Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primordial evil, a nerve shredding chiller, streaming October 2025 across top streaming platforms

A eerie ghostly fear-driven tale from screenwriter / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an ancient horror when unknowns become pawns in a malevolent ritual. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing depiction of overcoming and primordial malevolence that will redefine fear-driven cinema this cool-weather season. Helmed by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and eerie tale follows five teens who awaken stuck in a off-grid wooden structure under the hostile grip of Kyra, a haunted figure consumed by a biblical-era biblical demon. Ready yourself to be captivated by a theatrical ride that integrates visceral dread with folklore, debuting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a legendary pillar in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is redefined when the demons no longer come from beyond, but rather through their own souls. This illustrates the most terrifying version of the cast. The result is a enthralling spiritual tug-of-war where the suspense becomes a constant confrontation between virtue and vice.


In a bleak woodland, five individuals find themselves contained under the malicious effect and haunting of a unidentified spirit. As the cast becomes powerless to escape her grasp, severed and followed by entities beyond reason, they are pushed to acknowledge their inner horrors while the time mercilessly ticks toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear builds and friendships break, urging each figure to rethink their values and the nature of freedom of choice itself. The cost accelerate with every heartbeat, delivering a terror ride that blends unearthly horror with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to evoke ancestral fear, an threat beyond recorded history, emerging via psychological breaks, and navigating a darkness that challenges autonomy when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra called for internalizing something deeper than fear. She is in denial until the entity awakens, and that conversion is soul-crushing because it is so personal.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for worldwide release beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving customers internationally can be part of this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its original clip, which has garnered over a viral response.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, delivering the story to lovers of terror across nations.


Witness this cinematic fall into madness. Join *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to face these dark realities about the human condition.


For director insights, director cuts, and promotions from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across entertainment pages and visit the official website.





U.S. horror’s tipping point: calendar year 2025 U.S. rollouts braids together archetypal-possession themes, signature indie scares, together with tentpole growls

Moving from grit-forward survival fare steeped in primordial scripture and extending to installment follow-ups as well as surgical indie voices, 2025 is emerging as the most textured and intentionally scheduled year in years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio powerhouses lay down anchors with established lines, in tandem OTT services pack the fall with unboxed visions plus archetypal fear. On the independent axis, independent banners is carried on the tailwinds from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, notably this year, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are precise, so 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Premium genre swings back

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 set the base, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal Pictures starts the year with a marquee bet: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a crisp modern milieu. Steered by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. arriving mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Under Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

When summer tapers, Warner’s slate launches the swan song from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the tone that worked before is intact: retro dread, trauma driven plotting, and a cold supernatural calculus. This pass pushes higher, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The next entry deepens the tale, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, speaking to teens and older millennials. It books December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Authored 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. 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. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is canny scheduling. No bloated canon. No franchise baggage. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

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

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Series Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

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

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, from Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

What to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror resurges
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Forward View: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The 2026 genre year to come: returning titles, filmmaker-first projects, And A loaded Calendar geared toward Scares

Dek: The upcoming genre year loads from day one with a January crush, before it flows through midyear, and continuing into the holiday stretch, weaving marquee clout, untold stories, and smart alternatives. Studios and platforms are doubling down on responsible budgets, cinema-first plans, and viral-minded pushes that frame the slate’s entries into cross-demo moments.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror filmmaking has established itself as the surest counterweight in programming grids, a lane that can scale when it catches and still protect the downside when it under-delivers. After 2023 reminded decision-makers that modestly budgeted horror vehicles can dominate the national conversation, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with festival-darling auteurs and unexpected risers. The tailwind rolled into the 2025 frame, where returns and elevated films highlighted there is capacity for multiple flavors, from brand follow-ups to non-IP projects that resonate abroad. The sum for 2026 is a run that looks unusually coordinated across players, with clear date clusters, a combination of household franchises and first-time concepts, and a tightened attention on exclusive windows that power the aftermarket on premium video on demand and streaming.

Executives say the category now slots in as a schedule utility on the calendar. The genre can kick off on virtually any date, provide a clean hook for ad units and shorts, and overperform with demo groups that respond on advance nights and return through the sophomore frame if the entry works. Post a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 layout exhibits certainty in that model. The calendar commences with a loaded January lineup, then turns to spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while leaving room for a autumn stretch that carries into spooky season and past the holiday. The program also spotlights the expanded integration of specialized labels and platforms that can launch in limited release, grow buzz, and grow at the sweet spot.

