Mythic Evil emerges: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding feature, bowing Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

An bone-chilling paranormal horror tale from literary architect / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an ancient evil when drifters become subjects in a diabolical ordeal. Airings begin on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a intense account of survival and archaic horror that will resculpt horror this autumn. Realized by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and tone-heavy story follows five teens who arise sealed in a cut-off dwelling under the hostile will of Kyra, a female presence dominated by a ancient biblical demon. Be prepared to be gripped by a motion picture presentation that harmonizes bone-deep fear with folklore, unleashing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a time-honored motif in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is reversed when the forces no longer form outside the characters, but rather from their core. This depicts the most primal dimension of the cast. The result is a psychologically brutal internal warfare where the story becomes a unforgiving clash between virtue and vice.


In a abandoned backcountry, five characters find themselves isolated under the unholy dominion and curse of a obscure female figure. As the victims becomes paralyzed to fight her power, detached and hunted by spirits inconceivable, they are made to reckon with their darkest emotions while the final hour without pause edges forward toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear escalates and connections splinter, urging each survivor to evaluate their values and the nature of independent thought itself. The risk grow with every passing moment, delivering a cinematic nightmare that marries ghostly evil with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to tap into primitive panic, an force beyond recorded history, channeling itself through psychological breaks, and challenging a spirit that strips down our being when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra needed manifesting something far beyond human desperation. She is oblivious until the evil takes hold, and that transition is eerie because it is so raw.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be released for horror fans beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—making sure streamers in all regions can enjoy this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its release of trailer #1, which has garnered over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, giving access to the movie to global fright lovers.


Avoid skipping this life-altering journey into fear. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to acknowledge these unholy truths about existence.


For sneak peeks, director cuts, and announcements straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit our horror hub.





Contemporary horror’s sea change: 2025 U.S. release slate weaves myth-forward possession, underground frights, set against Franchise Rumbles

From pressure-cooker survival tales steeped in biblical myth through to returning series plus cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is coalescing into the most variegated combined with calculated campaign year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. studio majors stabilize the year with familiar IP, even as OTT services flood the fall with fresh voices and primordial unease. In the indie lane, the art-house flank is surfing the backdraft of a peak 2024 circuit. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, though in this cycle, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are surgical, hence 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Premium genre swings back

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s pipeline sets the tone with a big gambit: a refashioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in an immediate now. Led by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Booked into mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Directed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer eases, Warner’s pipeline sets loose the finale within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson is back, and the memorable motifs return: retro dread, trauma as narrative engine, plus otherworld rules that chill. This run ups the stakes, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The new chapter enriches the lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, bridging teens and legacy players. It arrives in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Platform Plays: Lean budgets, heavy bite

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

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a tight space body horror vignette with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is virtually assured for fall.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale featuring Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. That is a savvy move. No puffed out backstory. No franchise baggage. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

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

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Emerging Currents

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror returns
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

What’s Next: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. 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 approaching chiller release year: next chapters, standalone ideas, alongside A jammed Calendar calibrated for shocks

Dek: The fresh scare season clusters right away with a January bottleneck, thereafter extends through the mid-year, and deep into the holidays, braiding series momentum, creative pitches, and strategic counter-scheduling. Studios with streamers are embracing lean spends, theatrical exclusivity first, and influencer-ready assets that convert genre releases into national conversation.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has turned into the surest release in programming grids, a pillar that can expand when it connects and still protect the losses when it misses. After the 2023 year showed greenlighters that modestly budgeted pictures can shape the zeitgeist, 2024 kept energy high with signature-voice projects and quiet over-performers. The energy rolled into 2025, where resurrections and awards-minded projects underscored there is space for a spectrum, from series extensions to original features that perform internationally. The aggregate for 2026 is a programming that looks unusually coordinated across the industry, with mapped-out bands, a mix of established brands and original hooks, and a tightened commitment on exclusive windows that power the aftermarket on paid VOD and home streaming.

Executives say the category now performs as a utility player on the schedule. The genre can debut on a wide range of weekends, yield a clean hook for trailers and platform-native cuts, and punch above weight with demo groups that show up on early shows and return through the subsequent weekend if the film hits. On the heels of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 cadence indicates belief in that logic. The calendar opens with a weighty January lineup, then leans on spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while reserving space for a autumn stretch that pushes into All Hallows period and into November. The arrangement also shows the tightening integration of indie distributors and streaming partners that can stage a platform run, create conversation, and move wide at the precise moment.

