Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primeval horror, a pulse pounding shocker, streaming October 2025 across top streaming platforms

A hair-raising metaphysical thriller from writer / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an forgotten horror when passersby become conduits in a devilish ordeal. Airings begin on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching story of staying alive and prehistoric entity that will revolutionize the fear genre this season. Realized by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and shadowy thriller follows five teens who awaken trapped in a cut-off wooden structure under the malignant command of Kyra, a tormented girl dominated by a time-worn biblical force. Be warned to be captivated by a immersive presentation that intertwines primitive horror with mythic lore, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a iconic narrative in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is twisted when the entities no longer come from external sources, but rather inside them. This depicts the most primal dimension of the cast. The result is a edge-of-seat psychological battle where the drama becomes a relentless tug-of-war between light and darkness.


In a remote wilderness, five friends find themselves isolated under the unholy dominion and curse of a haunted entity. As the group becomes unresisting to reject her dominion, isolated and preyed upon by entities mind-shattering, they are driven to endure their soulful dreads while the deathwatch coldly runs out toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease deepens and relationships crack, demanding each individual to examine their existence and the notion of volition itself. The tension mount with every second, delivering a cinematic nightmare that integrates supernatural terror with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to dive into primitive panic, an darkness beyond recorded history, emerging via emotional vulnerability, and confronting a power that dismantles free will when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra required summoning something far beyond human desperation. She is clueless until the takeover begins, and that turn is deeply unsettling because it is so raw.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—providing viewers from coast to coast can get immersed in this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its release of trailer #1, which has racked up over six-figure audience.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, delivering the story to scare fans abroad.


Experience this heart-stopping voyage through terror. Face *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to face these evil-rooted truths about our species.


For previews, special features, and announcements from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across social media and visit the movie portal.





American horror’s Turning Point: 2025 across markets U.S. lineup melds primeval-possession lore, indie terrors, plus legacy-brand quakes

Beginning with survivor-centric dread suffused with legendary theology and extending to installment follow-ups paired with incisive indie visions, 2025 stands to become the most textured together with tactically planned year in the past ten years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. leading studios lock in tentpoles through proven series, simultaneously digital services pack the fall with discovery plays in concert with legend-coded dread. On the independent axis, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is fueled by the momentum from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween stays the prime week, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, yet in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are calculated, as a result 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige terror resurfaces

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s schedule fires the first shot with a bold swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, but a sharp contemporary setting. Directed by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. arriving mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer eases, the Warner lot launches the swan song from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, 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 guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and those signature textures resurface: old school creep, trauma as text, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This pass pushes higher, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The new chapter enriches the lore, broadens the animatronic terror cast, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It books December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Offerings: Low budgets, big teeth

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a tight space body horror vignette pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also rising is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative led by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to 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 unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. 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.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a clever angle. No overweight mythology. No IP hangover. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

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

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

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Brands: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

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

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, steered by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror returns
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

The Road Ahead: Fall saturation and a winter joker

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The oncoming spook lineup: installments, fresh concepts, And A jammed Calendar designed for frights

Dek: The fresh scare slate clusters early with a January wave, subsequently rolls through June and July, and continuing into the year-end corridor, weaving brand equity, novel approaches, and data-minded counter-scheduling. Studios and platforms are prioritizing cost discipline, box-office-first windows, and shareable marketing that frame genre releases into water-cooler talk.

Horror’s status entering 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the surest move in studio calendars, a space that can spike when it clicks and still limit the liability when it fails to connect. After 2023 showed executives that modestly budgeted entries can drive audience talk, 2024 kept energy high with festival-darling auteurs and quiet over-performers. The momentum translated to the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and arthouse crossovers highlighted there is demand for multiple flavors, from legacy continuations to standalone ideas that translate worldwide. The upshot for 2026 is a run that appears tightly organized across the major shops, with defined corridors, a harmony of household franchises and fresh ideas, and a refocused eye on exhibition windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium rental and OTT platforms.

Distribution heads claim the category now behaves like a wildcard on the release plan. Horror can bow on virtually any date, deliver a clear pitch for previews and TikTok spots, and lead with ticket buyers that lean in on opening previews and return through the second frame if the offering connects. Emerging from a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 plan reflects certainty in that approach. The slate starts with a crowded January window, then plants flags in spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while carving room for a fall corridor that flows toward the Halloween frame and into November. The gridline also underscores the stronger partnership of specialized labels and SVOD players that can platform and widen, generate chatter, and broaden at the timely point.

