Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primordial evil, a nerve shredding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 on major streaming services

A haunting spectral shockfest from dramatist / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an ancient horror when guests become instruments in a devilish maze. Airings begin this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching saga of resilience and prehistoric entity that will redefine the fear genre this fall. Produced by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and shadowy feature follows five unacquainted souls who awaken stranded in a off-grid shack under the ominous command of Kyra, a troubled woman inhabited by a timeless Old Testament spirit. Prepare to be ensnared by a visual outing that intertwines intense horror with folklore, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a enduring narrative in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is challenged when the beings no longer emerge from elsewhere, but rather inside their minds. This portrays the malevolent corner of the victims. The result is a harrowing cognitive warzone where the story becomes a perpetual struggle between righteousness and malevolence.


In a forsaken backcountry, five individuals find themselves sealed under the malevolent influence and overtake of a mysterious character. As the protagonists becomes submissive to fight her rule, detached and attacked by beings beyond comprehension, they are required to encounter their darkest emotions while the hours harrowingly moves toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion surges and associations fracture, compelling each soul to scrutinize their core and the integrity of self-determination itself. The danger surge with every heartbeat, delivering a fear-soaked story that integrates otherworldly suspense with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to evoke elemental fright, an threat beyond time, operating within emotional vulnerability, and questioning a being that peels away humanity when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra asked for exploring something past sanity. She is ignorant until the demon emerges, and that transformation is gut-wrenching because it is so deep.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for horror fans beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—providing households in all regions can witness this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its first preview, which has collected over 100K plays.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, offering the tale to viewers around the world.


Experience this visceral voyage through terror. Join *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to see these ghostly lessons about the psyche.


For teasers, on-set glimpses, and social posts from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across media channels and visit the official movie site.





U.S. horror’s pivotal crossroads: the 2025 season U.S. rollouts integrates primeval-possession lore, Indie Shockers, alongside franchise surges

From survival horror grounded in old testament echoes through to canon extensions and keen independent perspectives, 2025 is lining up as the genre’s most multifaceted and strategic year since the mid-2010s.

Call it full, but it is also focused. studio majors set cornerstones through proven series, simultaneously subscription platforms flood the fall with first-wave breakthroughs paired with primordial unease. On the festival side, festival-forward creators is drafting behind the tailwinds of a record-setting 2024 festival season. As Halloween stays the prime week, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, and in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are exacting, and 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Premium genre swings back

The majors are assertive. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 scales the plan.

the Universal banner starts the year with a big gambit: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, but a crisp modern milieu. From director Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. arriving mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Steered by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

By late summer, Warner’s slate releases the last chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re boards, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: throwback unease, trauma as theme, with spooky supernatural reasoning. Here the stakes rise, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The follow up digs further into canon, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, reaching teens and game grownups. It posts in December, cornering year end horror.

Streamer Exclusives: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, an intimate body horror unraveling including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Then there is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, 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 terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. That is a savvy move. No overstuffed canon. No canon weight. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading 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: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, under Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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.

What to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror swings back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

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

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Projection: Autumn density and winter pivot

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

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 assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The next fright slate: installments, standalone ideas, alongside A busy Calendar geared toward shocks

Dek The incoming genre year builds from day one with a January bottleneck, after that unfolds through the mid-year, and running into the festive period, blending brand heft, inventive spins, and smart calendar placement. The major players are committing to smart costs, theatrical leads, and social-fueled campaigns that convert the slate’s entries into all-audience topics.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror marketplace has proven to be the bankable tool in studio lineups, a segment that can expand when it resonates and still mitigate the exposure when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year reminded strategy teams that lean-budget entries can own mainstream conversation, the following year maintained heat with signature-voice projects and word-of-mouth wins. The energy flowed into 2025, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers demonstrated there is room for diverse approaches, from ongoing IP entries to one-and-done originals that resonate abroad. The sum for 2026 is a slate that reads highly synchronized across studios, with purposeful groupings, a pairing of marquee IP and new packages, and a tightened focus on big-screen windows that increase tail monetization on premium rental and home platforms.

Buyers contend the space now performs as a wildcard on the slate. The genre can debut on virtually any date, yield a easy sell for teasers and TikTok spots, and outpace with crowds that respond on opening previews and hold through the second weekend if the title delivers. Exiting a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 plan underscores belief in that equation. The slate begins with a front-loaded January band, then exploits spring through early summer for alternate plays, while making space for a autumn push that connects to late October and past the holiday. The program also underscores the stronger partnership of specialty distributors and digital platforms that can nurture a platform play, build word of mouth, and scale up at the proper time.

