Primeval Terror stirs: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, landing Oct 2025 on leading streamers

One spine-tingling unearthly suspense film from narrative craftsman / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an age-old fear when unknowns become tokens in a fiendish trial. Available on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing saga of resilience and prehistoric entity that will reimagine terror storytelling this ghoul season. Directed by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and shadowy motion picture follows five strangers who arise stranded in a wooded wooden structure under the malevolent manipulation of Kyra, a possessed female possessed by a two-thousand-year-old scriptural evil. Be prepared to be ensnared by a immersive event that intertwines gut-punch terror with ancestral stories, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a iconic element in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is challenged when the fiends no longer arise from an outside force, but rather from deep inside. This suggests the most primal side of the players. The result is a edge-of-seat identity crisis where the story becomes a unforgiving face-off between divinity and wickedness.


In a unforgiving outland, five souls find themselves caught under the ghastly aura and grasp of a uncanny figure. As the protagonists becomes helpless to reject her control, left alone and targeted by unknowns inconceivable, they are made to stand before their emotional phantoms while the seconds relentlessly runs out toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread deepens and associations dissolve, prompting each figure to contemplate their core and the structure of self-determination itself. The consequences intensify with every short lapse, delivering a nightmarish journey that intertwines demonic fright with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to explore primal fear, an entity that predates humanity, embedding itself in soul-level flaws, and navigating a spirit that challenges autonomy when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra asked for exploring something far beyond human desperation. She is clueless until the entity awakens, and that conversion is gut-wrenching because it is so emotional.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be released for public screening beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing audiences no matter where they are can engage with this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first trailer, which has been viewed over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, delivering the story to horror fans worldwide.


Tune in for this soul-jarring journey into fear. Explore *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to acknowledge these haunting secrets about inner darkness.


For behind-the-scenes access, on-set glimpses, and reveals from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursed across Facebook and TikTok and visit the movie portal.





U.S. horror’s major pivot: 2025 in focus stateside slate blends Mythic Possession, signature indie scares, paired with franchise surges

Ranging from grit-forward survival fare inspired by legendary theology as well as franchise returns and surgical indie voices, 2025 is lining up as the most textured along with precision-timed year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. studio powerhouses are anchoring the year by way of signature titles, while OTT services front-load the fall with first-wave breakthroughs and archetypal fear. On the independent axis, independent banners is propelled by the tailwinds of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The fall stretch is the proving field, and in 2025, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are calculated, accordingly 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige terror resurfaces

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal banner kicks off the frame with a confident swing: a modernized Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a modern-day environment. Under director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. timed for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Eli Craig directs and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

When summer fades, the WB camp unveils the final movement from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re teams, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: vintage toned fear, trauma as narrative engine, plus otherworld rules that chill. This run ups the stakes, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The next entry deepens the tale, stretches the animatronic parade, reaching teens and game grownups. It arrives in December, cornering year end horror.

SVOD Originals: No Budget, No Problem

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a tight space body horror vignette anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed 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. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is canny scheduling. No bloated mythology. No brand fatigue. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Long Running Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, with Francis Lawrence directing, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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.

Dials to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror swings back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

What’s Next: Autumn density and winter pivot

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

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 goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The oncoming genre Year Ahead: installments, standalone ideas, plus A brimming Calendar tailored for jolts

Dek The arriving genre calendar builds from day one with a January pile-up, after that stretches through summer corridors, and far into the holiday stretch, marrying marquee clout, new concepts, and tactical offsets. Studio marketers and platforms are betting on cost discipline, box-office-first windows, and platform-native promos that turn the slate’s entries into mainstream chatter.

How the genre looks for 2026

Horror has proven to be the sturdy tool in studio lineups, a genre that can surge when it performs and still safeguard the drawdown when it fails to connect. After 2023 reminded studio brass that mid-range shockers can steer mainstream conversation, the following year held pace with visionary-driven titles and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam flowed into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and critical darlings signaled there is space for a spectrum, from continued chapters to original features that scale internationally. The result for 2026 is a run that shows rare alignment across the major shops, with planned clusters, a equilibrium of established brands and new packages, and a refocused priority on exclusive windows that increase tail monetization on paid VOD and digital services.

Marketers add the genre now performs as a flex slot on the calendar. Horror can debut on almost any weekend, furnish a clean hook for spots and vertical videos, and punch above weight with patrons that show up on early shows and hold through the second frame if the offering hits. In the wake of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 cadence underscores belief in that setup. The year gets underway with a busy January window, then turns to spring and early summer for balance, while carving room for a fall corridor that pushes into the Halloween frame and into the next week. The arrangement also includes the stronger partnership of boutique distributors and OTT outlets that can platform a title, create conversation, and scale up at the right moment.

