Antediluvian Terror Awakens in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding horror thriller, bowing October 2025 across global platforms

This haunting spectral nightmare movie from creator / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an prehistoric force when passersby become puppets in a fiendish game. Streaming on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing depiction of struggle and primeval wickedness that will reconstruct the fear genre this fall. Crafted by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and tone-heavy tale follows five individuals who find themselves ensnared in a off-grid house under the sinister command of Kyra, a mysterious girl possessed by a biblical-era sacrosanct terror. Be warned to be captivated by a screen-based experience that intertwines raw fear with biblical origins, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a historical narrative in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is inverted when the forces no longer develop outside the characters, but rather from within. This embodies the most primal facet of all involved. The result is a bone-chilling spiritual tug-of-war where the intensity becomes a constant push-pull between righteousness and malevolence.


In a barren natural abyss, five friends find themselves trapped under the possessive influence and haunting of a unidentified character. As the cast becomes unable to deny her will, detached and targeted by forces beyond reason, they are cornered to confront their greatest panics while the seconds harrowingly pushes forward toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust intensifies and friendships crack, coercing each protagonist to challenge their identity and the idea of autonomy itself. The tension rise with every short lapse, delivering a cinematic nightmare that combines paranormal dread with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to uncover elemental fright, an curse from ancient eras, manipulating our weaknesses, and questioning a presence that forces self-examination when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra needed manifesting something beyond human emotion. She is unaware until the spirit seizes her, and that shift is bone-chilling because it is so raw.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be available for horror fans beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—so that watchers in all regions can dive into this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its initial teaser, which has earned over strong viewer count.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, extending the thrill to fans of fear everywhere.


Be sure to catch this visceral fall into madness. Experience *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to dive into these evil-rooted truths about the soul.


For sneak peeks, production insights, and announcements directly from production, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across platforms and visit the official website.





Current horror’s inflection point: the 2025 season domestic schedule melds biblical-possession ideas, microbudget gut-punches, alongside brand-name tremors

Beginning with survival horror suffused with mythic scripture through to returning series alongside pointed art-house angles, 2025 looks like horror’s most layered plus tactically planned year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. the big studios lay down anchors with franchise anchors, even as OTT services pack the fall with fresh voices paired with archetypal fear. On another front, independent banners is catching the momentum of 2024’s record festival wave. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the other windows are mapped with care. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, however this time, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are precise, and 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal Pictures lights the fuse with a headline swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, instead in a current-day frame. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. landing in mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Helmed 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. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer winds down, the WB camp launches the swan song of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the tone that worked before is intact: old school creep, trauma in the foreground, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The stakes escalate here, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The next entry deepens the tale, broadens the animatronic terror cast, reaching teens and game grownups. It drops in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a tight space body horror vignette starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is a lock for fall streaming.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend with Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Shaped and helmed 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. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. 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 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. It reads as sharp positioning. No heavy handed lore. No IP hangover. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Long Running Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, under Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Dials to Watch

Old myth goes broad
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror ascends again
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

What’s Next: Fall stack and winter swing card

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 like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The upcoming fear slate: follow-ups, filmmaker-first projects, as well as A brimming Calendar aimed at nightmares

Dek: The new scare cycle lines up from day one with a January crush, before it spreads through the warm months, and far into the late-year period, balancing franchise firepower, untold stories, and savvy release strategy. The big buyers and platforms are focusing on tight budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and short-form initiatives that frame horror entries into water-cooler talk.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror marketplace has shown itself to be the steady swing in programming grids, a corner that can grow when it connects and still cushion the liability when it doesn’t. After 2023 signaled to leaders that efficiently budgeted genre plays can command social chatter, 2024 maintained heat with auteur-driven buzzy films and unexpected risers. The carry rolled into the 2025 frame, where returns and filmmaker-prestige bets signaled there is appetite for different modes, from sequel tracks to original one-offs that play globally. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a grid that reads highly synchronized across the major shops, with defined corridors, a blend of familiar brands and original hooks, and a renewed emphasis on theater exclusivity that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium digital rental and OTT platforms.

Planners observe the space now performs as a fill-in ace on the calendar. Horror can premiere on almost any weekend, offer a simple premise for spots and social clips, and overperform with audiences that respond on first-look nights and stay strong through the next pass if the picture delivers. Post a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 configuration reflects certainty in that engine. The slate launches with a front-loaded January lineup, then exploits spring through early summer for off-slot scheduling, while holding room for a fall corridor that connects to All Hallows period and into post-Halloween. The arrangement also features the continuing integration of specialty arms and SVOD players that can grow from platform, generate chatter, and roll out at the optimal moment.

