Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes ancient dread, a chilling supernatural thriller, landing Oct 2025 on top streamers

This hair-raising ghostly suspense story from dramatist / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an ancient dread when unfamiliar people become victims in a dark maze. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching episode of continuance and old world terror that will resculpt the horror genre this autumn. Created by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and cinematic motion picture follows five young adults who regain consciousness isolated in a wilderness-bound hideaway under the oppressive dominion of Kyra, a mysterious girl inhabited by a 2,000-year-old biblical force. Ready yourself to be drawn in by a big screen ride that integrates deep-seated panic with biblical origins, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a long-standing element in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is radically shifted when the monsters no longer arise from external sources, but rather within themselves. This suggests the deepest part of the cast. The result is a emotionally raw moral showdown where the tension becomes a unforgiving clash between heaven and hell.


In a bleak outland, five teens find themselves imprisoned under the malevolent control and overtake of a unknown female presence. As the characters becomes helpless to combat her manipulation, severed and tracked by presences unimaginable, they are pushed to encounter their deepest fears while the deathwatch harrowingly counts down toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust escalates and alliances fracture, requiring each person to doubt their identity and the idea of self-determination itself. The stakes escalate with every beat, delivering a frightening tale that marries otherworldly panic with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to explore instinctual horror, an entity beyond time, manipulating our weaknesses, and exposing a evil that threatens selfhood when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra was about accessing something unfamiliar to reason. She is clueless until the demon emerges, and that metamorphosis is terrifying because it is so private.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for streaming beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—ensuring users in all regions can experience this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its initial teaser, which has been viewed over strong viewer count.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, delivering the story to a global viewership.


Don’t miss this soul-jarring exploration of dread. Stream *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to survive these evil-rooted truths about the soul.


For featurettes, set experiences, and news from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursed across Facebook and TikTok and visit the film’s website.





Today’s horror decisive shift: the 2025 season U.S. calendar melds old-world possession, Indie Shockers, in parallel with series shake-ups

Across grit-forward survival fare steeped in mythic scripture as well as installment follow-ups paired with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is shaping up as the most variegated plus deliberate year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. the big studios plant stakes across the year with established lines, in tandem premium streamers stack the fall with unboxed visions together with ancestral chills. On another front, horror’s indie wing is fueled by the afterglow of 2024’s record festival wave. With Halloween holding the peak, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, distinctly in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are calculated, hence 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige fear returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s distribution arm kicks off the frame with a bold swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in a modern-day environment. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. timed for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Led by Eli Craig anchored 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. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

By late summer, Warner Bros. releases the last chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

After that, The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re teams, and the memorable motifs return: vintage toned fear, trauma in the foreground, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This pass pushes higher, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, grows the animatronic horror lineup, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It opens in December, pinning the winter close.

Streamer Exclusives: Low budgets, big teeth

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a body horror duet led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No bloated mythology. No canon weight. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Dials to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror comes roaring back
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

The Road Ahead: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The next terror Year Ahead: continuations, filmmaker-first projects, together with A busy Calendar aimed at goosebumps

Dek: The new scare year crowds from the jump with a January traffic jam, following that rolls through summer, and pushing into the late-year period, fusing series momentum, new voices, and tactical counterplay. Distributors with platforms are betting on cost discipline, big-screen-first runs, and shareable marketing that elevate these offerings into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror marketplace has proven to be the surest play in annual schedules, a pillar that can surge when it clicks and still buffer the risk when it does not. After 2023 showed buyers that lean-budget shockers can command the zeitgeist, 2024 sustained momentum with buzzy auteur projects and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam pushed into the 2025 frame, where reboots and prestige plays underscored there is space for diverse approaches, from series extensions to original features that export nicely. The takeaway for 2026 is a grid that looks unusually coordinated across players, with strategic blocks, a pairing of established brands and new pitches, and a revived attention on cinema windows that power the aftermarket on premium digital and streaming.

Executives say the space now behaves like a schedule utility on the rollout map. Horror can launch on almost any weekend, yield a easy sell for teasers and social clips, and over-index with fans that lean in on advance nights and keep coming through the next pass if the picture pays off. After a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 rhythm signals trust in that dynamic. The calendar starts with a crowded January block, then exploits spring through early summer for alternate plays, while clearing room for a autumn stretch that pushes into Halloween and into early November. The map also illustrates the deeper integration of boutique distributors and subscription services that can grow from platform, spark evangelism, and scale up at the strategic time.

