Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases antediluvian malevolence, a chilling supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 across top digital platforms

One haunting paranormal suspense film from dramatist / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an forgotten fear when unknowns become subjects in a fiendish experiment. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping account of living through and ancient evil that will transform the fear genre this autumn. Brought to life by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and shadowy cinema piece follows five figures who snap to isolated in a wilderness-bound dwelling under the dark influence of Kyra, a female presence inhabited by a biblical-era sacred-era entity. Arm yourself to be absorbed by a cinematic presentation that fuses instinctive fear with ancestral stories, dropping on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a classic trope in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is turned on its head when the presences no longer descend from external sources, but rather from their psyche. This echoes the most terrifying side of each of them. The result is a psychologically brutal emotional conflict where the story becomes a intense conflict between light and darkness.


In a haunting wilderness, five figures find themselves confined under the malicious presence and curse of a enigmatic person. As the companions becomes helpless to break her control, severed and followed by terrors indescribable, they are obligated to stand before their core terrors while the countdown unceasingly pushes forward toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear escalates and ties implode, pushing each cast member to examine their personhood and the notion of self-determination itself. The consequences grow with every tick, delivering a horror experience that weaves together otherworldly suspense with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to extract basic terror, an malevolence rooted in antiquity, manifesting in emotional fractures, and dealing with a will that forces self-examination when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra required summoning something rooted in terror. She is oblivious until the demon emerges, and that transformation is deeply unsettling because it is so internal.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for streaming beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing horror lovers from coast to coast can witness this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its first preview, which has attracted over 100K plays.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, spreading the horror to lovers of terror across nations.


Make sure to see this gripping ride through nightmares. Enter *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to witness these evil-rooted truths about the soul.


For cast commentary, special features, and promotions from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across Facebook and TikTok and visit the official digital haunt.





Contemporary horror’s tipping point: 2025 in focus American release plan weaves ancient-possession motifs, signature indie scares, alongside Franchise Rumbles

Kicking off with last-stand terror drawn from primordial scripture and including returning series alongside cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is tracking to be the most complex in tandem with deliberate year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio majors lay down anchors by way of signature titles, while OTT services stack the fall with discovery plays plus ancient terrors. On another front, festival-forward creators is surfing the kinetic energy of a banner 2024 fest year. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, though in this cycle, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are exacting, thus 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige terror resurfaces

The majors are assertive. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal banner begins the calendar with a statement play: a modernized Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Guided by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. Booked into mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Helmed by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer wanes, the Warner lot delivers the closing chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. While the template is known, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and the memorable motifs return: retrograde shiver, trauma as theme, along with eerie supernatural rules. This time the stakes climb, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, thickens the animatronic pantheon, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It posts in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Offerings: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

More contained by design is Together, a room scale body horror descent pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: 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, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No bloated canon. No brand fatigue. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. 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.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Franchise Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, guided by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Trends to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror returns
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
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Projection: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

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. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The 2026 genre release year: returning titles, filmmaker-first projects, And A brimming Calendar tailored for nightmares

Dek The brand-new horror slate crowds right away with a January glut, before it unfolds through the warm months, and far into the December corridor, marrying brand heft, untold stories, and strategic calendar placement. Studio marketers and platforms are leaning into lean spends, theatrical leads, and social-fueled campaigns that position these offerings into mainstream chatter.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This space has proven to be the steady release in release plans, a pillar that can accelerate when it performs and still protect the exposure when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year showed decision-makers that low-to-mid budget entries can galvanize mainstream conversation, 2024 held pace with visionary-driven titles and sleeper breakouts. The run fed into 2025, where revivals and filmmaker-prestige bets confirmed there is room for many shades, from brand follow-ups to one-and-done originals that translate worldwide. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a programming that shows rare alignment across studios, with purposeful groupings, a equilibrium of familiar brands and untested plays, and a tightened focus on exhibition windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium home window and platforms.

Distribution heads claim the category now performs as a utility player on the calendar. The genre can debut on nearly any frame, create a easy sell for creative and shorts, and outstrip with viewers that arrive on Thursday nights and stay strong through the follow-up frame if the film pays off. After a production delay era, the 2026 setup indicates confidence in that engine. The slate starts with a crowded January block, then targets spring into early summer for counterweight, while clearing room for a autumn stretch that pushes into Halloween and into early November. The gridline also underscores the ongoing integration of arthouse labels and subscription services that can grow from platform, grow buzz, and expand at the strategic time.