A parallel macro theme is series management across shared universes and long-running brands. The players are not just rolling another continuation. They are aiming to frame lineage with a specialness, whether that is a typeface approach that conveys a reframed mood or a talent selection that binds a incoming chapter to a initial period. At the concurrently, the auteurs behind the high-profile originals are championing material texture, physical gags and location-forward worlds. That combination provides 2026 a smart balance of known notes and discovery, which is how the genre sells abroad.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount sets the tone early with two spotlight plays that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the core, signaling it as both a passing of the torch and a foundation-forward character piece. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach suggests a roots-evoking campaign without going over the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Anticipate a campaign anchored in iconic art, first images of characters, and a two-beat trailer plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will double down on. As a summer alternative, this one will generate wide appeal through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format supporting quick redirects to whatever tops the conversation that spring.

Universal has three distinct pushes. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is tidy, somber, and commercial: a grieving man installs an machine companion that mutates into a murderous partner. The date positions it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the studio’s marketing likely to iterate on odd public stunts and short-cut promos that hybridizes companionship and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a title reveal to become an headline beat closer to the early tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His entries are framed as creative events, with a concept-forward tease and a second beat that shape mood without giving away the concept. The pre-Halloween slot gives the studio room to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has established that a raw, physical-effects centered method can feel big on a controlled budget. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror shot that leans hard into offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio launches two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, keeping a reliable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is marketing as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both franchise faithful and first-timers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build marketing units around setting detail, and monster design, elements that can stoke large-format demand and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror defined by immersive craft and linguistic texture, this time engaging werewolf myth. The imprint has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is robust.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform windowing in 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s slate feed copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a sequence that fortifies both initial urgency and sign-up momentum in the tail. Prime Video continues to mix catalogue additions with global originals and brief theater runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library pulls, using seasonal hubs, genre hubs, and curated strips to lengthen the tail on lifetime take. Netflix keeps flexible about own-slate titles and festival acquisitions, confirming horror entries closer to launch and staging as events rollouts with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a two-step of tailored theatrical exposure and prompt platform moves that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a situational basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to acquire select projects with recognized filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for monthly engagement when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 corridor with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is straightforward: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, upgraded for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has positioned a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the late-season weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then using the year-end corridor to move out. That positioning has worked well for prestige horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception prompts. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using select theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subs.

IP versus fresh ideas

By count, the 2026 slate skews toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap cultural cachet. The watch-out, as ever, is brand wear. The pragmatic answer is to sell each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is leading with character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-accented approach from a rising filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and director-driven titles add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the configuration is assuring enough to build pre-sales and early previews.

Recent-year comps outline the strategy. In 2023, a theater-first model that maintained windows did not preclude a dual release from performing when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror punched above its weight in premium large format. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they reorient and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters filmed consecutively, creates space for marketing to thread films through character arcs and themes and to leave creative active without lulls.

Behind-the-camera trends

The production chatter behind the 2026 slate forecast a continued bias toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that highlights creep and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft profiles and artisan spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and sparks shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta refresh that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will stand or stumble 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 theatrical pitch feel necessary. Look for trailers that spotlight pin-drop Young & Cursed sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in premium houses.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is stacked. 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 somber counterpoint amid heftier brand moves. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the menu of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Winter into spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

August into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder season window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited plot reveals that put concept first.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s digital partner escalates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with 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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. 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 severe boss scramble to survive on a uninhabited island as the chain of command tilts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to chill, grounded in Cronin’s tactile craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting chiller that mediates the fear via a child’s unreliable inner lens. Rating: rating pending. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult 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 spoof revival that needles of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime crazes. Rating: undetermined. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 ignites, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new clan bound to ancient dread. Rating: to be announced. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A fresh restart designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival-driven horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: purposely secretive. 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 period 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why this year, why now

Three hands-on forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or migrated in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming drops. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify repeatable beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will cluster across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. 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.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 midrange-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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, tight deployments, 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 detail, sound, 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 Robust 2026 On Deck

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is IP strength where it matters, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, keep secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.