A companion trend is IP cultivation across ongoing universes and established properties. Distribution groups are not just rolling another chapter. They are seeking to position lineage with a premium feel, whether that is a title treatment that conveys a fresh attitude or a casting choice that binds a upcoming film to a heyday. At the parallel to that, the visionaries behind the eagerly awaited originals are leaning into real-world builds, makeup and prosthetics and vivid settings. That pairing offers the 2026 slate a robust balance of brand comfort and invention, which is what works overseas.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount leads early with two centerpiece entries that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the heart, steering it as both a relay and a foundation-forward character-driven entry. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the authorial approach points to a roots-evoking mode without replaying the last two entries’ sibling arc. Count on a promo wave rooted in Check This Out franchise iconography, initial cast looks, and a promo sequence hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will feature. As a summer relief option, this one will chase wide buzz through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format inviting quick pivots to whatever rules the conversation that spring.

Universal has three differentiated projects. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is clean, melancholic, and easily pitched: a grieving man purchases an algorithmic mate that evolves into a killer companion. The date positions it at the front of a stacked January, with the studio’s marketing likely to replay eerie street stunts and short-cut promos that interweaves affection and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a official title to become an headline beat closer to the opening teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. His projects are treated as signature events, with a teaser that reveals little and a later trailer push that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot lets the studio to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage 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 is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has established that a gnarly, in-camera leaning approach can feel prestige on a lean spend. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror shock that spotlights overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio books two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, sustaining a evergreen supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is billing as a reimagined restart 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 explicit mandate to serve both fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build assets around mythos, and monster craft, elements that can stoke premium format interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on minute detail and period language, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is positive.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform strategies for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s genre entries land on copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a cadence that optimizes both premiere heat and sign-up spikes in the later phase. Prime Video stitches together library titles with global originals and small theatrical windows when the data backs it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library engagement, using seasonal hubs, seasonal hubs, and featured rows to stretch the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix stays opportunistic about in-house releases and festival snaps, timing horror entries closer to drop and positioning as event drops rollouts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a two-step of targeted theatrical exposure and speedy platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a discrete basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to take on select projects with award winners or star packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for sustained usage when the genre conversation spikes.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is mapping 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 promise is clean: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, retooled for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late-season weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the December frame to widen. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-first horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception allows. Watch for 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 in concert, using limited theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their audience.

Franchises versus originals

By count, 2026 leans toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on marquee value. The challenge, as ever, is audience fatigue. The workable fix is to frame each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is foregrounding character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French sensibility from a ascendant talent. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the configuration is steady enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday-night turnout.

The last three-year set outline the playbook. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that respected streaming windows did not block a hybrid test from succeeding when the brand was potent. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror punched above its weight in premium large format. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel new when they change perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters produced back-to-back, lets marketing to tie installments through protagonists and motifs and to keep materials circulating without long gaps.

How the look and feel evolve

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 slate forecast a continued bias toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is moving toward this website its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that underscores texture and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in trade spotlights and technical spotlights before rolling out a tease that leans on mood over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at gross-out texture, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and check over here earns shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta reframe that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature work and production design, which play well in expo activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel key. Look for trailers that spotlight pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in premium houses.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is crowded. 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 brooding contrast amid headline IP. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the palette of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth carries.

Winter into spring stage summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. 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 moved through premium slots.

August and September into October leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil follows September 18, a bridge slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a peekaboo tease plan and limited asset reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card redemption.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s artificial companion mutates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. 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 scramble to survive on a remote island as the pecking order tilts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to chill, grounded in Cronin’s physical craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting scenario that threads the dread through a preteen’s wavering internal vantage. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

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 comic send-up that pokes at contemporary horror memes and true crime fixations. Rating: TBD. 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 surges, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further reopens, with a fresh family bound to long-buried horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A fresh restart designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survivalist horror over action fireworks. Rating: TBA. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: forthcoming. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and primordial menace. Rating: pending. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three pragmatic forces define this lineup. First, production that paused or re-sequenced in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify meme-ready beats from test screenings, select scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will coexist across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

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

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where modest-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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, 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 rhythm and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, aural design, 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 Looks Exciting

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand heft where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.