A second macro trend is IP stewardship across shared universes and legacy franchises. Big banners are not just greenlighting another sequel. They are shaping as brand continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a typeface approach that suggests a tonal shift or a cast configuration that binds a next film to a initial period. At the very same time, the helmers behind the most watched originals are favoring real-world builds, practical effects and place-driven backdrops. That alloy hands 2026 a solid mix of home base and newness, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount fires first with two marquee releases that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the focus, presenting it as both a relay and a return-to-roots relationship-driven entry. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture suggests a heritage-honoring mode without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Watch for a push built on franchise iconography, early character teases, and a staggered trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will emphasize. As a summer relief option, this one will drive large awareness through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format permitting quick redirects to whatever drives pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three unique pushes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is efficient, grief-rooted, and high-concept: a grieving man brings home an machine companion that becomes a killer companion. The date positions it at the front of a busy month, with marketing at Universal likely to revisit off-kilter promo beats and short-form creative that hybridizes companionship and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title reveal to become an headline beat closer to the early tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s work are sold as event films, with a teaser with minimal detail and a later creative that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The pre-Halloween slot lets the studio to own 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, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has established that a tactile, in-camera leaning mix can feel premium on a mid-range budget. Frame it as a viscera-heavy summer horror charge that emphasizes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio rolls out two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, extending a steady supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is describing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both loyalists and new audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign creative around lore, and creature work, elements that can boost deluxe auditorium demand and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror defined by textural authenticity and linguistic texture, this time circling werewolf lore. The label has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Digital platform strategies

Platform strategies for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal titles land on copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a structure that optimizes both premiere heat and sub growth in the later phase. Prime Video stitches together licensed films with international acquisitions and small theatrical windows when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their edges in back-catalog play, using curated hubs, October hubs, and staff picks to prolong the run on the horror cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about originals and festival deals, scheduling horror entries near their drops and framing as events drops with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a dual-phase of targeted theatrical exposure and prompt platform moves that converts WOM to subscribers. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown a willingness to purchase select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-driven packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 sequence with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is straightforward: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, recalibrated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the September weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through festival season if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas corridor to expand. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-driven genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception drives. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using targeted theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their community.

Series vs standalone

By volume, the 2026 slate favors the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap marquee value. The watch-out, as ever, is brand erosion. The go-to fix is to frame each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is bringing forward character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-accented approach from a buzzed-about director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and director-driven titles add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the configuration is familiar enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and advance-audience nights.

Recent comps contextualize the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive window model that held distribution windows did not preclude a hybrid test from thriving when the brand was strong. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror over-performed in PLF. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel new when they angle differently and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters shot consecutively, creates space for marketing to bridge entries through character web and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without pause points.

How the films are being made

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 slate indicate a continued shift toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements 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 bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in deep-dive features and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for red-band excess, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a self-referential reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster aesthetics and world-building, which work nicely for fan conventions and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel necessary. Look for trailers that foreground surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that benefit on big speakers.

Annual flow

January is full. 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 foggy reset amid larger brand plays. The month ends 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 serious, but the variety of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth endures.

February through May load in summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and have a peek at this web-site will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a opaque tease strategy and limited pre-release reveals that put concept first.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and holiday gift-card burn.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s algorithmic partner evolves into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot 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 goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 unyielding boss try to survive on a rugged island as the power balance shifts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

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 modern reconception that returns the monster to fright, anchored by Cronin’s tactile craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 intimate haunting scenario that threads the dread through a kid’s unreliable subjective view. Rating: TBD. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A send-up revival that teases of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime obsessions. Rating: to be announced. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 erupts, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new family tethered to old terrors. Rating: TBA. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A fresh restart designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-core horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: to be announced. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: active. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and primal menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a big-screen run before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three workable forces inform this lineup. First, production that stalled or recalendared in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming releases. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine shareable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Calendar math also matters. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will share space across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where disciplined-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, audio design, 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 update. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is IP strength where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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, preserve the surprise, and let the shocks sell the seats.