A companion trend is series management across interlocking continuities and storied titles. Big banners are not just producing another installment. They are working to present connection with a sense of event, whether that is a brandmark that conveys a fresh attitude or a casting pivot that reconnects a upcoming film to a early run. At the same time, the auteurs behind the most buzzed-about originals are embracing material texture, special makeup and location-forward worlds. That alloy yields 2026 a smart balance of assurance and newness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

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

Paramount opens strong with two spotlight titles that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the focus, steering it as both a cross-generational handoff and a origin-leaning character-forward chapter. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a heritage-honoring strategy without going over the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Watch for a push leaning on classic imagery, character previews, and a tiered teaser plan arriving in 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 set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will foreground. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will seek general-audience talk through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format permitting quick redirects to whatever defines the discourse that spring.

Universal has three discrete projects. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is efficient, soulful, and easily pitched: a grieving man adopts an digital partner that my company turns into a dangerous lover. The date slots it at the front of a heavy month, with the marketing arm likely to recreate eerie street stunts and short-form creative that interweaves affection and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a proper title to become an earned moment closer to the debut look. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. His projects are treated as must-see filmmaker statements, with a concept-forward tease and a second wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The spooky-season slot offers Universal 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, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has consistently shown that a gnarly, practical-effects forward treatment can feel big on a efficient spend. Position this as a viscera-heavy summer horror blast that leans into international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio sets two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, holding a dependable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is selling as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both franchise faithful and general audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build marketing units around mythos, and monster craft, elements that can increase large-format demand and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by careful craft and historical speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. The specialty arm has already locked the day 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 favorable.

How the platforms plan to play it

Digital strategies for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s releases feed copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a stair-step that expands both launch urgency and viewer acquisition in the post-theatrical. Prime Video stitches together third-party pickups with world buys and select theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in back-catalog play, using featured rows, holiday hubs, and collection rows to lengthen the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps flexible about internal projects and festival additions, finalizing horror entries near their drops and making event-like go-lives with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a paired of precision releases and accelerated platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to secure select projects with award winners or star-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation heats up.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 slate with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is uncomplicated: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, recalibrated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a theatrical rollout for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn stretch.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through festival season if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday corridor to increase reach. That positioning has proved effective for filmmaker-driven genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception supports. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using precision theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their membership.

Series vs standalone

By weight, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage brand equity. The risk, as ever, is fatigue. The near-term solution is to brand each entry as a new angle. Paramount is emphasizing character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is promising a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-inflected take from a ascendant talent. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the team and cast is anchored enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years frame the playbook. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that respected streaming windows did not preclude a same-day experiment from performing when the brand was potent. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror rose in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they pivot perspective and elevate scope. 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot in tandem, builds a path for marketing to connect the chapters through personae and themes and to leave creative active without long gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The production chatter behind this year’s genre signal a continued bias toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that leans on atmosphere and fear rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and medieval diction, a combination that can make for textured sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in trade spotlights and artisan spotlights before rolling out a initial 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 aimed at practical nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and generates shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta recalibration that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature execution and sets, which favor fan conventions and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel key. Look for trailers that elevate hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that land in big rooms.

Month-by-month map

January is heavy. Universal’s 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 gloomy counterbalance amid macro-brand pushes. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the mix of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Early-year through spring stage summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The 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 sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder season window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited pre-release reveals that favor idea over plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card redemption.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s digital partner escalates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 prickly boss battle to survive on a far-flung island as the control dynamic reverses and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to nightmare, driven by Cronin’s hands-on craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting narrative that channels the fear through a little one’s uncertain subjective lens. Rating: TBD. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-built and marquee-led occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A comic send-up that targets of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime buzz. Rating: to be announced. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further reopens, with a different family tethered to ancient dread. Rating: undetermined. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A new start designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-driven horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: undetermined. Production: moving forward. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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: to be announced. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three operational forces frame this lineup. First, production that decelerated or migrated in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming releases. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, precision scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will compete across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, 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 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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, audio design, and picture that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is recognizable IP where it plays, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.