Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons ancient dread, a chilling horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on leading streamers

An chilling otherworldly shockfest from cinematographer / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an mythic entity when drifters become pawns in a cursed trial. Dropping October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching narrative of resistance and prehistoric entity that will remodel horror this Halloween season. Produced by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and immersive motion picture follows five young adults who emerge confined in a hidden house under the menacing control of Kyra, a female lead possessed by a timeless ancient fiend. Steel yourself to be absorbed by a screen-based event that combines instinctive fear with mystical narratives, landing 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 classic concept in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is subverted when the demons no longer arise outside the characters, but rather inside them. This marks the grimmest shade of the players. The result is a psychologically brutal identity crisis where the plotline becomes a soul-crushing conflict between light and darkness.


In a unforgiving wilderness, five figures find themselves contained under the sinister grip and domination of a uncanny being. As the protagonists becomes unresisting to fight her curse, cut off and stalked by terrors unnamable, they are obligated to encounter their soulful dreads while the moments harrowingly counts down toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease escalates and relationships shatter, prompting each survivor to challenge their identity and the idea of conscious will itself. The tension amplify with every short lapse, delivering a paranormal ride that intertwines unearthly horror with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to explore elemental fright, an evil that existed before mankind, filtering through inner turmoil, and dealing with a darkness that questions who we are when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra was about accessing something darker than pain. She is in denial until the entity awakens, and that pivot is soul-crushing because it is so emotional.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for horror fans beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—giving fans in all regions can engage with this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its first trailer, which has earned over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, bringing the film to international horror buffs.


Mark your calendar for this heart-stopping voyage through terror. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to survive these spiritual awakenings about inner darkness.


For exclusive trailers, on-set glimpses, and insider scoops from behind the lens, follow @YACMovie across your favorite networks and visit our film’s homepage.





U.S. horror’s inflection point: the 2025 season domestic schedule interlaces Mythic Possession, independent shockers, alongside brand-name tremors

Spanning survivor-centric dread grounded in near-Eastern lore all the way to legacy revivals and incisive indie visions, 2025 looks like the most dimensioned as well as calculated campaign year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. top-tier distributors are anchoring the year with known properties, while streamers stack the fall with new voices as well as archetypal fear. At the same time, horror’s indie wing is riding the kinetic energy of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are disciplined, as a result 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s slate sets the tone with a marquee bet: a contemporary Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, but a sharp contemporary setting. From director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. landing in mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Directed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer winds down, Warner’s schedule bows the concluding entry from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. While the template is known, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re teams, and those signature textures resurface: throwback unease, trauma foregrounded, plus otherworld rules that chill. This time, the stakes are raised, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, broadens the animatronic terror cast, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It lands in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Offerings: Low budgets, big teeth

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a body horror duet pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is destined for a fall landing.

In the mix sits Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable starring Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in 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 an astute call. No overinflated mythology. No series drag. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Badges as Fuel

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

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

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

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, led by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror comes roaring back
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Projection: Autumn density and winter pivot

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

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. 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 plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The new genre year to come: entries, filmmaker-first projects, plus A jammed Calendar aimed at Scares

Dek The brand-new horror slate builds in short order with a January wave, from there runs through midyear, and pushing into the late-year period, mixing legacy muscle, new voices, and savvy counterplay. Studios with streamers are leaning into lean spends, cinema-first plans, and short-form initiatives that shape the slate’s entries into national conversation.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The horror sector has proven to be the consistent swing in programming grids, a space that can break out when it resonates and still cushion the risk when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for decision-makers that modestly budgeted fright engines can own social chatter, 2024 carried the beat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam fed into the 2025 frame, where returns and premium-leaning entries highlighted there is room for several lanes, from returning installments to filmmaker-driven originals that travel well. The sum for 2026 is a run that feels more orchestrated than usual across the industry, with planned clusters, a mix of legacy names and untested plays, and a sharpened focus on cinema windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium video on demand and SVOD.

Schedulers say the horror lane now acts as a flex slot on the grid. The genre can kick off on many corridors, supply a clear pitch for spots and social clips, and over-index with ticket buyers that line up on advance nights and return through the second frame if the feature hits. Following a production delay era, the 2026 pattern demonstrates assurance in that equation. The slate commences with a heavy January window, then plants flags in spring and early summer for audience offsets, while making space for a late-year stretch that extends to the Halloween corridor and into early November. The program also illustrates the tightening integration of specialty arms and streaming partners that can launch in limited release, spark evangelism, and move wide at the proper time.

