Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes antediluvian malevolence, a nightmare fueled horror thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on major streaming services

An bone-chilling mystic horror tale from screenwriter / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an archaic terror when passersby become subjects in a demonic trial. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking saga of overcoming and primordial malevolence that will alter the horror genre this autumn. Produced by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and claustrophobic cinema piece follows five strangers who find themselves confined in a unreachable cottage under the unfriendly dominion of Kyra, a possessed female inhabited by a prehistoric biblical demon. Be warned to be captivated by a motion picture ride that combines bone-deep fear with legendary tales, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a classic trope in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is radically shifted when the forces no longer appear outside their bodies, but rather from deep inside. This symbolizes the darkest part of each of them. The result is a emotionally raw mental war where the plotline becomes a perpetual contest between heaven and hell.


In a barren landscape, five teens find themselves isolated under the ominous rule and spiritual invasion of a unknown female presence. As the group becomes submissive to escape her manipulation, exiled and attacked by evils impossible to understand, they are thrust to endure their deepest fears while the seconds without pause ticks toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust escalates and alliances collapse, compelling each survivor to question their self and the integrity of liberty itself. The tension amplify with every breath, delivering a horror experience that blends otherworldly panic with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to extract primal fear, an entity that predates humanity, manifesting in fragile psyche, and challenging a will that redefines identity when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra was centered on something rooted in terror. She is in denial until the evil takes hold, and that shift is bone-chilling because it is so private.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for digital release beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—allowing fans from coast to coast can enjoy this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its original clip, which has gathered over a viral response.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, making the film to international horror buffs.


Join this bone-rattling spiral into evil. Stream *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to uncover these ghostly lessons about the soul.


For director insights, behind-the-scenes content, and reveals straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Facebook and TikTok and visit the movie portal.





Contemporary horror’s decisive shift: the 2025 season U.S. release slate melds old-world possession, indie terrors, and tentpole growls

Moving from survivor-centric dread drawn from ancient scripture and extending to IP renewals alongside incisive indie visions, 2025 is lining up as the most stratified and carefully orchestrated year for the modern era.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. the big studios set cornerstones by way of signature titles, in parallel premium streamers crowd the fall with discovery plays plus ancestral chills. Meanwhile, the independent cohort is fueled by the backdraft from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, however this time, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are intentional, accordingly 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: The Return of Prestige Fear

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 accelerates.

Universal fires the first shot with a headline swing: a modernized Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. Steered by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. Slated for mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. From director Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer eases, the Warner lot releases the last chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Even with a familiar chassis, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

After that, The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re boards, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: retrograde shiver, trauma as theme, with ghostly inner logic. The stakes escalate here, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The new chapter enriches the lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It lands in December, buttoning the final window.

Digital Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a body horror duet including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is destined for a fall landing.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. That is a savvy move. No swollen lore. No sequel clutter. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, 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 Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots 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.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, guided by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Key Trends

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror retakes ground
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

The Road Ahead: Fall pileup, winter curveball

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The coming 2026 fright season: brand plays, filmmaker-first projects, alongside A stacked Calendar tailored for nightmares

Dek The new scare year lines up right away with a January glut, following that unfolds through summer, and deep into the winter holidays, marrying brand equity, inventive spins, and well-timed counterweight. Studio marketers and platforms are embracing mid-range economics, theater-first strategies, and influencer-ready assets that turn genre releases into culture-wide discussion.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The field has established itself as the steady play in studio calendars, a vertical that can surge when it performs and still limit the liability when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year re-taught buyers that disciplined-budget pictures can drive audience talk, 2024 continued the surge with director-led heat and surprise hits. The tailwind extended into 2025, where resurrections and arthouse crossovers showed there is capacity for different modes, from brand follow-ups to non-IP projects that translate worldwide. The result for the 2026 slate is a lineup that reads highly synchronized across distributors, with obvious clusters, a balance of familiar brands and fresh ideas, and a tightened emphasis on cinema windows that drive downstream revenue on premium home window and home platforms.

Distribution heads claim the genre now acts as a versatile piece on the calendar. The genre can bow on many corridors, supply a clear pitch for trailers and reels, and overperform with ticket buyers that line up on opening previews and keep coming through the next pass if the offering lands. Post a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 cadence shows comfort in that model. The calendar opens with a busy January run, then primes spring and early summer for balance, while making space for a September to October window that stretches into the Halloween corridor and afterwards. The map also shows the expanded integration of boutique distributors and streamers that can nurture a platform play, create conversation, and grow at the strategic time.

