Age-old Dread reawakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding chiller, rolling out October 2025 on major streaming services

An terrifying otherworldly shockfest from dramatist / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an prehistoric fear when drifters become victims in a satanic game. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing episode of resistance and archaic horror that will remodel terror storytelling this harvest season. Crafted by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and gothic thriller follows five strangers who awaken confined in a remote wooden structure under the malignant command of Kyra, a central character overtaken by a time-worn ancient fiend. Be prepared to be absorbed by a cinematic venture that weaves together deep-seated panic with spiritual backstory, debuting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a time-honored trope in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is radically shifted when the forces no longer descend from beyond, but rather deep within. This illustrates the malevolent part of all involved. The result is a harrowing moral showdown where the events becomes a constant fight between righteousness and malevolence.


In a haunting backcountry, five figures find themselves confined under the evil aura and haunting of a unknown female presence. As the ensemble becomes submissive to resist her curse, cut off and stalked by spirits inconceivable, they are forced to acknowledge their inner horrors while the moments harrowingly pushes forward toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease intensifies and alliances splinter, driving each person to reflect on their character and the principle of conscious will itself. The tension escalate with every minute, delivering a nightmarish journey that harmonizes demonic fright with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to channel primal fear, an evil from prehistory, manifesting in soul-level flaws, and testing a spirit that questions who we are when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra was about accessing something beyond human emotion. She is ignorant until the evil takes hold, and that flip is gut-wrenching because it is so deep.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for public screening beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring viewers globally can engage with this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first trailer, which has pulled in over strong viewer count.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, spreading the horror to scare fans abroad.


Experience this visceral voyage through terror. Explore *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to acknowledge these dark realities about the psyche.


For cast commentary, director cuts, and press updates straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across your socials and visit our spooky domain.





Modern horror’s inflection point: 2025 in focus U.S. calendar braids together archetypal-possession themes, microbudget gut-punches, and series shake-ups

Running from grit-forward survival fare rooted in old testament echoes and onward to franchise returns alongside cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 stands to become the most variegated together with calculated campaign year for the modern era.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. studio majors plant stakes across the year via recognizable brands, simultaneously SVOD players flood the fall with first-wave breakthroughs plus ancient terrors. On another front, the art-house flank is catching the backdraft of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the other windows are mapped with care. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, and now, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are exacting, thus 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Premium dread reemerges

The top end is active. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal camp opens the year with a big gambit: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, instead in a current-day frame. Directed by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. timed 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.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Directed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

At summer’s close, Warner’s pipeline bows the concluding entry from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re engages, and those signature textures resurface: 70s style chill, trauma as narrative engine, and a cold supernatural calculus. The ante is higher this round, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The continuation widens the legend, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, reaching teens and game grownups. It hits in December, pinning the winter close.

Platform Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a two hander body horror spiral including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. 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. It is an astute call. No overinflated mythology. No series drag. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, steered by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Trends to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror swings back
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical release is 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 is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

What’s Next: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The new fright year to come: brand plays, filmmaker-first projects, paired with A busy Calendar Built For jolts

Dek: The new scare calendar crams in short order with a January pile-up, after that flows through the summer months, and straight through the holiday stretch, blending brand equity, new voices, and tactical alternatives. Distributors with platforms are leaning into cost discipline, cinema-first plans, and influencer-ready assets that shape these offerings into culture-wide discussion.

How the genre looks for 2026

This space has turned into the predictable counterweight in annual schedules, a lane that can scale when it performs and still buffer the exposure when it does not. After the 2023 year re-taught studio brass that modestly budgeted chillers can own the discourse, the following year sustained momentum with director-led heat and unexpected risers. The energy fed into 2025, where reboots and filmmaker-prestige bets proved there is appetite for many shades, from franchise continuations to original one-offs that perform internationally. The aggregate for 2026 is a grid that appears tightly organized across the industry, with planned clusters, a equilibrium of brand names and new pitches, and a revived attention on big-screen windows that drive downstream revenue on premium video on demand and streaming.

