Ancient Evil Surfaces in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling shocker, landing October 2025 across top streamers

An spine-tingling ghostly nightmare movie from screenwriter / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an age-old nightmare when foreigners become instruments in a malevolent conflict. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving chronicle of living through and old world terror that will revamp the horror genre this scare season. Produced by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and moody feature follows five people who suddenly rise stranded in a remote lodge under the dark command of Kyra, a cursed figure dominated by a 2,000-year-old holy text monster. Get ready to be absorbed by a big screen adventure that combines instinctive fear with ancient myths, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a historical trope in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is flipped when the malevolences no longer emerge from a different plane, but rather from their core. This portrays the most sinister element of the protagonists. The result is a psychologically brutal psychological battle where the story becomes a constant clash between purity and corruption.


In a abandoned terrain, five adults find themselves imprisoned under the dark influence and spiritual invasion of a elusive person. As the protagonists becomes helpless to evade her power, left alone and hunted by spirits unimaginable, they are forced to stand before their core terrors while the time mercilessly runs out toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear builds and teams collapse, driving each character to evaluate their self and the integrity of personal agency itself. The risk magnify with every minute, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that intertwines supernatural terror with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to uncover primal fear, an malevolence older than civilization itself, operating within mental cracks, and exposing a power that strips down our being when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra required summoning something more primal than sorrow. She is clueless until the invasion happens, and that transformation is harrowing because it is so intimate.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for worldwide release beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—giving users across the world can get immersed in this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its first preview, which has been viewed over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, bringing the film to thrill-seekers globally.


Don’t miss this mind-warping voyage through terror. Face *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to uncover these terrifying truths about the mind.


For featurettes, on-set glimpses, and social posts from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across online outlets and visit the movie portal.





Current horror’s decisive shift: the year 2025 U.S. lineup braids together old-world possession, Indie Shockers, and franchise surges

Moving from last-stand terror saturated with near-Eastern lore to series comebacks and pointed art-house angles, 2025 is emerging as the most dimensioned and intentionally scheduled year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. studio powerhouses lock in tentpoles with franchise anchors, in parallel SVOD players load up the fall with new voices in concert with old-world menace. In parallel, horror’s indie wing is buoyed by the backdraft from a record 2024 festival run. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The fall stretch is the proving field, though in this cycle, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are calculated, as a result 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The majors are assertive. If 2024 set the base, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s slate leads off the quarter with a confident swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, instead in a current-day frame. From director Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. targeting mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

At summer’s close, Warner’s schedule rolls out the capstone from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. While the template is known, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re engages, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: throwback unease, trauma as text, and eerie supernatural logic. This run ups the stakes, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The next entry deepens the tale, broadens the animatronic terror cast, speaking to teens and older millennials. It posts in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Platform Plays: Tight funds, wide impact

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of 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 dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

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 clever angle. No overinflated mythology. No canon weight. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. 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 curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

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

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

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Franchise Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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.

Key Trends

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror ascends again
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

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

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The upcoming terror season: entries, universe starters, together with A stacked Calendar Built For screams

Dek: The current genre slate crams from day one with a January crush, from there extends through the summer months, and well into the holiday stretch, fusing legacy muscle, new voices, and well-timed counterprogramming. Studios with streamers are committing to responsible budgets, theater-first strategies, and influencer-ready assets that turn genre releases into culture-wide discussion.

Horror’s status entering 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the sturdy counterweight in release strategies, a pillar that can surge when it performs and still safeguard the losses when it underperforms. After 2023 signaled to strategy teams that efficiently budgeted fright engines can lead the zeitgeist, the following year continued the surge with director-led heat and quiet over-performers. The run extended into the 2025 frame, where reboots and awards-minded projects made clear there is space for a spectrum, from ongoing IP entries to one-and-done originals that play globally. The end result for the 2026 slate is a lineup that presents tight coordination across studios, with intentional bunching, a spread of recognizable IP and new concepts, and a renewed commitment on cinema windows that drive downstream revenue on premium on-demand and home platforms.

Planners observe the genre now works like a utility player on the programming map. The genre can roll out on most weekends, create a clean hook for teasers and vertical videos, and over-index with crowds that come out on Thursday previews and maintain momentum through the week two if the picture connects. Exiting a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 setup underscores confidence in that dynamic. The slate launches with a busy January schedule, then taps spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while leaving room for a late-year stretch that reaches into All Hallows period and into the next week. The grid also illustrates the expanded integration of boutique distributors and SVOD players that can platform a title, stoke social talk, and broaden at the sweet spot.

