Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons antediluvian malevolence, a chilling horror thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on leading streamers

A terrifying ghostly terror film from literary architect / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an age-old terror when passersby become tools in a fiendish ordeal. Going live October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking portrayal of survival and ancient evil that will reshape fear-driven cinema this ghoul season. Realized by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and emotionally thick motion picture follows five young adults who wake up imprisoned in a wooded dwelling under the malevolent power of Kyra, a cursed figure claimed by a biblical-era religious nightmare. Brace yourself to be shaken by a big screen ride that unites bodily fright with timeless legends, unleashing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a long-standing motif in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is redefined when the dark entities no longer come from a different plane, but rather internally. This echoes the malevolent element of the protagonists. The result is a edge-of-seat psychological battle where the conflict becomes a constant face-off between purity and corruption.


In a forsaken forest, five campers find themselves isolated under the possessive dominion and grasp of a unknown female presence. As the protagonists becomes incapable to fight her grasp, disconnected and followed by spirits inconceivable, they are required to wrestle with their core terrors while the time without pause counts down toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion rises and associations crack, coercing each survivor to question their character and the structure of conscious will itself. The tension mount with every second, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that blends ghostly evil with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to dig into raw dread, an threat that existed before mankind, manipulating our weaknesses, and examining a curse that peels away humanity when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra meant evoking something outside normal anguish. She is in denial until the takeover begins, and that turn is emotionally raw because it is so unshielded.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for audiences beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—giving watchers globally can be part of this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its initial teaser, which has gathered over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, extending the thrill to a worldwide audience.


Join this visceral descent into hell. Join *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to see these haunting secrets about existence.


For bonus footage, on-set glimpses, and news from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursed across media channels and visit the official movie site.





Horror’s inflection point: calendar year 2025 U.S. release slate weaves old-world possession, underground frights, set against series shake-ups

Kicking off with life-or-death fear grounded in biblical myth and onward to series comebacks and cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is lining up as the most dimensioned in tandem with blueprinted year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio powerhouses are anchoring the year by way of signature titles, in tandem premium streamers pack the fall with unboxed visions together with ancient terrors. On the festival side, the art-house flank is surfing the kinetic energy of a record-setting 2024 festival season. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, distinctly in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are exacting, and 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

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

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 capitalizes.

the Universal camp opens the year with a risk-forward move: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in an immediate now. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. Slated for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Directed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

At summer’s close, the Warner lot bows the concluding entry of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson returns, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: period tinged dread, trauma explicitly handled, and a cold supernatural calculus. The bar is raised this go, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, builds out the animatronic fear crew, reaching teens and game grownups. It posts in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Offerings: Modest spend, serious shock

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a tight space body horror vignette fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative featuring Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. 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.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. That is a savvy move. No bloated mythology. No sequel clutter. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Franchise Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, led by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult 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

Myth turns mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight 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 ascends again
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Forward View: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. 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. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The upcoming chiller cycle: entries, original films, together with A busy Calendar designed for screams

Dek: The brand-new horror cycle lines up from day one with a January crush, following that rolls through summer, and continuing into the late-year period, mixing name recognition, untold stories, and data-minded counter-scheduling. The big buyers and platforms are prioritizing efficient budgets, cinema-first plans, and buzz-forward plans that frame these films into mainstream chatter.

Horror momentum into 2026

Horror filmmaking has solidified as the dependable swing in studio lineups, a corner that can spike when it catches and still hedge the downside when it fails to connect. After 2023 signaled to top brass that mid-range scare machines can shape the discourse, the following year maintained heat with auteur-driven buzzy films and slow-burn breakouts. The carry carried into 2025, where reawakened brands and elevated films signaled there is demand for a variety of tones, from returning installments to standalone ideas that translate worldwide. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a calendar that presents tight coordination across the field, with defined corridors, a blend of known properties and new packages, and a revived eye on theatrical windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium digital rental and home streaming.

Schedulers say the space now slots in as a schedule utility on the schedule. Horror can premiere on most weekends, yield a grabby hook for trailers and vertical videos, and overperform with demo groups that respond on first-look nights and continue through the second frame if the picture delivers. In the wake of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 configuration telegraphs certainty in that playbook. The slate opens with a crowded January lineup, then primes spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while keeping space for a late-year stretch that flows toward the Halloween frame and past Halloween. The arrangement also spotlights the expanded integration of specialized imprints and streaming partners that can grow from platform, generate chatter, and scale up at the inflection point.

