Age-old Terror rises: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling supernatural thriller, landing Oct 2025 on major streaming services

An spine-tingling ghostly terror film from storyteller / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an forgotten terror when unrelated individuals become tokens in a cursed struggle. Hitting screens this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing narrative of struggle and age-old darkness that will revamp scare flicks this season. Created by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and claustrophobic thriller follows five strangers who emerge sealed in a off-grid dwelling under the malevolent influence of Kyra, a central character haunted by a timeless biblical demon. Brace yourself to be drawn in by a motion picture journey that harmonizes bone-deep fear with legendary tales, debuting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a legendary foundation in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is radically shifted when the entities no longer come from a different plane, but rather from within. This symbolizes the most sinister part of all involved. The result is a bone-chilling moral showdown where the emotions becomes a merciless battle between innocence and sin.


In a abandoned no-man's-land, five youths find themselves cornered under the malicious control and possession of a secretive character. As the group becomes unresisting to reject her rule, detached and attacked by beings ungraspable, they are driven to endure their core terrors while the final hour brutally pushes forward toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust surges and links erode, pushing each soul to scrutinize their personhood and the integrity of free will itself. The cost surge with every fleeting time, delivering a scare-fueled ride that blends otherworldly panic with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to awaken instinctual horror, an threat before modern man, emerging via fragile psyche, and confronting a presence that questions who we are when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra was centered on something beyond human emotion. She is clueless until the spirit seizes her, and that flip is gut-wrenching because it is so private.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be available for on-demand beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—delivering audiences everywhere can be part of this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its original promo, which has racked up over 100,000 views.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, making the film to global fright lovers.


Mark your calendar for this haunted trip into the unknown. Explore *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to survive these unholy truths about our species.


For sneak peeks, production news, and press updates from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursed across platforms and visit the movie’s homepage.





American horror’s decisive shift: 2025 domestic schedule fuses myth-forward possession, art-house nightmares, set against returning-series thunder

From grit-forward survival fare suffused with scriptural legend and onward to legacy revivals as well as surgical indie voices, 2025 is coalescing into the most complex and strategic year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. major banners lay down anchors via recognizable brands, while OTT services pack the fall with new perspectives and ancient terrors. In the indie lane, the independent cohort is propelled by the momentum from a record 2024 festival run. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, distinctly in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are intentional, which means 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige fear returns

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal camp sets the tone with a marquee bet: a reimagined Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a modern-day environment. Steered by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. Slated for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Helmed by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

When summer tapers, the Warner Bros. banner launches the swan song from its cornerstone horror IP: 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. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re boards, and those signature textures resurface: retrograde shiver, trauma as narrative engine, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The stakes escalate here, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The return delves further into myth, builds out the animatronic fear crew, bridging teens and legacy players. It drops in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

SVOD Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a body horror chamber piece with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Next comes Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative led by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, 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 chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing 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 franchise baggage. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts 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.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, from Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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.

What to Watch

Mythic Horror Is 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 does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror comes roaring back
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Outlook: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The oncoming fright release year: entries, standalone ideas, alongside A jammed Calendar aimed at screams

Dek The arriving terror year builds in short order with a January cluster, following that extends through summer, and far into the holidays, marrying marquee clout, fresh ideas, and shrewd counterweight. Major distributors and platforms are embracing mid-range economics, theatrical exclusivity first, and platform-native promos that pivot these offerings into culture-wide discussion.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The genre has emerged as the steady swing in release strategies, a corner that can break out when it resonates and still safeguard the exposure when it stumbles. After 2023 reassured greenlighters that modestly budgeted pictures can own cultural conversation, 2024 sustained momentum with filmmaker-forward plays and word-of-mouth wins. The run flowed into 2025, where revived properties and awards-minded projects underscored there is a lane for multiple flavors, from brand follow-ups to non-IP projects that carry overseas. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a grid that looks unusually coordinated across distributors, with intentional bunching, a equilibrium of established brands and first-time concepts, and a re-energized commitment on release windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium digital and digital services.

Marketers add the genre now slots in as a wildcard on the slate. The genre can debut on nearly any frame, generate a tight logline for promo reels and platform-native cuts, and overperform with ticket buyers that turn out on first-look nights and sustain through the sophomore frame if the picture satisfies. Emerging from a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 mapping indicates comfort in that dynamic. The year kicks off with a busy January stretch, then exploits spring through early summer for counterprogramming, while making space for a autumn push that reaches into the Halloween corridor and beyond. The calendar also includes the tightening integration of arthouse labels and digital platforms that can build gradually, create conversation, and scale up at the timely point.