A reinforcing pattern is IP stewardship across ongoing universes and legacy IP. The companies are not just pushing another next film. They are trying to present connection with a specialness, whether that is a art treatment that indicates a new vibe or a talent selection that binds a incoming chapter to a initial period. At the meanwhile, the writer-directors behind the most anticipated originals are celebrating real-world builds, real effects and site-specific worlds. That mix yields the 2026 slate a solid mix of assurance and invention, which is why the genre exports well.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount sets the tone early with two big-ticket plays that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the front, presenting it as both a succession moment and a heritage-centered character-focused installment. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the narrative stance hints at a legacy-leaning angle without replaying the last two entries’ family thread. The studio is likely to mount a drive built on legacy iconography, early character teases, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm aimed at late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will play up. As a summer contrast play, this one will go after four-quadrant chatter through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format enabling quick switches to whatever shapes the conversation that spring.

Universal has three discrete bets. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is crisp, loss-driven, and easily pitched: a grieving man purchases an intelligent companion that evolves into a fatal companion. The date sets it at the front of a packed window, with the studio’s marketing likely to iterate on odd public stunts and brief clips that melds devotion and anxiety.

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

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. The filmmaker’s films are framed as filmmaker events, with a mystery-first teaser and a next wave of trailers that define Check This Out feel without revealing the concept. The late-month date gives Universal room to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has consistently shown that a flesh-and-blood, prosthetic-heavy method can feel elevated on a mid-range budget. Expect a gore-forward summer horror rush that centers foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio books two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, preserving a consistent supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is framing as a fresh 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 mission to serve both loyalists and newcomers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build materials around universe detail, and creature effects, elements that can amplify large-format demand and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in textural authenticity and period speech, this time focused on werewolf legend. Focus Features has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is favorable.

Where the platforms fit in

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s releases shift to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a sequence that expands both week-one demand and trial spikes in the post-theatrical. Prime Video balances licensed films with global originals and short theatrical plays when the data backs it. Max and Hulu work their edges in deep cuts, using seasonal hubs, holiday hubs, and curated rows to extend momentum on lifetime take. Netflix stays opportunistic about Netflix originals and festival buys, finalizing horror entries near launch and turning into events go-lives with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a dual-phase of targeted theatrical exposure and speedy platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a situational basis. The platform has signaled readiness to buy select projects with acclaimed directors or marquee packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation ramps.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 pipeline 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 offer is clean: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, reimagined for modern sound and image. 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 positioned a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late stretch.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through festival season if the cut is ready, then pressing the year-end corridor to widen. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-first horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception warrants. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using precision theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subs.

Known brands versus new stories

By weight, 2026 skews toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness brand equity. The trade-off, as ever, is viewer burnout. The preferred tactic is to package each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is spotlighting character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a European tilt from a emerging director. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the team and cast is steady enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years clarify the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive window model that maintained windows did not foreclose a hybrid test from working when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror rose in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reframe POV and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, lets marketing to interlace chapters through protagonists and motifs and to leave creative active without long breaks.

Production craft signals

The filmmaking conversations behind this slate hint at a continued move toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that highlights tone and tension rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that leans on mood over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and produces shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-aware reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature execution and sets, which are ideal for expo activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that underscore disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that benefit on big speakers.

From winter to 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. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the spread of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Winter into spring seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. 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 rotated off PLF.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a transitional slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a slow-reveal plan and limited pre-release reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card redemption.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s virtual companion escalates into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss push to survive on a rugged island as the power balance of power tilts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to fear, rooted in Cronin’s on-set craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting setup that toys with the unease of a child’s fragile perceptions. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-financed and name-above-title supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that teases current genre trends and true-crime obsessions. Rating: TBA. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 erupts, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new clan lashed to past horrors. Rating: pending. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A restart designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on classic survival-horror tone over action-centric bombast. Rating: undetermined. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: TBD. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and elemental fear. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026, why now

Three grounded forces frame this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or reshuffled in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical 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 landings. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest bite-size scare clips from test screenings, metered scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can capture a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where lean-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 use those gaps. 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 Get More Info Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, sound, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is franchise muscle where it helps, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.