Ancient Horror Surfaces within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 across major streaming services

A hair-raising unearthly thriller from author / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an ancient horror when outsiders become subjects in a hellish trial. Launching this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish tale of resilience and timeless dread that will reimagine terror storytelling this October. Directed by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and atmospheric film follows five strangers who wake up sealed in a wilderness-bound shelter under the ominous influence of Kyra, a troubled woman dominated by a biblical-era Old Testament spirit. Prepare to be immersed by a audio-visual ride that integrates visceral dread with timeless legends, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a well-established element in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is twisted when the fiends no longer develop from elsewhere, but rather inside them. This depicts the most primal layer of these individuals. The result is a enthralling psychological battle where the tension becomes a unforgiving struggle between good and evil.


In a isolated landscape, five youths find themselves contained under the malicious rule and possession of a shadowy person. As the survivors becomes vulnerable to deny her command, exiled and stalked by forces beyond comprehension, they are driven to confront their inner demons while the countdown without pause edges forward toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust swells and friendships erode, driving each character to reconsider their essence and the structure of free will itself. The risk climb with every breath, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that weaves together spiritual fright with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to evoke basic terror, an evil older than civilization itself, emerging via mental cracks, and dealing with a entity that redefines identity when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra demanded embodying something past sanity. She is insensitive until the spirit seizes her, and that change is terrifying because it is so personal.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for horror fans beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—delivering streamers globally can enjoy this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original promo, which has collected over strong viewer count.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, making the film to a global viewership.


Be sure to catch this haunted exploration of dread. Face *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to experience these chilling revelations about the mind.


For sneak peeks, extra content, and social posts from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACMovie across fan hubs and visit our film’s homepage.





Modern horror’s sea change: the 2025 season domestic schedule weaves archetypal-possession themes, independent shockers, plus tentpole growls

Kicking off with survivor-centric dread rooted in ancient scripture as well as canon extensions and keen independent perspectives, 2025 is emerging as the most complex paired with tactically planned year of the last decade.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. Top studios bookend the months with franchise anchors, simultaneously streaming platforms load up the fall with unboxed visions paired with scriptural shivers. Across the art-house lane, the artisan tier is riding the momentum of a banner 2024 fest year. As Halloween stays the prime week, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, but this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are methodical, so 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Premium genre swings back

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal banner leads off the quarter with a statement play: a reconceived Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, instead in a current-day frame. Guided by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. timed for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. From director Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with 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. Early reactions hint at fangs.

At summer’s close, Warner’s slate releases the last chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. While the template is known, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: vintage toned fear, trauma in the foreground, and a cold supernatural calculus. This pass pushes higher, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The new chapter enriches the lore, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It opens in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a close quarters body horror study including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a smart play. No overinflated mythology. No series drag. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Long Running Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, 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 a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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 Worth Watching

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror resurges
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Season Ahead: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

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 aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The oncoming scare release year: returning titles, new stories, and also A busy Calendar aimed at jolts

Dek: The new genre calendar clusters right away with a January cluster, following that carries through June and July, and straight through the winter holidays, marrying franchise firepower, untold stories, and well-timed alternatives. Studios and streamers are embracing right-sized spends, big-screen-first runs, and shareable marketing that elevate these offerings into four-quadrant talking points.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror has shown itself to be the steady lever in distribution calendars, a space that can break out when it resonates and still cushion the exposure when it does not. After 2023 reminded top brass that responsibly budgeted pictures can lead cultural conversation, 2024 carried the beat with auteur-driven buzzy films and unexpected risers. The momentum flowed into 2025, where re-entries and filmmaker-prestige bets proved there is capacity for several lanes, from returning installments to filmmaker-driven originals that resonate abroad. The result for 2026 is a slate that appears tightly organized across distributors, with purposeful groupings, a harmony of known properties and original hooks, and a revived stance on exhibition windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium on-demand and OTT platforms.

Buyers contend the space now works like a swing piece on the distribution slate. Horror can premiere on a wide range of weekends, provide a easy sell for previews and vertical videos, and overperform with ticket buyers that arrive on previews Thursday and hold through the follow-up frame if the feature lands. In the wake of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 configuration demonstrates confidence in that model. The year kicks off with a busy January stretch, then exploits spring through early summer for counterprogramming, while reserving space for a September to October window that extends to spooky season and past the holiday. The program also spotlights the tightening integration of specialty distributors and streaming partners that can develop over weeks, build word of mouth, and widen at the strategic time.

