Antediluvian Horror Emerges within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding horror thriller, bowing October 2025 across major streaming services

This frightening ghostly nightmare movie from cinematographer / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an age-old entity when outsiders become tokens in a hellish conflict. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing journey of resistance and timeless dread that will remodel genre cinema this cool-weather season. Crafted by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and eerie feature follows five individuals who wake up trapped in a unreachable hideaway under the menacing influence of Kyra, a young woman occupied by a legendary Old Testament spirit. Brace yourself to be enthralled by a motion picture ride that harmonizes instinctive fear with mythic lore, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a enduring pillar in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is reversed when the spirits no longer manifest beyond the self, but rather through their own souls. This marks the darkest corner of all involved. The result is a relentless internal warfare where the tension becomes a relentless tug-of-war between right and wrong.


In a isolated woodland, five young people find themselves cornered under the ominous force and inhabitation of a enigmatic woman. As the victims becomes unable to withstand her grasp, marooned and tracked by terrors beyond comprehension, they are made to stand before their greatest panics while the deathwatch harrowingly pushes forward toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension builds and links fracture, urging each protagonist to reconsider their character and the idea of self-determination itself. The cost grow with every short lapse, delivering a cinematic nightmare that integrates supernatural terror with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to evoke pure dread, an spirit from prehistory, channeling itself through fragile psyche, and exposing a curse that threatens selfhood when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra demanded embodying something darker than pain. She is unaware until the haunting manifests, and that transformation is terrifying because it is so deep.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for digital release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—making sure households everywhere can dive into this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first trailer, which has gathered over notable views.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, spreading the horror to international horror buffs.


Witness this visceral descent into hell. Stream *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to dive into these nightmarish insights about mankind.


For cast commentary, production news, and insider scoops from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursed across social media and visit our horror hub.





American horror’s decisive shift: calendar year 2025 domestic schedule melds biblical-possession ideas, microbudget gut-punches, stacked beside franchise surges

Spanning fight-to-live nightmare stories infused with scriptural legend and extending to series comebacks as well as sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 appears poised to be the most dimensioned together with calculated campaign year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. the big studios are anchoring the year by way of signature titles, even as OTT services crowd the fall with fresh voices together with archetypal fear. On the festival side, the art-house flank is carried on the echoes from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the other windows are mapped with care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, distinctly in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are intentional, as a result 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige terror resurfaces

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal camp fires the first shot with a risk-forward move: a modernized Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, in a clear present-tense world. From director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. arriving mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Directed by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

Toward summer’s end, Warner Bros. Pictures rolls out the capstone inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Despite a known recipe, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re engages, and those signature textures resurface: nostalgic menace, trauma as text, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The bar is raised this go, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The continuation widens the legend, grows the animatronic horror lineup, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It arrives in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Firsts: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatrical skews franchise first, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a close quarters body horror study including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn led by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

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

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. 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.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a smart play. No bloated canon. No brand fatigue. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Brands: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, with Francis Lawrence directing, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Signals and Trends

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

The Road Ahead: Fall saturation and a winter joker

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The oncoming fright year to come: returning titles, filmmaker-first projects, paired with A Crowded Calendar designed for screams

Dek: The current genre slate crowds at the outset with a January cluster, from there unfolds through peak season, and deep into the festive period, weaving series momentum, original angles, and well-timed release strategy. The big buyers and platforms are relying on responsible budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and viral-minded pushes that transform the slate’s entries into culture-wide discussion.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The field has turned into the most reliable release in release strategies, a vertical that can surge when it catches and still buffer the downside when it stumbles. After 2023 reminded strategy teams that cost-conscious genre plays can steer the national conversation, the following year carried the beat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and surprise hits. The trend moved into the 2025 frame, where reboots and awards-minded projects made clear there is appetite for multiple flavors, from franchise continuations to original features that export nicely. The result for 2026 is a lineup that presents tight coordination across the field, with defined corridors, a mix of familiar brands and new concepts, and a refocused priority on theater exclusivity that enhance post-theatrical value on premium digital and digital services.

Marketers add the horror lane now functions as a schedule utility on the release plan. Horror can premiere on a wide range of weekends, supply a tight logline for creative and reels, and over-index with fans that arrive on first-look nights and sustain through the second weekend if the title fires. After a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 configuration shows assurance in that logic. The slate begins with a front-loaded January band, then exploits spring through early summer for alternate plays, while making space for a fall cadence that connects to the Halloween frame and into early November. The map also highlights the expanded integration of specialized imprints and streaming partners that can platform a title, build word of mouth, and widen at the right moment.