A reinforcing pattern is brand management across ongoing universes and heritage properties. The players are not just turning out another entry. They are working to present ongoing narrative with a heightened moment, whether that is a brandmark that announces a refreshed voice or a talent selection that connects a next film to a classic era. At the in tandem, the writer-directors behind the marquee originals are returning to material texture, in-camera effects and place-driven backdrops. That convergence delivers the 2026 slate a robust balance of trust and newness, which is how the films export.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount fires first with two high-profile plays that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the center, signaling it as both a relay and a back-to-basics character piece. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance indicates a classic-referencing bent without going over the last two entries’ family thread. A campaign is expected driven by signature symbols, character spotlights, and a two-beat trailer plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will double down on. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will drive four-quadrant chatter through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick turns to whatever dominates horror talk that spring.

Universal has three discrete entries. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is efficient, melancholic, and concept-forward: a grieving man purchases an virtual partner that becomes a perilous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s marketing likely to echo off-kilter promo beats and micro spots that mixes intimacy and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a title drop to become an teaser payoff closer to the initial tease. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. His projects are positioned as director events, with a concept-forward tease and a second beat that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The late-month date lets the studio to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has demonstrated that a visceral, practical-first execution can feel high-value on a middle budget. Frame it as a splatter summer horror shot that maximizes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio books two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, maintaining a proven supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has shifted dates 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 comes back in what Sony is positioning as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both longtime followers and newcomers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build artifacts around narrative world, and practical creature work, elements that can accelerate IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror defined by immersive craft and textual fidelity, this time circling werewolf lore. The label has already set the date for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is warm.

Where the platforms fit in

Windowing plans in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s slate window into copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a ordering that expands both opening-weekend urgency and sign-up spikes in the downstream. Prime Video pairs acquired titles with global pickups and limited cinema engagements when the data points to it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library engagement, using timely promos, Halloween hubs, and curated rows to prolong the run on overall cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about originals and festival wins, securing horror entries closer to drop and positioning as event drops rollouts with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a dual-phase of selective theatrical runs and rapid platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a discrete basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to buy select projects with prestige directors or A-list packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for monthly engagement when the genre conversation intensifies.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 lane with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is uncomplicated: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, upgraded for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the October weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday slot to expand. That positioning has delivered for elevated genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception justifies. Expect 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 in parallel, using limited runs to prime evangelism that fuels their community.

Franchise entries versus originals

By tilt, the 2026 slate favors the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate name recognition. The question, as ever, is brand wear. The practical approach is to frame each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is spotlighting character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-tinted vision from a buzzed-about director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a survival chiller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the cast-creatives package is anchored enough to build pre-sales and early previews.

Comparable trends from recent years outline the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive window model that kept clean windows did not preclude a day-and-date experiment from working when the brand was sticky. In 2024, director-craft horror popped in PLF. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they rotate perspective and elevate scope. 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to interlace chapters through cast and motif and to maintain a flow of assets without extended gaps.

How the films are being made

The craft conversations behind 2026 horror telegraph a continued tilt toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that elevates unease and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in craft profiles and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and creates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta pivot that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature craft and set design, which align with fan conventions and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that highlight razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that explode in larger rooms.

The schedule at a glance

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 quiet contrast amid headline IP. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the range of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth carries.

February through May seed summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 click site is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through 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 connected. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder season window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited plot reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s algorithmic partner shifts into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: mood-led 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 difficult boss work to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance of power shifts and mistrust rises. 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 in the vault in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to terror, founded on Cronin’s material craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting setup that teases the unease of a child’s tricky read. Rating: to be announced. Production: picture-locked. 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 satirical comeback that lampoons today’s horror trends and true crime fervors. Rating: pending. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites surges, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new family caught in older hauntings. Rating: TBA. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A restart designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival-first horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: pending. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBD. Production: ongoing. 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 period-specific language and ancient menace. Rating: pending. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three execution-level forces shape this lineup. First, production that eased or shifted in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work repeatable beats from test screenings, precision scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will line up 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 benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where low-to-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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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 viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch 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 somber, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, sonics, and image-making 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 Looks Exciting

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand heft where it matters, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.