A companion trend is IP stewardship across shared IP webs and long-running brands. Big banners are not just making another chapter. They are setting up lineage with a occasion, whether that is a brandmark that telegraphs a refreshed voice or a talent selection that reconnects a fresh chapter to a original cycle. At the alongside this, the auteurs behind the marquee originals are embracing practical craft, makeup and prosthetics and place-driven backdrops. That interplay provides the 2026 slate a confident blend of assurance and shock, which is what works overseas.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount defines the early cadence with two high-profile releases that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the center, setting it up as both a passing of the torch and a classic-mode relationship-driven entry. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the artistic posture suggests a fan-service aware strategy without replaying the last two entries’ family thread. A campaign is expected leaning on iconic art, initial cast looks, and a tease cadence aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will foreground. As a summer counter-slot, this one will drive mass reach through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format inviting quick shifts to whatever defines horror talk that spring.

Universal has three discrete entries. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is crisp, grief-rooted, and concept-forward: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that mutates into a perilous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a thick month, with Universal’s team likely to mirror uncanny live moments and brief clips that mixes companionship and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a name unveil to become an marketing beat closer to the first look. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s work are positioned as director events, with a minimalist tease and a second wave of trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The late-month date allows Universal to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has proven that a flesh-and-blood, practical-first treatment can feel premium on a tight budget. Look for a blood-soaked summer horror surge that maximizes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio mounts two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, carrying a proven supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has moved dates 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 re-enters in what Sony is positioning as a from-the-ground-up reboot 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 sharper mandate to serve both devotees and newcomers. The fall slot gives Sony time to build marketing units around universe detail, and creature builds, elements that can increase IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by historical precision and language, this time set against lycan legends. Focus’s team has already set the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is glowing.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform plans for 2026 run on tested paths. The studio’s horror films head to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a tiered path that boosts both opening-weekend urgency and sign-up spikes in the tail. Prime Video interleaves third-party pickups with cross-border buys and select theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library engagement, using seasonal hubs, October hubs, and curated strips to increase tail value on overall cume. Netflix plays opportunist about first-party entries and festival additions, timing horror entries on shorter runways and positioning as event drops drops with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a hybrid of precision releases and accelerated platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has shown appetite to pick up select projects with prestige directors or star-driven packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation ramps.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 arc with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is clear: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, upgraded for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical rollout for the title, an good sign for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then working the December frame to increase reach. That positioning has paid off for arthouse horror with broader reach. 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 reasonable expectation is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception prompts. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using mini theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their community.

Franchises versus originals

By number, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage brand equity. The challenge, as ever, is diminishing returns. The workable fix is to pitch each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is emphasizing character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a continental coloration from a rising filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and talent-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the packaging is recognizable enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and Thursday previews.

Recent-year comps clarify the template. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept streaming intact did not prevent a parallel release from delivering when the brand was powerful. In 2024, auteur craft horror rose in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they change perspective and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters filmed in sequence, enables marketing to thread films through character and theme and to maintain a flow of assets without hiatuses.

Craft and creative trends

The director conversations behind the upcoming entries telegraph a continued emphasis on tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that foregrounds atmosphere and fear rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in feature stories and guild coverage before rolling out a atmospheric tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and sparks shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a self-referential reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature execution and sets, which work nicely for fan conventions and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel must-have. Look for trailers that spotlight pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in big rooms.

Calendar cadence

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. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid larger brand plays. The month wraps 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 legit, but the mix of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth persists.

Winter into spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s 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 sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

End of summer through fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil follows September 18, a early fall window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited disclosures that lean on concept not plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card burn.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s AI companion escalates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot 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 finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss work to survive on a remote island as the chain of command swivels and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to chill, driven by Cronin’s on-set craft and creeping 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 household haunting chiller that toys with the terror of a child’s tricky read. Rating: TBA. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-financed and star-fronted eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A satirical comeback that satirizes of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fixations. Rating: rating forthcoming. 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 flares, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new clan caught in 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: forthcoming. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A new start designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on pure survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: ongoing. 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 historical diction and raw menace. Rating: TBA. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, see here TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three grounded forces define this lineup. First, production that stalled or shuffled in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and leaner schedules. 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 out-earned straight-to-streaming placements. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate turnkey scare beats from test screenings, curated scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Calendar math also matters. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will compete across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where value-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 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. 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.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two 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 click site invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, efficient placements, 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 surface detail, aural design, 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.

A Promising 2026

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is IP strength 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.