A second macro trend is brand strategy across brand ecosystems and veteran brands. The players are not just greenlighting another continuation. They are shaping as brand continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a title presentation that announces a tonal shift or a star attachment that links a upcoming film to a foundational era. At the meanwhile, the directors behind the high-profile originals are doubling down on real-world builds, in-camera effects and site-specific worlds. That interplay hands 2026 a lively combination of home base and unexpected turns, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount marks the early tempo with two prominent titles that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the spine, steering it as both a succession moment and a classic-mode character-focused installment. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the narrative stance announces a legacy-leaning campaign without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Expect a marketing push driven by heritage visuals, character previews, and a staggered trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

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 joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will foreground. As a counterweight in summer, this one will seek wide buzz through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick switches to whatever rules the social talk that spring.

Universal has three clear pushes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is tight, grief-rooted, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man brings home an synthetic partner that turns into a deadly partner. The date sets it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s promo team likely to echo viral uncanny stunts and quick hits that melds companionship and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a official title to become an event moment closer to the early tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s work are positioned as director events, with a hinting teaser and a second beat that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The prime October weekend offers Universal room to fill 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, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a gnarly, prosthetic-heavy method can feel deluxe on a tight budget. Position this as a red-band summer horror surge that embraces international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio rolls out two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, maintaining a evergreen supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is marketing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both devotees and first-timers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build promo materials around world-building, and monster design, elements that can lift premium booking interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by textural authenticity and linguistic texture, this time driven by werewolf stories. The label has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is favorable.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform windowing in 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s slate window into copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a pacing that boosts both premiere heat and subscriber lifts in the back half. Prime Video interleaves third-party pickups with world buys and limited runs in theaters when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library pulls, using in-app campaigns, genre hubs, and curated rows to lengthen the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix remains opportunistic about originals and festival wins, timing horror entries toward the drop and coalescing around go-lives with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a hybrid of focused cinema runs and rapid 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 relying on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a per-project basis. The platform has indicated interest 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 leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for platform stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is engineering 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 angle is no-nonsense: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, reimagined 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. The distributor has announced a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the October weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then working the year-end corridor to expand. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-first horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception allows. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using small theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their subs.

Balance of brands and originals

By count, the 2026 slate skews toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate brand equity. The risk, as ever, is fatigue. The near-term solution is to pitch each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is centering character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-inflected take from a ascendant talent. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the team and cast is grounded enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Rolling three-year comps announce the template. In 2023, a exclusive window model that held distribution windows did not obstruct a dual release from delivering when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror rose in premium screens. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they shift POV and scale the storytelling. 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 shot back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to bridge entries through character and theme and to hold creative in the market without long gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The director conversations behind the 2026 entries suggest a continued turn toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that foregrounds grain and menace rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in craft profiles and artisan spotlights before rolling out a preview that keeps plot minimal, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and produces shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a self-aware reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature execution and sets, which fit with fan-con activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that center precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that explode in larger rooms.

Release calendar overview

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 tonal palate cleanser amid bigger brand plays. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the menu of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

Post-January through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now can handle 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 sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

August into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film click to read more claims October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a peekaboo tease plan and limited information drops that lean on concept not plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can win the holiday when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card spend.

Film-by-film briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s intelligent companion escalates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads 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: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: tone-first 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 unyielding boss scramble to survive on a isolated island as the power balance of power inverts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to fright, anchored by Cronin’s material craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting setup that channels the fear through a young child’s shifting POV. Rating: forthcoming. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A parody return that needles of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime crazes. Rating: undetermined. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 detonates, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further reopens, with a another family entangled with returning horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward classic survival-horror tone over set-piece spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: TBA. Production: continuing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 bone-deep menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three execution-level forces organize this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shifted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work repeatable beats from test screenings, metered scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

There is also the slotting calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can command a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will line up across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. 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.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, 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 pace and range. January is a tasting useful reference table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, soundscape, 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

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is franchise muscle where it helps, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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, deliver taut trailers, lock the reveals, and let the frights sell the seats.