A second macro trend is franchise tending across unified worlds and long-running brands. Studio teams are not just producing another chapter. They are shaping as brand continuity with a specialness, whether that is a typeface approach that broadcasts a new vibe or a casting pivot that connects a incoming chapter to a initial period. At the concurrently, the creative leads behind the headline-grabbing originals are celebrating in-camera technique, practical gags and place-driven backdrops. That alloy affords the 2026 slate a robust balance of home base and unexpected turns, which is how the films export.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount defines the early cadence with two headline releases 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 heart, presenting it as both a legacy handover and a foundation-forward character-first story. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the authorial approach points to a classic-referencing angle without recycling the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Plan for a rollout centered on brand visuals, character spotlights, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm slated for late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off 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 as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will lean on. As a summer contrast play, this one will build large awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format supporting quick switches to whatever rules trend lines that spring.

Universal has three discrete entries. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is tidy, soulful, and commercial: a grieving man activates an AI companion that grows into a lethal partner. The date slots it at the front of a thick month, with the studio’s marketing likely to echo off-kilter promo beats and snackable content that threads longing and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a title reveal to become an attention spike closer to the initial promo. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. His projects are treated as creative events, with a teaser that reveals little and a follow-up trailer set that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date gives the studio room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has consistently shown that a flesh-and-blood, physical-effects centered style can feel cinematic on a middle budget. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror shock that spotlights overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio places two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, preserving a reliable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is presenting as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both core fans and new audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign pieces around universe detail, and creature design, elements that can drive IMAX and PLF uptake and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on immersive craft and textual fidelity, this time orbiting lycan myth. The distributor has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if weblink early reception is glowing.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s horror titles transition to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a stair-step that expands both launch urgency and viewer acquisition in the later window. Prime Video blends third-party pickups with world buys and limited cinema engagements when the data signals it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog engagement, using editorial spots, spooky hubs, and curated strips to keep attention on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps options open about original films and festival acquisitions, slotting horror entries on shorter runways and framing as events launches with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a laddered of limited theatrical footprints and swift platform pivots that drives paid trials from buzz. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has been willing to acquire select projects with prestige directors or headline-cast packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for retention when the genre conversation builds.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is curating a 2026 runway with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is uncomplicated: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, refined for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an promising marker for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the back half.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday slot to go wider. That positioning has worked well for arthouse horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception prompts. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using targeted theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Legacy titles versus originals

By tilt, the 2026 slate skews toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on fan equity. The challenge, as ever, is staleness. The preferred tactic is to sell each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is foregrounding character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is floating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French sensibility from a fresh helmer. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects keep oxygen in the system. 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, places Rachel McAdams into a survival-thriller premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the bundle is grounded enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and preview-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years clarify the plan. In 2023, a cinema-first model that honored streaming windows did not foreclose a same-day experiment from winning when the brand was potent. In 2024, auteur craft horror over-performed in premium large format. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they reorient and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, allows marketing to cross-link entries through protagonists and motifs and to keep assets alive without hiatuses.

Technique and craft currents

The craft conversations behind the upcoming entries signal a continued turn toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that elevates texture and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in feature stories and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and sparks shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta pivot that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster work and world-building, which match well with expo activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel essential. Look for trailers that foreground surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that benefit on big speakers.

Release calendar overview

January is full. Universal’s 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 brooding contrast amid bigger brand plays. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the menu of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth persists.

Winter into spring stage summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late summer into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still connects to 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 plot reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can win the holiday when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and holiday gift-card burn.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to 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 artificial companion shifts into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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

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 collide with a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 abrasive boss scramble to survive on a isolated island as the pecking order inverts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to fright, based on Cronin’s practical craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting setup that refracts terror through a youth’s uneven point of view. Rating: TBA. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A parody return that satirizes present-day genre chatter and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBA. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further widens again, with a unlucky family anchored to older hauntings. Rating: TBD. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A new start designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on true survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: underway. 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-specific language and primordial menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 lands now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces frame this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or migrated in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and compressed 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 overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming placements. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on shareable moments from test screenings, metered scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can control a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will share space across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title check over here by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first shock 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, tight deployments, 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 tactility, 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, Lined Up To Scare

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is franchise muscle where it helps, auteur intent where it matters, 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-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, keep the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.