Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primeval horror, a pulse pounding shocker, debuting Oct 2025 on top streamers

An terrifying otherworldly suspense story from screenwriter / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an primordial entity when outsiders become vehicles in a devilish experiment. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping chronicle of struggle and prehistoric entity that will revamp the fear genre this fall. Helmed by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and cinematic cinema piece follows five figures who arise imprisoned in a remote hideaway under the oppressive influence of Kyra, a young woman inhabited by a 2,000-year-old sacrosanct terror. Be prepared to be seized by a big screen experience that combines raw fear with folklore, unleashing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a time-honored motif in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is reimagined when the malevolences no longer manifest from external sources, but rather from deep inside. This embodies the darkest dimension of the cast. The result is a psychologically brutal internal warfare where the tension becomes a intense fight between divinity and wickedness.


In a remote no-man's-land, five adults find themselves caught under the possessive effect and inhabitation of a secretive apparition. As the group becomes paralyzed to oppose her rule, marooned and hunted by creatures inconceivable, they are pushed to encounter their emotional phantoms while the deathwatch ruthlessly pushes forward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety surges and friendships splinter, pressuring each protagonist to examine their self and the foundation of volition itself. The cost amplify with every beat, delivering a terror ride that combines spiritual fright with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to draw upon instinctual horror, an malevolence beyond time, channeling itself through soul-level flaws, and challenging a spirit that redefines identity when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra was centered on something more primal than sorrow. She is unseeing until the invasion happens, and that change is deeply unsettling because it is so emotional.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for audience access beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—delivering watchers no matter where they are can be part of this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first trailer, which has received over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, making the film to horror fans worldwide.


Tune in for this visceral fall into madness. Enter *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to explore these ghostly lessons about the human condition.


For exclusive trailers, production insights, and updates from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across Facebook and TikTok and visit the film’s website.





Horror’s Turning Point: the year 2025 U.S. release slate Mixes archetypal-possession themes, festival-born jolts, and returning-series thunder

Beginning with life-or-death fear grounded in old testament echoes as well as brand-name continuations and surgical indie voices, 2025 stands to become the most variegated plus precision-timed year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio majors hold down the year by way of signature titles, as OTT services flood the fall with emerging auteurs in concert with archetypal fear. Across the art-house lane, the artisan tier is surfing the afterglow from a record 2024 festival run. As Halloween stays the prime week, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, but this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are methodical, accordingly 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Premium dread reemerges

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 set the base, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal camp opens the year with a statement play: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, within a sleek contemporary canvas. With Leigh Whannell at the helm fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. timed for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Directed by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial heat flags it as potent.

By late summer, Warner’s slate sets loose the finale from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson returns, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: retro dread, trauma explicitly handled, and eerie supernatural logic. This pass pushes higher, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, stretches the animatronic parade, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It lands in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While the big screen favors titles you know, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a tight space body horror vignette pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. From writer director 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. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing 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 calculated bet. No swollen lore. No sequel clutter. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Badges as Fuel

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

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Key Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror reemerges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Season Ahead: 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 will scrap for air. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The oncoming chiller release year: follow-ups, original films, together with A Crowded Calendar optimized for screams

Dek: The brand-new horror season lines up from the jump with a January pile-up, subsequently stretches through June and July, and pushing into the year-end corridor, weaving franchise firepower, inventive spins, and smart alternatives. Studio marketers and platforms are embracing lean spends, theatrical-first rollouts, and platform-native promos that pivot the slate’s entries into four-quadrant talking points.

How the genre looks for 2026

The horror sector has grown into the predictable release in release plans, a lane that can lift when it resonates and still buffer the floor when it falls short. After the 2023 year signaled to buyers that cost-conscious scare machines can dominate the national conversation, the following year carried the beat with visionary-driven titles and word-of-mouth wins. The tailwind pushed into 2025, where revived properties and critical darlings confirmed there is capacity for different modes, from brand follow-ups to standalone ideas that translate worldwide. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a run that feels more orchestrated than usual across companies, with intentional bunching, a balance of marquee IP and original hooks, and a sharpened emphasis on cinema windows that power the aftermarket on premium on-demand and digital services.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now operates like a plug-and-play option on the calendar. The genre can debut on virtually any date, yield a easy sell for teasers and short-form placements, and outstrip with viewers that respond on previews Thursday and hold through the subsequent weekend if the film satisfies. Emerging from a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 cadence demonstrates conviction in that engine. The calendar rolls out with a stacked January schedule, then primes spring and early summer for counterweight, while carving room for a fall cadence that stretches into late October and into post-Halloween. The map also features the increasing integration of indie distributors and home platforms that can grow from platform, ignite recommendations, and roll out at the inflection point.

