Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases mythic darkness, a nightmare fueled horror thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on major platforms

This eerie supernatural shockfest from literary architect / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an primordial force when unfamiliar people become pawns in a fiendish ceremony. Available October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a intense episode of overcoming and age-old darkness that will resculpt the fear genre this season. Created by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and cinematic motion picture follows five unknowns who come to trapped in a wilderness-bound house under the menacing will of Kyra, a central character controlled by a two-thousand-year-old biblical force. Be warned to be shaken by a filmic outing that intertwines intense horror with folklore, hitting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a time-honored concept in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is inverted when the malevolences no longer emerge from a different plane, but rather from their core. This mirrors the malevolent side of the cast. The result is a bone-chilling inner struggle where the drama becomes a constant confrontation between innocence and sin.


In a remote forest, five characters find themselves sealed under the ominous dominion and infestation of a uncanny spirit. As the companions becomes helpless to combat her control, exiled and targeted by spirits inconceivable, they are cornered to face their soulful dreads while the clock mercilessly pushes forward toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear amplifies and alliances implode, demanding each member to examine their values and the idea of autonomy itself. The danger climb with every beat, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that merges paranormal dread with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to awaken pure dread, an darkness from prehistory, manifesting in our weaknesses, and questioning a evil that dismantles free will when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra involved tapping into something unfamiliar to reason. She is ignorant until the haunting manifests, and that change is soul-crushing because it is so personal.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for digital release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—allowing households anywhere can engage with this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its original promo, which has attracted over 100,000 views.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, presenting the nightmare to horror fans worldwide.


Witness this heart-stopping journey into fear. Face *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to face these dark realities about the human condition.


For director insights, director cuts, and alerts from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursed across platforms and visit the official movie site.





Modern horror’s inflection point: the 2025 season stateside slate weaves ancient-possession motifs, underground frights, and tentpole growls

From endurance-driven terror saturated with mythic scripture through to returning series set beside focused festival visions, 2025 is lining up as the most stratified as well as carefully orchestrated year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. major banners lay down anchors using marquee IP, as platform operators flood the fall with unboxed visions together with scriptural shivers. On the independent axis, the independent cohort is catching the tailwinds from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The fall stretch is the proving field, though in this cycle, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are calculated, and 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: High-craft horror returns

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s pipeline fires the first shot with a bold swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, in a modern-day environment. Led by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. Booked into mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Eli Craig directs featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

When summer tapers, the WB camp bows the concluding entry of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: nostalgic menace, trauma foregrounded, plus otherworld rules that chill. This time the stakes climb, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The follow up digs further into canon, stretches the animatronic parade, speaking to teens and older millennials. It arrives in December, cornering year end horror.

SVOD Originals: Economy, maximum dread

While theaters bet on familiarity, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the quieter side is Together, a two hander body horror spiral pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story starring Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. From writer director 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. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in 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 looks like sharp programming. No swollen lore. No franchise baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy IP: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new 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 is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Emerging Currents

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

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

Originals on platforms bite harder
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Laurels convert to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical Is Now 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 vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

What’s Next: Fall stack and winter swing card

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The 2026 Horror lineup: returning titles, universe starters, alongside A stacked Calendar designed for goosebumps

Dek: The new scare year crowds from the jump with a January logjam, from there rolls through summer, and continuing into the holiday frame, weaving name recognition, creative pitches, and savvy release strategy. Studios and platforms are relying on cost discipline, big-screen-first runs, and social-driven marketing that position the slate’s entries into four-quadrant talking points.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror filmmaking has established itself as the predictable counterweight in studio slates, a vertical that can spike when it lands and still safeguard the drag when it doesn’t. After 2023 demonstrated to top brass that efficiently budgeted genre plays can steer the national conversation, 2024 held pace with auteur-driven buzzy films and sleeper breakouts. The energy carried into 2025, where resurrections and awards-minded projects made clear there is a lane for a spectrum, from ongoing IP entries to one-and-done originals that scale internationally. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a slate that shows rare alignment across players, with obvious clusters, a harmony of familiar brands and new pitches, and a revived eye on exhibition windows that power the aftermarket on premium digital and digital services.

Schedulers say the space now slots in as a flex slot on the slate. The genre can bow on almost any weekend, generate a easy sell for ad units and TikTok spots, and punch above weight with crowds that respond on Thursday previews and continue through the follow-up frame if the film pays off. After a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 mapping exhibits conviction in that engine. The calendar opens with a front-loaded January band, then exploits spring through early summer for alternate plays, while clearing room for a fall run that carries into spooky season and past Halloween. The arrangement also shows the ongoing integration of arthouse labels and OTT outlets that can build gradually, stoke social talk, and move wide at the precise moment.