A second macro trend is franchise tending across linked properties and established properties. The players are not just rolling another next film. They are moving to present threaded continuity with a occasion, whether that is a art treatment that announces a re-angled tone or a ensemble decision that anchors a new installment to a first wave. At the parallel to that, the creative teams behind the most anticipated originals are championing practical craft, makeup and prosthetics and specific settings. That alloy gives the 2026 slate a vital pairing of home base and freshness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount leads early with two big-ticket pushes that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the front, steering it as both a baton pass and a classic-mode character study. Production is active in Atlanta, and the tonal posture hints at a legacy-leaning treatment without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Plan for a rollout fueled by heritage visuals, initial cast looks, and a tease cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will play up. As a summer relief option, this one will pursue mainstream recognition through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick shifts to whatever owns pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three separate bets. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is elegant, sorrow-tinged, and easily pitched: a grieving man activates an intelligent companion that unfolds into a dangerous lover. The date puts it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with marketing at Universal likely to bring back uncanny-valley stunts and quick hits that fuses intimacy and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a final title to become an event moment closer horror to the early tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. His entries are branded as auteur events, with a teaser that reveals little and a later trailer push that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot offers Universal room to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has established that a raw, prosthetic-heavy execution can feel top-tier on a moderate cost. Position this as a blood-soaked summer horror charge that maximizes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio mounts two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, extending a steady supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is billing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both players and newcomers. The fall slot allows Sony to build marketing units around lore, and monster aesthetics, elements that can stoke premium screens and fan events.

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 advances Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by obsessive craft and historical speech, this time steeped in lycan lore. The company has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is supportive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Digital strategies for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s slate move to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a ordering that optimizes both opening-weekend urgency and sign-up momentum in the later window. Prime Video will mix licensed films with international acquisitions and select theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library engagement, using featured rows, fright rows, and featured rows to increase tail value on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays nimble about in-house releases and festival wins, confirming horror entries closer to launch and turning into events debuts with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a dual-phase of tailored theatrical exposure and rapid platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a discrete basis. The platform has proven amenable to acquire select projects with accomplished filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for retention when the genre conversation spikes.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is curating a 2026 arc with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is no-nonsense: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, retooled for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the autumn weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, stewarding the film through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then turning to the December frame to broaden. That positioning has worked well for filmmaker-driven genre with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception encourages. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using limited runs to kindle evangelism that fuels their user base.

Known brands versus new stories

By skew, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate legacy awareness. The watch-out, as ever, is staleness. The pragmatic answer is to package each entry as a new angle. Paramount is bringing forward character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-inflected take from a rising filmmaker. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a island-set survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the packaging is steady enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and early previews.

Past-three-year patterns help explain the plan. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that kept streaming intact did not preclude a day-and-date experiment from succeeding when the brand was compelling. In 2024, precision craft horror exceeded expectations in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they pivot perspective and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends 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 produced back-to-back, lets marketing to thread films through character spine and themes and to keep assets alive without lulls.

Behind-the-camera trends

The craft rooms behind these films suggest a continued shift toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that centers grain and menace rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for textured sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that elevates tone over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and earns shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta reframe that centers an original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster work and world-building, which match well with convention activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that spotlight fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that land in premium houses.

How the year maps out

January is busy. 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 moody palate cleanser amid heftier brand moves. The month finishes 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 credible, but the mix of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Q1 into Q2 load in summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late summer into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a late-September window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event occupies October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a opaque tease strategy and limited information drops that put concept first.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card use.

Title briefs within the narrative

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s virtual companion escalates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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 organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

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 confront a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: gothic-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 tough boss claw to survive on a rugged island as the pecking order swivels and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

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 fresh reimagining that returns the monster to terror, driven by Cronin’s physical craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 domestic haunting piece that plays with the horror of a child’s unreliable impressions. Rating: forthcoming. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-scale and A-list fronted supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A send-up revival that lampoons hot-button genre motifs and true-crime obsessions. Rating: TBA. Production: production booked 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 spreads, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new household entangled with lingering terrors. Rating: TBD. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A reboot designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on classic survival-horror tone over action-centric bombast. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: forthcoming. Production: active. 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 period-precise speech and bone-deep menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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

Why 2026, why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces drive this lineup. First, production that downshifted or shuffled in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and pared-down timelines. 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 outperformed straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work bite-size scare clips from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, clearing runway for genre entries that can lead a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 dark-horse hunt 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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, efficient screen counts, 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 surface detail, soundcraft, and visuals 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, Lined Up To Scare

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand heft where it matters, new vision where it lands, 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, lock the reveals, and let the fear sell the seats.