A notable top-line trend is series management across interlocking continuities and established properties. The companies are not just making another return. They are seeking to position lineage with a heightened moment, whether that is a art treatment that signals a refreshed voice or a casting choice that threads a new entry to a first wave. At the simultaneously, the creative leads behind the high-profile originals are prioritizing tactile craft, practical gags and place-driven backdrops. That combination yields 2026 a confident blend of familiarity and discovery, which is why the genre exports well.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount defines the early cadence with two high-profile releases that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, marketing it as both a succession moment and a rootsy character study. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a memory-charged angle without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run fueled by signature symbols, intro reveals, and a two-beat trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will double down on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will generate mainstream recognition through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format allowing quick adjustments to whatever owns the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three separate projects. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is efficient, soulful, and high-concept: a grieving man adopts an synthetic partner that becomes a fatal companion. The date nudges it to the front of a thick month, with Universal’s team likely to iterate on strange in-person beats and quick hits that melds devotion and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a name unveil to become an teaser payoff closer to the initial tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele titles are positioned as auteur events, with a concept-forward tease and a follow-up trailer set that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date allows Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has shown that a gritty, practical-first approach can feel prestige on a lean spend. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror charge that emphasizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio sets two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, sustaining a evergreen supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is marketing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both fans and curious audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build materials around setting detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can drive IMAX and PLF uptake and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror defined by historical precision and archaic language, this time exploring werewolf lore. The label has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is strong.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s horror titles window into copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a sequence that amplifies both opening-weekend urgency and trial spikes in the late-window. Prime Video combines acquired titles with worldwide buys and brief theater runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in deep cuts, using editorial spots, holiday hubs, and programmed rows to sustain interest on lifetime take. Netflix keeps optionality about original films and festival pickups, finalizing horror entries closer to drop and eventizing drops with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a hybrid of focused cinema runs and fast windowing that converts WOM to subscribers. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has shown appetite to purchase select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-driven packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for monthly activity when the genre conversation peaks.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 arc with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is clear: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, recalibrated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the back half.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the Christmas corridor to move out. That positioning has worked well for prestige horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception justifies. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using limited runs to spark the evangelism that fuels their subs.

IP versus fresh ideas

By share, the 2026 slate favors the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap cultural cachet. The potential drawback, as ever, is brand wear. The standing approach is to package each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is leading with character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is floating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-accented approach from a emerging director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and auteur plays keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the assembly is familiar enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Past-three-year patterns illuminate the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive window model that preserved streaming windows did not obstruct a day-date move from working when the brand was potent. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror exceeded expectations in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they angle differently and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters shot consecutively, gives leeway to marketing to interlace chapters through character arcs and themes and to sustain campaign assets without hiatuses.

Behind-the-camera trends

The craft conversations behind the year’s horror hint at a continued turn toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that leans on texture and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in craft profiles and technical spotlights before rolling out a teaser that withholds plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for red-band excess, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and drives shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta inflection that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature design and production design, which match well with expo activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel compelling. Look for trailers that spotlight hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that land in big rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is loaded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid big-brand pushes. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the range of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Early-year through spring seed summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now sustains 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 clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late summer into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a early fall window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited previews that center concept over reveals.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift card usage.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s digital partner shifts into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-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 returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 demanding boss push to survive on a rugged island as the power balance of power turns and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to dread, grounded in Cronin’s on-set craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting story that pipes the unease through a young child’s unreliable subjective lens. Rating: TBD. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-crafted and star-fronted supernatural suspense.

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 genre lampoon that targets in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fervors. Rating: pending. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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: forthcoming. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further extends again, with a fresh family lashed to residual nightmares. Rating: not yet rated. 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: TBA. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-core horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: not yet rated. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBD. Production: continuing. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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 antique diction and elemental dread. Rating: not yet rated. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three operational forces shape this lineup. First, production that decelerated or rearranged in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming releases. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage turnkey scare beats from test screenings, curated scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, creating valuable space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will stack 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 use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

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

The search for sleepers continues in Q1, where cost-efficient genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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 imp source 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, sound field, and camera work 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 Is Well Positioned

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand equity where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the gasps sell the seats.