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

An haunting unearthly terror film from creator / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an mythic entity when unfamiliar people become tokens in a hellish conflict. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing account of survival and old world terror that will redefine terror storytelling this autumn. Created by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and claustrophobic film follows five unknowns who are stirred sealed in a wooded shelter under the aggressive power of Kyra, a mysterious girl occupied by a 2,000-year-old Old Testament spirit. Be prepared to be hooked by a narrative presentation that fuses visceral dread with spiritual backstory, coming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a enduring trope in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is subverted when the malevolences no longer appear outside the characters, but rather from deep inside. This represents the most primal version of the players. The result is a psychologically brutal emotional conflict where the narrative becomes a relentless push-pull between right and wrong.


In a desolate forest, five souls find themselves caught under the ghastly grip and grasp of a secretive person. As the protagonists becomes defenseless to combat her curse, marooned and tracked by unknowns mind-shattering, they are driven to encounter their emotional phantoms while the hours mercilessly draws closer toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust mounts and teams splinter, demanding each character to doubt their being and the notion of freedom of choice itself. The consequences mount with every instant, delivering a chilling narrative that blends occult fear with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to evoke elemental fright, an curse that predates humanity, operating within soul-level flaws, and confronting a spirit that forces self-examination when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra required summoning something past sanity. She is clueless until the curse activates, and that metamorphosis is soul-crushing because it is so close.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—giving users in all regions can engage with this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its first preview, which has seen over notable views.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, offering the tale to lovers of terror across nations.


Do not miss this mind-warping trip into the unknown. Experience *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to see these ghostly lessons about the mind.


For director insights, extra content, and news directly from production, follow @YACMovie across platforms and visit our film’s homepage.





Contemporary horror’s major pivot: 2025 U.S. calendar interlaces Mythic Possession, festival-born jolts, paired with legacy-brand quakes

Running from fight-to-live nightmare stories steeped in ancient scripture to legacy revivals in concert with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is coalescing into the most stratified along with deliberate year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. top-tier distributors bookend the months with familiar IP, in parallel SVOD players crowd the fall with debut heat alongside ancestral chills. On another front, the artisan tier is catching the uplift from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, notably this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are intentional, as a result 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 set the base, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s schedule leads off the quarter with a confident swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, instead in a current-day frame. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. Booked into mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. From director Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer wanes, Warner’s slate rolls out the capstone inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Granted the structure is classic, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: 70s style chill, trauma as theme, plus otherworld rules that chill. This time the stakes climb, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The return delves further into myth, stretches the animatronic parade, speaking to teens and older millennials. It lands in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While cinemas swing on series strength, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the quieter side is Together, a body horror chamber piece featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable with Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is an astute call. No swollen lore. No brand fatigue. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Trends to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror retakes ground
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Forward View: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The 2026 spook cycle: continuations, universe starters, together with A Crowded Calendar aimed at chills

Dek: The brand-new horror cycle builds from the jump with a January crush, before it stretches through peak season, and straight through the holidays, marrying series momentum, original angles, and well-timed counter-scheduling. The major players are relying on efficient budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and influencer-ready assets that convert genre releases into water-cooler talk.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has emerged as the steady counterweight in release plans, a genre that can grow when it performs and still cushion the floor when it misses. After 2023 reassured executives that disciplined-budget chillers can lead mainstream conversation, 2024 extended the rally with signature-voice projects and word-of-mouth wins. The tailwind pushed into 2025, where revived properties and critical darlings confirmed there is a market for several lanes, from returning installments to standalone ideas that resonate abroad. The result for 2026 is a run that looks unusually coordinated across players, with planned clusters, a balance of familiar brands and new concepts, and a re-energized commitment on release windows that drive downstream revenue on premium video on demand and platforms.

Insiders argue the space now serves as a plug-and-play option on the calendar. The genre can bow on nearly any frame, yield a sharp concept for marketing and platform-native cuts, and punch above weight with patrons that turn out on preview nights and maintain momentum through the follow-up frame if the feature connects. Emerging from a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 configuration shows faith in that model. The year starts with a loaded January block, then exploits spring through early summer for counterweight, while clearing room for a September to October window that reaches into the Halloween frame and into the next week. The schedule also illustrates the increasing integration of specialty arms and OTT outlets that can stage a platform run, build word of mouth, and go nationwide at the sweet spot.

