Mythic Evil Awakens in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising shocker, arriving Oct 2025 on leading streamers

A chilling spectral suspense film from narrative craftsman / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an forgotten evil when strangers become subjects in a supernatural conflict. Dropping on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking tale of living through and old world terror that will reimagine terror storytelling this harvest season. Crafted by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and eerie suspense flick follows five young adults who come to stranded in a cut-off house under the hostile rule of Kyra, a young woman dominated by a biblical-era scriptural evil. Be warned to be enthralled by a screen-based journey that unites bodily fright with legendary tales, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a mainstay trope in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is subverted when the malevolences no longer emerge from a different plane, but rather within themselves. This illustrates the shadowy version of all involved. The result is a gripping moral showdown where the events becomes a unyielding conflict between light and darkness.


In a abandoned backcountry, five friends find themselves sealed under the possessive grip and spiritual invasion of a mysterious spirit. As the characters becomes paralyzed to fight her will, stranded and stalked by evils mind-shattering, they are forced to wrestle with their greatest panics while the final hour without pause edges forward toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear mounts and friendships dissolve, urging each participant to reconsider their character and the principle of freedom of choice itself. The tension rise with every heartbeat, delivering a chilling narrative that connects paranormal dread with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to awaken deep fear, an curse before modern man, manifesting in human fragility, and navigating a darkness that peels away humanity when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra meant evoking something far beyond human desperation. She is insensitive until the possession kicks in, and that metamorphosis is deeply unsettling because it is so personal.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for horror fans beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing watchers from coast to coast can dive into this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its original clip, which has pulled in over 100K plays.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, extending the thrill to global fright lovers.


Join this visceral journey into fear. Confront *Young & Cursed* this launch day to witness these spiritual awakenings about the soul.


For featurettes, production insights, and reveals from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across online outlets and visit our horror hub.





Modern horror’s watershed moment: the year 2025 U.S. release slate Mixes primeval-possession lore, festival-born jolts, stacked beside Franchise Rumbles

Beginning with endurance-driven terror rooted in ancient scripture and stretching into legacy revivals paired with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is shaping up as the most complex along with intentionally scheduled year in the past ten years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. Top studios lock in tentpoles by way of signature titles, as premium streamers stack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs as well as old-world menace. At the same time, indie storytellers is riding the echoes from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The fall stretch is the proving field, notably this year, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are calculated, hence 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal camp lights the fuse with a confident swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. arriving mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Guided by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

By late summer, the WB camp sets loose the finale from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson returns, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: nostalgic menace, trauma driven plotting, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The ante is higher this round, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, grows the animatronic horror lineup, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It arrives in December, cornering year end horror.

SVOD Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a close quarters body horror study starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting 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.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No heavy handed lore. No continuity burden. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

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.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, under Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Trends to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror resurges
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

What’s Next: Fall crush plus winter X factor

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. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The oncoming terror season: next chapters, new stories, in tandem with A jammed Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek: The new genre calendar loads in short order with a January bottleneck, after that carries through midyear, and far into the late-year period, balancing brand equity, creative pitches, and data-minded alternatives. The major players are embracing efficient budgets, box-office-first windows, and social-driven marketing that shape these offerings into mainstream chatter.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror filmmaking has grown into the surest move in studio slates, a vertical that can grow when it connects and still hedge the downside when it falls short. After 2023 showed leaders that mid-range pictures can shape audience talk, 2024 held pace with director-led heat and word-of-mouth wins. The energy rolled into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and arthouse crossovers proved there is a market for varied styles, from legacy continuations to original one-offs that carry overseas. The net effect for 2026 is a lineup that seems notably aligned across distributors, with planned clusters, a pairing of known properties and new pitches, and a renewed attention on exclusive windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium digital and platforms.

Executives say the horror lane now works like a swing piece on the rollout map. The genre can launch on most weekends, generate a quick sell for promo reels and reels, and outpace with viewers that respond on first-look nights and stay strong through the next weekend if the feature fires. Post a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 setup exhibits conviction in that playbook. The calendar starts with a crowded January lineup, then plants flags in spring and early summer for alternate plays, while reserving space for a October build that runs into spooky season and beyond. The map also underscores the ongoing integration of indie arms and home platforms that can platform a title, build word of mouth, and expand at the timely point.