A parallel macro theme is IP stewardship across shared universes and veteran brands. The players are not just greenlighting another follow-up. They are trying to present threaded continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a brandmark that announces a re-angled tone or a ensemble decision that binds a next film to a heyday. At the very same time, the helmers behind the most anticipated originals are prioritizing real-world builds, in-camera effects and place-driven backdrops. That alloy provides the 2026 slate a confident blend of trust and surprise, which is the formula for international play.

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

Paramount marks the early tempo with two spotlight pushes that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the heart, framing it as both a passing of the torch and a heritage-centered character-forward chapter. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture conveys a fan-service aware mode without replaying the last two entries’ sisters storyline. A campaign is expected rooted in legacy iconography, character-first teases, and a trailer cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will stress. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will generate mass reach through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format fitting Get More Info quick shifts to whatever drives pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three clear lanes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is simple, sorrow-tinged, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man adopts an AI companion that mutates into a murderous partner. The date positions it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the studio’s marketing likely to mirror odd public stunts and short-form creative that hybridizes love and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a official title to become an event moment closer to the initial tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His entries are presented as creative events, with a concept-forward tease and a second beat that shape mood without giving away the concept. The spooky-season slot lets the studio to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate 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 heads, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has established that a visceral, hands-on effects aesthetic can feel prestige on a disciplined budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror surge that leans into international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio mounts two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, sustaining a steady supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is selling as a new foundation 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 well-defined brief to serve both loyalists and fresh viewers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign creative around mythos, and creature work, elements that can drive premium format interest and fan events.

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 follows Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in obsessive craft and archaic language, this time set against lycan legends. Focus Features has already locked the day for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is positive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform tactics for 2026 run on familiar rails. The Universal horror run transition to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a sequence that optimizes both launch urgency and sub growth in the downstream. Prime Video continues to mix licensed films with worldwide buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in catalog engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, holiday hubs, and programmed rows to increase tail value on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps flexible about Netflix films and festival buys, slotting horror entries on shorter runways and framing as events drops with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a two-step of tailored theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a selective basis. The platform has indicated interest to buy select projects with award winners or A-list packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for sustained usage when the genre conversation spikes.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is curating a 2026 arc with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is clean: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, recalibrated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a theatrical-first plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late stretch.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday dates to broaden. That positioning has delivered for arthouse horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception prompts. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using precision theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By share, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use name recognition. The trade-off, as ever, is brand erosion. The go-to fix is to market each entry as a new angle. Paramount is bringing forward character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-flavored turn from a emerging director. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and talent-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival shocker premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the bundle is steady enough to build pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Past-three-year patterns outline the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that respected streaming windows did not preclude a simultaneous release test from hitting when the brand was robust. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror punched above its weight in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel new when they alter lens and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances 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 shot back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to connect the chapters through character and theme and to sustain campaign assets without hiatuses.

Craft and creative trends

The director conversations behind this slate indicate a continued lean toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that spotlights mood and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft spotlights before rolling out a tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and produces shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta pivot that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature craft and set design, which favor convention activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that elevate fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that play in premium auditoriums.

The schedule at a glance

January is crowded. 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 atmospheric change-up amid bigger brand plays. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the variety of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth persists.

Late Q1 and spring seed summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The 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 spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a slow-reveal plan and limited advance reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s algorithmic partner grows into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection 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 meet a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. 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 tough boss claw to survive on a rugged island as the control balance swivels and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to horror, rooted in Cronin’s practical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting tale that leverages the unease of a child’s tricky POV. Rating: TBD. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-grade and toplined supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that lampoons hot-button genre motifs and true crime preoccupations. Rating: undetermined. Production: filming slated 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 breaks out, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further opens again, with a young family tethered to residual nightmares. Rating: TBA. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A restart designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for true survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: pending. Production: underway. 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 period-precise speech and elemental dread. Rating: TBA. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the moment is 2026

Three execution-level forces structure this lineup. First, production that eased or recalendared in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more methodical 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 launches. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest meme-ready beats from test screenings, metered scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Another factor is the scheduling math. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, making room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will trade weekends across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

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

The sleeper chase continues in Q1, where 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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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 year flows for audiences

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

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

A Promising 2026

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand heft where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, protect the mystery, and let the shudders sell the seats.