A companion trend is IP cultivation across linked properties and long-running brands. Studios are not just mounting another chapter. They are working to present continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a art treatment that telegraphs a fresh attitude or a casting pivot that ties a incoming chapter to a first wave. At the parallel to that, the visionaries behind the marquee originals are favoring practical craft, special makeup and grounded locations. That blend offers the 2026 slate a strong blend of brand comfort and discovery, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount leads early with two big-ticket projects that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the center, setting it up as both a cross-generational handoff and a DNA-forward character piece. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the tonal posture announces a memory-charged angle without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run fueled by signature symbols, first images of characters, and a two-beat trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through 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 reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will emphasize. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will go after four-quadrant chatter through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format making room for quick updates to whatever defines horror talk that spring.

Universal has three specific plays. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is tight, loss-driven, and commercial: a grieving man sets up an artificial companion that mutates into a killer companion. The date nudges it to the front of a thick month, with marketing at Universal likely to bring back creepy live activations and bite-size content that melds attachment and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a branding reveal to become an PR pop closer to the teaser. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele titles are positioned as marquee events, with a mystery-first teaser and a subsequent trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The prime October weekend opens a lane to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has made clear that a gnarly, practical-first strategy can feel big on a mid-range budget. Frame it as a splatter summer horror shot that leans into international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio places two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, carrying a reliable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand this contact form has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is marketing as a ground-zero 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 clearer mandate to serve both devotees and new audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build promo materials around mythos, and creature builds, elements that can accelerate PLF interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by immersive craft and textual fidelity, this time orbiting lycan myth. The company has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is supportive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform plans for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s slate window into copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a ladder that elevates both launch urgency and sign-up momentum in the downstream. Prime Video continues to mix library titles with worldwide entries and short theatrical plays when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in deep cuts, using timely promos, horror hubs, and curated strips to keep attention on the 2026 genre total. Netflix remains opportunistic about internal projects and festival snaps, finalizing horror entries tight to release and making event-like releases with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a dual-phase of precision theatrical plays and swift platform pivots that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a per-project basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to pick up select projects with top-tier auteurs or marquee packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation swells.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is curating 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 setup is direct: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, retooled for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a traditional cinema play for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, piloting the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then deploying the Christmas window to go wider. That positioning has served the company well for elevated genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception justifies. Plan on 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 jointly, using precision theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Balance of brands and originals

By tilt, 2026 tips toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage legacy awareness. The question, as ever, is fatigue. The pragmatic answer is to pitch each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is underscoring character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-tinted vision from a hot helmer. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and director-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival shocker premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the configuration is grounded enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Recent comps outline the approach. In 2023, a cinema-first model that respected streaming windows did not preclude a day-date try from thriving when the brand was compelling. In 2024, auteur craft horror surged in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they reorient and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, permits marketing to thread films through character spine and themes and to keep assets in-market without long breaks.

Technique and craft currents

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind these films suggest a continued tilt toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that highlights grain and menace rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft features before rolling out a tease that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for red-band excess, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and gathers shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta recalibration that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster aesthetics and world-building, which lend themselves to convention activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel necessary. Look for trailers that foreground disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in premium houses.

The schedule at a glance

January is jammed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid macro-brand pushes. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the menu of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth endures.

Late Q1 and spring build the summer base. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now supports 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 sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings brutal 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 shuffled through big rooms.

Late-season stretch leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a opaque tease strategy and limited teasers that trade in concept over detail.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift card usage.

Project briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s artificial companion shifts into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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: Filmed 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 ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: aura-driven 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 work to survive on a far-flung island as the pecking order tilts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to chill, built on Cronin’s tactile craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting tale that manipulates the unease of a child’s mercurial impressions. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A parody return that riffs on contemporary horror memes and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBA. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 bursts, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a fresh family tethered to past horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward true survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: undetermined. 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: awaiting classification. Production: proceeding. 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 period language and elemental fear. Rating: not yet rated. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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

Why the moment is 2026

Three pragmatic forces inform this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or reshuffled in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined 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 launches. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify shareable moments from test screenings, managed scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

There is also the slotting calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will coexist across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. 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 sweet spot. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where value-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 surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, 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.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand power where it counts, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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 gasps sell the seats.