A reinforcing pattern is franchise tending across interlocking continuities and established properties. Big banners are not just producing another installment. They are working to present story carry-over with a sense of event, whether that is a brandmark that indicates a refreshed voice or a casting choice that threads a next film to a initial period. At the in tandem, the visionaries behind the eagerly awaited originals are leaning into material texture, practical effects and place-driven backdrops. That convergence hands 2026 a lively combination of known notes and invention, which is the formula for international play.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount marks the early tempo with two high-profile releases that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, marketing it as both a baton pass and a rootsy relationship-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the directional approach telegraphs a legacy-leaning mode without replaying the last two entries’ family thread. A campaign is expected built on signature symbols, character-first teases, and a promo sequence arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reignites 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 in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will play up. As a summer contrast play, this one will pursue mainstream recognition through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format inviting quick switches to whatever defines trend lines that spring.

Universal has three defined bets. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is crisp, sorrow-tinged, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man implements an intelligent companion that mutates into a perilous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a front-loaded month, with the marketing arm likely to renew odd public stunts and bite-size content that interlaces affection and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a name unveil to become an teaser payoff closer to the first trailer. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. The filmmaker’s films are framed as event films, with a teaser with minimal detail and a next wave of trailers that signal tone without plot the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor creates space for Universal to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has proven that a raw, practical-effects forward method can feel premium on a disciplined budget. Position this as a grime-caked summer horror surge that maximizes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio lines up two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, maintaining a dependable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what Sony is selling as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both devotees and new audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build materials around environmental design, and creature design, elements that can drive premium booking interest and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror driven by meticulous craft and linguistic texture, this time driven by werewolf stories. The distributor has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is strong.

Digital platform strategies

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s genre entries land on copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a ladder that fortifies both opening-weekend urgency and subscription bumps in the back half. Prime Video will mix acquired titles with international acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data signals it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in library pulls, using well-timed internal promotions, October hubs, and programmed rows to sustain interest on aggregate take. Netflix keeps optionality about originals and festival additions, timing horror entries closer to drop and turning into events premieres with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a laddered of precision releases and speedy platforming 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 leaning on fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a situational basis. The platform has shown a willingness to take on select projects with recognized filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for monthly activity when the genre conversation swells.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 runway with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is no-nonsense: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, reimagined for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the fall weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then working the year-end corridor to widen. That positioning has delivered for filmmaker-driven genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception justifies. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using small theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By skew, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use franchise value. The potential drawback, as ever, is viewer burnout. The near-term solution is to pitch each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is leading with character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a European tilt from a emerging director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and director-first projects provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the deal build is grounded enough to generate pre-sales and early previews.

Comparable trends from recent years announce the template. In 2023, a exclusive window model that preserved streaming windows did not obstruct a parallel release from succeeding when the brand was potent. In 2024, director-craft horror over-performed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they angle differently and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters filmed consecutively, provides the means for marketing to bridge entries through character arcs and themes and to keep assets in-market without hiatuses.

Creative tendencies and craft

The shop talk behind the year’s horror forecast a continued turn toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that leans on atmosphere and fear rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked this content about Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in feature stories and department features before rolling out a tone piece that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and gathers shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta-horror reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster aesthetics and world-building, which are ideal for convention activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel must-have. Look for trailers that center surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that work in PLF.

Annual flow

January is loaded. 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 somber counterpoint amid big-brand pushes. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the menu of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth sticks.

Late Q1 and spring stage summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now supports 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 clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Shoulder season into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited disclosures that lean on concept not plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card use.

Project briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s virtual companion mutates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels 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: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. 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 prickly boss fight to survive on a desolate island as the control balance tilts and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. 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 not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to chill, built on Cronin’s in-camera craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting narrative that routes the horror through a youngster’s wavering personal vantage. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that lampoons of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime crazes. Rating: TBD. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 bursts, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a fresh family lashed to returning horrors. Rating: TBD. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A restart designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-driven horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: TBD. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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 time-true diction and elemental fear. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the moment is 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces frame this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or migrated in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more strict 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 landings. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest turnkey scare beats from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Calendar math also matters. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, creating valuable space for genre entries that can control a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will stack across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

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

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where cost-efficient genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first shock 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, 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 hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, sound, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand heft where it matters, filmmaker 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the shocks sell the seats.