A further high-level trend is brand management across brand ecosystems and storied titles. The players are not just pushing another continuation. They are trying to present continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a title treatment that flags a new vibe or a talent selection that threads a latest entry to a early run. At the concurrently, the directors behind the top original plays are championing on-set craft, practical effects and location-forward worlds. That mix delivers the 2026 slate a lively combination of home base and unexpected turns, which is how the genre sells abroad.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount establishes early momentum with two front-of-slate titles that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the heart, angling it as both a cross-generational handoff and a DNA-forward character-forward chapter. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the creative stance hints at a classic-referencing strategy without recycling the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign centered on heritage visuals, first images of characters, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm targeting late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will foreground. As a counterweight in summer, this one will chase general-audience talk through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format inviting quick redirects to whatever shapes horror talk that spring.

Universal has three unique projects. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is tidy, somber, and easily pitched: a grieving man onboards an synthetic partner that mutates into a deadly partner. The date locates it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with the Universal machine likely to mirror creepy live activations and short-form creative that fuses affection and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a proper title to become an attention spike closer to the debut look. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s releases are set up as creative events, with a concept-forward tease and a second wave of trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor offers Universal room to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has established that a blood-soaked, physical-effects centered strategy can feel elevated on a lean spend. Look for a blood-soaked summer horror shot that centers offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio deploys two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, keeping a dependable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is framing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both longtime followers and casuals. The fall slot allows Sony to build campaign creative around mythos, and monster design, elements that can accelerate format premiums and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by careful craft and dialect, this time engaging werewolf myth. The distributor has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is favorable.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform tactics for 2026 run on proven patterns. The Universal horror run flow to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a cadence that optimizes both premiere heat and sign-up spikes in the later phase. Prime Video pairs licensed films with world buys and limited cinema engagements when the data signals it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in catalog engagement, using editorial spots, Halloween hubs, and staff picks to maximize the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix plays opportunist about own-slate titles and festival wins, dating horror entries with shorter lead times and making event-like releases with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a dual-phase of precision theatrical plays and swift platform pivots that turns chatter to conversion. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has shown a willingness to secure select projects with name filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for monthly activity when the genre conversation ramps.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 sequence with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is clear: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, refined for modern sonics and picture. 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 flagged a big-screen first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the October weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday corridor to go wider. That positioning has been successful for auteur horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception warrants. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using limited runs to kindle evangelism that fuels their user base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By proportion, the 2026 slate leans toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness fan equity. The potential drawback, as ever, is overexposure. The workable fix is to pitch each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is bringing forward character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-tinted vision from a buzzed-about director. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the package is grounded enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Recent-year comps clarify the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive window model that maintained windows did not foreclose a hybrid test from working when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror rose in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they alter lens and grow scope. 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 linked-chapter plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, allows marketing to tie installments through character and theme and to sustain campaign assets without pause points.

Creative tendencies and craft

The creative meetings behind 2026 horror indicate a continued move toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that highlights tone and tension rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in craft profiles and department features before rolling out a atmospheric tease that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at gross-out texture, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and gathers shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta reframe that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which work nicely for booth activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel must-have. Look for trailers that elevate surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that play in premium auditoriums.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is heavy. 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 big-brand pushes. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the palette of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Early-year through spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can thrive 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.

August into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a bridge slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited plot reveals that center concept over reveals.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and holiday gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s algorithmic partner evolves into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss struggle to survive on a desolate island as the pecking order inverts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-front survival film 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 renewed vision that returns the monster to horror, rooted in Cronin’s in-camera craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. 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 in-home haunting piece that filters its scares through a little one’s flickering inner lens. Rating: to be announced. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-supported and star-led supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that lampoons modern genre fads and true-crime buzz. Rating: pending. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 flares, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further extends again, with a young family lashed to old terrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: pending. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: not yet rated. Production: continuing. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and elemental menace. Rating: TBA. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three practical forces frame this lineup. First, production that stalled or shifted in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work turnkey scare beats from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the ideal band. 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 stealth-hit search 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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a see here willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, aural design, and picture 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

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand gravity where needed, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the screams sell the seats.