A reinforcing pattern is IP cultivation across linked properties and long-running brands. Studios are not just mounting another chapter. They are aiming to frame ongoing narrative with a marquee sheen, whether that is a logo package that broadcasts a fresh attitude or a cast configuration that bridges a latest entry to a early run. At the simultaneously, the creative teams behind the marquee originals are prioritizing real-world builds, makeup and prosthetics and site-specific worlds. That interplay gives 2026 a strong blend of recognition and newness, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount marks the early tempo with two front-of-slate projects that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the center, setting it up as both a succession moment and a origin-leaning character piece. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach points to a memory-charged strategy without recycling the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Anticipate a campaign stacked with legacy iconography, first-look character reveals, and a tiered teaser plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will play up. As a summer counter-slot, this one will go after mass reach through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format enabling quick adjustments to whatever owns the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three specific lanes. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is efficient, sorrow-tinged, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man brings home an algorithmic mate that evolves into a dangerous lover. The date lines it up at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s team likely to replay odd public stunts and brief clips that threads attachment and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a proper title to become an earned moment closer to the early tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. His projects are treated as creative events, with a mystery-first teaser and a second wave of trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The late-October frame allows Universal to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has made clear that a raw, hands-on effects method can feel premium on a middle budget. Frame it as a splatter summer horror surge that embraces foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio rolls out two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, maintaining a reliable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is calling a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both loyalists and first-timers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build marketing units around lore, and creature builds, elements that can stoke premium format interest and fan-culture participation.

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 builds on Eggers’ run of period horror built on minute detail and period language, this time set against lycan legends. The imprint has already locked the day for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is robust.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform plans for 2026 run on well-known grooves. The studio’s horror films transition to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ordering that expands both opening-weekend urgency and sign-up spikes in the back half. Prime Video combines library titles with world buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data signals it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library pulls, using featured rows, October hubs, and handpicked rows to extend momentum on the 2026 genre total. Netflix retains agility about Netflix originals and festival acquisitions, securing horror entries near their drops and framing as events arrivals with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a tiered of targeted cinema placements and swift platform pivots that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown a willingness to pick up select projects with recognized filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 corridor with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is direct: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, refined for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through festival season if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday dates to widen. That positioning has shown results for elevated genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, Young & Cursed and Cannes. A sound expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception supports. Expect 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 together, using select theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their audience.

Balance of brands and originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on household recognition. The concern, as ever, is fatigue. The operating solution is to frame each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is underscoring character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French sensibility from a hot helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a survival shocker premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the deal build is assuring enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and preview-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years frame the logic. In 2023, a exclusive window model that honored streaming windows did not prevent a dual release from succeeding when the brand was big. In 2024, precision craft horror over-performed in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they rotate perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to relate entries through character arcs and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without doldrums.

How the look and feel evolve

The filmmaking conversations behind 2026 horror signal a continued preference for tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that foregrounds texture and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft spotlights before rolling out a first look that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and earns shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta-horror reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature design and production design, which favor convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel must-have. Look for trailers that highlight razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that work in PLF.

Calendar cadence

January is jammed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid heftier brand moves. The month concludes 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 formidable, but the range of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Pre-summer months prime the summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The 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 divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

August into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a late-September window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited plot reveals that center concept over reveals.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can play the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and card redemption.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s intelligent companion turns into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss battle to survive on a far-flung island as the control dynamic inverts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to horror, rooted in Cronin’s practical craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting scenario that filters its scares through a minor’s shifting internal vantage. Rating: to be announced. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-crafted and A-list fronted supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A satirical comeback that riffs on of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime buzz. Rating: awaiting classification. 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 international twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a fresh family anchored to ancient dread. Rating: forthcoming. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-core horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: pending. Production: underway. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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-specific language and bone-deep menace. Rating: pending. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. 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 the 2026 timing works

Three execution-level forces drive this lineup. First, production that downshifted or migrated in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and leaner schedules. 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 out-earned straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage meme-ready beats from test screenings, precision scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Calendar math also matters. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can capture a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will cluster across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can pounce on 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 come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run 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 compound over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, right-sized allotments, 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 grain, acoustics, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand equity where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, guard the secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.