A parallel macro theme is IP stewardship across shared universes and legacy franchises. Distribution groups are not just rolling another chapter. They are working to present lineage with a specialness, whether that is a title presentation that conveys a new vibe or a ensemble decision that links a upcoming film to a initial period. At the simultaneously, the visionaries behind the most buzzed-about originals are returning to material texture, real effects and grounded locations. That blend provides the 2026 slate a strong blend of brand comfort and invention, which is the formula for international play.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount establishes early momentum with two centerpiece bets that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the front, positioning the film as both a passing of the torch and a return-to-roots character-forward chapter. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a roots-evoking approach without covering again the last two entries’ sisters thread. Anticipate a campaign stacked with iconic art, first-look character reveals, and a tiered teaser plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will feature. As a summer counter-slot, this one will build large awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format supporting quick switches to whatever tops the conversation that spring.

Universal has three distinct lanes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is straightforward, heartbroken, and concept-forward: a grieving man sets up an digital partner that evolves into a killer companion. The date nudges it to the front of a front-loaded month, with the studio’s marketing likely to echo eerie street stunts and short-cut promos that interlaces attachment and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a name unveil to become an PR pop closer to the first trailer. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele titles are positioned as signature events, with a teaser that reveals little and a subsequent trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor offers Universal room to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work 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 helms, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has proven that a visceral, practical-first treatment can feel deluxe on a tight budget. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror rush that leans hard into international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio mounts two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, sustaining a steady supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is calling a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both devotees and first-timers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build assets around lore, and creature effects, elements that can fuel premium booking interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins 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 characterized by rigorous craft and period speech, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus’s team has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is glowing.

How the platforms plan to play it

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on proven patterns. The studio’s horror films transition to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a pacing that maximizes both first-week urgency and viewer acquisition in the late-window. Prime Video will mix library titles with global originals and select theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu work their edges in archive usage, using editorial spots, fright rows, and programmed rows to sustain interest on overall cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about in-house releases and festival acquisitions, securing horror entries toward the drop and eventizing rollouts with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a paired of targeted cinema placements and swift platform pivots that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has been willing to secure select projects with established auteurs or marquee packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for platform stickiness when the genre conversation ramps.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 arc with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is no-nonsense: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, elevated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the autumn stretch.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday corridor to increase reach. That positioning has delivered for filmmaker-first horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, weblink but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception drives. Expect 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 a pair, using limited runs to ignite evangelism that fuels their community.

Franchises versus originals

By count, 2026 skews toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit household recognition. The challenge, as ever, is staleness. The near-term solution is to market each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is bringing forward core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is floating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-tinted vision from a rising filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and talent-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the cast-creatives package is grounded enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Rolling three-year comps frame the model. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that held distribution windows did not preclude a day-date move from thriving when the brand was trusted. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror popped in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they shift POV and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, enables marketing to relate entries through personae and themes and to leave creative active without extended gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The filmmaking conversations behind 2026 horror indicate a continued tilt toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that centers mood and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and era-true language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in long-lead features and technical spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and drives shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-aware reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster aesthetics and world-building, which play well in fan-con activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that foreground fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that explode in larger rooms.

Annual flow

January is full. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid big-brand pushes. The month finishes 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 thick, but the palette of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth holds.

Pre-summer months tee up summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures 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 underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can pop 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 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 lands after September 18, a bridge slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a peekaboo tease plan and limited information drops that trade in concept over detail.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s AI companion turns into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: atmospheric 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 hard-edged boss push to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance turns and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to dread, based on Cronin’s on-set craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 home-set haunting tale that manipulates the fear of a child’s shaky POV. Rating: TBD. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-scale and star-led eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A satire sequel that riffs on current genre trends and true-crime buzz. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 breaks out, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new family lashed to residual nightmares. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A new start designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: closely held. Rating: TBA. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and elemental menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026, why now

Three practical forces define this lineup. First, production that paused or reshuffled in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX 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 beaten straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on clippable moments from test screenings, select scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

The slot calculus is real. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can command a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will stack across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 stealth-hit search 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 press those advantages. 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. 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 pace and range. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient placements, 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 materiality, soundscape, and camera work that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is name recognition where it counts, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, hold the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.