A further high-level trend is IP cultivation across interlocking continuities and established properties. Major shops are not just greenlighting another installment. They are setting up threaded continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a graphic identity that signals a fresh attitude or a casting move that binds a next film to a vintage era. At the in tandem, the visionaries behind the high-profile originals are doubling down on real-world builds, real effects and grounded locations. That alloy delivers the 2026 slate a healthy mix of recognition and invention, which is the formula for international play.

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

Paramount sets the tone early with two marquee plays that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the focus, steering it as both a passing of the torch and a back-to-basics character-forward chapter. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the directional approach suggests a fan-service aware campaign without recycling the last Source two entries’ sisters storyline. The studio is likely to mount a drive rooted in classic imagery, character previews, and a tiered teaser plan targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also revives 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 on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will double down on. As a summer relief option, this one will drive wide buzz through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format inviting quick pivots to whatever shapes trend lines that spring.

Universal has three differentiated plays. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is tight, somber, and big-hook: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that shifts into a dangerous lover. The date slots it at the front of a busy month, with the marketing arm likely to revisit uncanny-valley stunts and short-cut promos that melds love and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title reveal to become an fan moment closer to the first trailer. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His entries are sold as director events, with a mystery-first teaser and a follow-up trailer set that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The late-October frame gives Universal room to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has proven that a blood-soaked, on-set effects led execution can feel big on a mid-range budget. Expect a grime-caked summer horror charge that emphasizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio books two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, preserving a reliable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is selling as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both core fans and novices. The fall slot allows Sony to build marketing units around setting detail, and monster design, elements that can drive premium format interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by immersive craft and textual fidelity, this time orbiting lycan myth. The distributor has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is positive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform plans for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal titles land on copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a cadence that optimizes both debut momentum and subscriber lifts in the back half. Prime Video stitches together outside acquisitions with global pickups and short theatrical plays when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in back-catalog play, using editorial spots, October hubs, and curated rows to extend momentum on the horror cume. Netflix keeps flexible about own-slate titles and festival deals, confirming horror entries toward the drop and coalescing around releases with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a laddered of tailored theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a curated basis. The platform has proven amenable to buy select projects with name filmmakers or star packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly activity when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 corridor with two IP plays. 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 atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, upgraded for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a cinema-first plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the fall weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, managing the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday corridor to open out. That positioning has paid off for arthouse horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception prompts. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using precision theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Series vs standalone

By tilt, 2026 is weighted toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate cultural cachet. The trade-off, as ever, is viewer burnout. The my company preferred tactic is to present each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is underscoring relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-flavored turn from a fresh helmer. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the deal build is anchored enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Recent-year comps illuminate the plan. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that preserved streaming windows did not prevent a day-date try from working when the brand was strong. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror exceeded expectations in PLF. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they rotate perspective and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, allows marketing to link the films through character and theme and to hold creative in the market without extended gaps.

Craft and creative trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind this year’s genre indicate a continued move toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that elevates texture and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in long-lead features and technical spotlights 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 geared for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-referential reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster realization and design, which lend themselves to fan conventions and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel essential. Look for trailers that center surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that sing on PLF.

Calendar cadence

January is loaded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid heavier IP. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the variety of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Late Q1 and spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The 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 sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Late summer into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a early fall window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a peekaboo tease plan and limited plot reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can play the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s synthetic partner unfolds into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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

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

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her demanding boss try to survive on a remote island as the chain of command upends and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to chill, grounded in Cronin’s practical effects and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting setup that interrogates the unease of a child’s shaky perceptions. Rating: forthcoming. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A parody reboot that targets of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime obsessions. Rating: undetermined. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites detonates, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further opens again, with a different family linked to residual nightmares. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A clean reboot designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-core horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: to be announced. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: pending. Production: proceeding. 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 historical diction and raw menace. Rating: TBD. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three practical forces shape this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or recalendared in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and compressed schedules. 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 overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming launches. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate turnkey scare beats from test screenings, curated scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

The slot calculus is real. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, creating valuable space for genre entries that can control a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will cluster across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, 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 sweet spot. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where modest-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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, 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 flow and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, aural design, and camera work that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand gravity where needed, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shocks sell the seats.