A second macro trend is series management across shared universes and legacy franchises. Studio teams are not just turning out another follow-up. They are setting up lore continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a art treatment that indicates a new tone or a casting pivot that reconnects a upcoming film to a foundational era. At the simultaneously, the writer-directors behind the most watched originals are leaning get redirected here into real-world builds, makeup and prosthetics and distinct locales. That alloy affords the 2026 slate a robust balance of recognition and invention, which is what works overseas.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount plants an early flag with two centerpiece entries that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a handoff and a back-to-basics character-centered film. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the authorial approach conveys a memory-charged strategy without going over the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Look for a marketing run fueled by recognizable motifs, intro reveals, and a staggered trailer plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will play up. As a counterweight in summer, this one will go after general-audience talk through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick updates to whatever defines genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three separate pushes. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is simple, somber, and commercial: a grieving man activates an virtual partner that mutates into a deadly partner. The date sets it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the Universal machine likely to mirror creepy live activations and quick hits that threads affection and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a public title to become an attention spike closer to the first trailer. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele titles are branded as must-see filmmaker statements, with a concept-forward tease and a follow-up trailer set that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor offers Universal room to dominate 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, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has consistently shown that a raw, prosthetic-heavy aesthetic can feel cinematic on a middle budget. Frame it as a splatter summer horror surge that leans hard into international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio sets two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, keeping a steady supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what Sony is describing as a new take 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 players and general audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build materials around universe detail, and monster craft, elements that can drive premium screens and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in meticulous craft and historical speech, this time circling werewolf lore. The distributor has already locked the day for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is enthusiastic.

Digital platform strategies

Platform plans for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s horror titles flow to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a structure that enhances both launch urgency and subscription bumps in the late-window. Prime Video blends library titles with global originals and short theatrical plays when the data points to it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in catalog discovery, using timely promos, October hubs, and curated rows to prolong the run on aggregate take. Netflix keeps optionality about internal projects and festival wins, locking in horror entries closer to launch and turning into events drops with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a two-step of precision theatrical plays and rapid platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has signaled readiness to acquire select projects with acclaimed directors or marquee packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation swells.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 lane 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 promise is tight: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, refined for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a cinema-first plan for the title, an promising marker for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the autumn stretch.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, managing the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then working the holiday slot to scale. That positioning has worked well for elevated genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception encourages. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using targeted theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their community.

Brands and originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate favors the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit fan equity. The trade-off, as ever, is audience fatigue. The standing approach is to pitch each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is underscoring character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a Francophone tone from a rising filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers this contact form a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the cast-creatives package is familiar enough to generate pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Rolling three-year comps help explain the playbook. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that preserved streaming windows did not prevent a day-and-date experiment from paying off when the brand was robust. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror punched above its weight in premium screens. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they reframe POV and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters shot consecutively, allows marketing to cross-link entries through character arcs and themes and to keep assets alive without doldrums.

Craft and creative trends

The director conversations behind this year’s genre indicate a continued bias toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that leans on texture and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and medieval diction, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft features before rolling out a initial teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for red-band excess, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and earns shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta pivot that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which work nicely for convention activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel definitive. Look for trailers that highlight pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that explode in larger rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is crowded. 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 atmospheric change-up amid larger brand plays. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the menu of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth sustains.

Pre-summer months tee up summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects 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 flows 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 comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

End of summer through fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a slow-reveal plan and limited asset reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card use.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

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 challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s virtual companion unfolds into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: gothic-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 prickly boss fight to survive on a uninhabited island as the power dynamic tilts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to fear, grounded in Cronin’s tactile craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 domestic haunting tale that threads the dread through a youngster’s volatile subjective lens. Rating: not yet rated. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A parody return that needles present-day genre chatter and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBD. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 ignites, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a fresh family entangled with past horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A new start designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-first horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBA. Production: moving forward. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 historical diction and elemental menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three hands-on forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that stalled or rearranged in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work repeatable beats from test screenings, managed scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Calendar math also matters. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, making room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will line up across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, 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 sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where lower and mid-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 left-field winner of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo 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 hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, aural design, and imagery 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

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is recognizable IP where it plays, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, hold the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.