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both loyalists and curious audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build assets around world-building, and creature builds, elements that can accelerate large-format demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in immersive craft and period speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. The label has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is supportive.

Platform lanes and windowing

Windowing plans in 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s slate feed copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a tiered path that optimizes both premiere heat and subscriber lifts in the back half. Prime Video blends third-party pickups with global acquisitions and small theatrical windows when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their edges in archive usage, using in-app campaigns, Halloween hubs, and collection rows to lengthen the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix stays nimble about Netflix originals and festival wins, confirming horror entries tight to release and eventizing debuts with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a one-two of focused cinema runs and short jumps to platform that monetizes buzz via trials. That will prove important 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+ treats carefully horror on a curated basis. The platform has signaled readiness to acquire select projects with accomplished filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is engineering 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 sell is simple: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, recalibrated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the October weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, managing the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday frame to go wider. That positioning has been successful for auteur horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception allows. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using targeted theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their membership.

Balance of brands and originals

By tilt, 2026 skews toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on household recognition. The watch-out, as ever, is brand wear. The pragmatic answer is to position each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is leading with relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a Francophone tone from a buzzed-about director. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and director-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the check over here cast-creatives package is steady enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Past-three-year patterns frame the method. In 2023, a theater-first model that held distribution windows did not stop a dual release from succeeding when the brand was trusted. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror popped in premium screens. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they rotate perspective and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, creates space for marketing to connect the chapters through character web and themes and to leave creative active without doldrums.

How the films are being made

The craft rooms behind this slate forecast a continued lean toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that spotlights grain and menace rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and medieval diction, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft coverage before rolling out a atmospheric tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and spurs shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta-horror reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature execution and sets, which favor booth activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel necessary. Look for trailers that center disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that play in premium auditoriums.

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 tonal palate cleanser amid heftier brand moves. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the range of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

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

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late summer into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited advance reveals that elevate concept over story.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s artificial companion shifts into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 hard-edged boss struggle to survive on a cut-off island as the power dynamic swivels and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to terror, driven by Cronin’s tactile craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 home-set haunting story that pipes the unease through a youngster’s volatile POV. Rating: TBA. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

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 needles contemporary horror memes and true crime preoccupations. Rating: to be announced. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a new clan bound to past horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A restart designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on classic survival-horror tone over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBA. Production: in progress. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and elemental menace. Rating: TBA. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three operational forces drive this lineup. First, production that eased or shifted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, managed scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

A fourth factor is programming math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will cluster across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, sonics, and visual design 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

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is name recognition where it counts, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for 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, cut crisp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the scares sell the seats.