Studio leaders note the genre now operates like a flex slot on the slate. The genre can kick off on a wide range of weekends, deliver a quick sell for promo reels and vertical videos, and exceed norms with audiences that lean in on preview nights and continue through the next weekend if the feature works. Exiting a production delay era, the 2026 plan underscores assurance in that engine. The calendar rolls out with a thick January schedule, then exploits spring through early summer for alternate plays, while holding room for a fall run that carries into the fright window and beyond. The grid also features the greater integration of specialty arms and home platforms that can develop over weeks, ignite recommendations, and broaden at the optimal moment.

A second macro trend is legacy care across shared IP webs and legacy franchises. Distribution groups are not just greenlighting another sequel. They are trying to present threaded continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a brandmark that announces a new tone or a talent selection that anchors a next film to a vintage era. At the in tandem, the auteurs behind the most buzzed-about originals are championing tactile craft, physical gags and site-specific worlds. That convergence hands 2026 a vital pairing of trust and novelty, which is how the films export.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount establishes early momentum with two big-ticket pushes that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the core, setting it up as both a handoff and a return-to-roots character piece. Production is active in Atlanta, and the directional approach hints at a classic-referencing angle without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Watch for a push built on recognizable motifs, first-look character reveals, and a tiered teaser plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will stress. As a counterweight in summer, this one will build general-audience talk through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format permitting quick reframes to whatever owns the social talk that spring.

Universal has three specific releases. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is straightforward, heartbroken, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man sets up an artificial companion that shifts into a harmful mate. The date locates it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to reprise uncanny live moments and micro spots that interlaces love and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a public title to become an event moment closer to the initial tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele titles are set up as filmmaker events, with a teaser that holds back and a follow-up trailer set that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween runway offers Universal room to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has proven that a tactile, physical-effects centered method can feel cinematic on a tight budget. Look for a hard-R summer horror jolt that embraces global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio mounts two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, preserving a reliable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is presenting as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both devotees and fresh viewers. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign creative around setting detail, and creature builds, elements that can stoke deluxe auditorium demand and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in immersive craft and period speech, this time set against lycan legends. The imprint has already locked the day for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is enthusiastic.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform plans for 2026 run on well-known grooves. The studio’s horror films head to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a structure that maximizes both debut momentum and subscriber lifts in the later phase. Prime Video pairs library titles with worldwide entries and select theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu work their edges in deep cuts, using well-timed internal promotions, spooky hubs, and editorial rows to lengthen the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays nimble about internal projects and festival acquisitions, securing horror entries toward the drop and making event-like arrivals with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a dual-phase of targeted cinema placements and swift platform pivots that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown a willingness to pick up select projects with prestige directors or star packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 track with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is clean: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, recalibrated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late-season weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, managing the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday frame to scale. That positioning has helped for director-led genre with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception warrants. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using small theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their community.

Legacy titles versus originals

By proportion, 2026 skews toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on fan equity. The watch-out, as ever, is overexposure. The pragmatic answer is to pitch each entry as a new angle. Paramount is emphasizing character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-tinted vision from a buzzed-about director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and talent-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the package is grounded enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years help explain the template. In 2023, a theater-first model that honored streaming windows did not block a day-and-date experiment from paying off when the brand was trusted. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror hit big in large-format rooms. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reorient and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds 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 sequentially, allows marketing to thread films through cast and motif and to keep assets alive without long breaks.

Production craft signals

The shop talk behind 2026 horror indicate a continued shift toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that emphasizes texture and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in feature stories and department features before rolling out a initial teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and earns shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta reframe that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster realization and design, which fit with convention activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel essential. Look for trailers that center fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in big rooms.

Annual flow

January is heavy. 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 foggy reset amid marquee brands. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the mix of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Post-January through spring load in summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a bridge slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited disclosures that lean on concept not plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can win the holiday when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card use.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s synthetic partner mutates into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human 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 broadens the canvas 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 goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. 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 tough boss struggle to survive on a uninhabited island as the control balance inverts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to terror, grounded in Cronin’s hands-on craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting narrative that mediates the fear via a preteen’s volatile perspective. Rating: forthcoming. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-scale and celebrity-led haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A parody reboot that skewers present-day genre chatter and true crime fascinations. Rating: pending. Production: shoot planned 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 erupts, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: currently 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 reopens, with a unlucky family anchored to long-buried horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A clean reboot designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on pure survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: closely held. Rating: TBA. 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-precise speech and elemental menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: Young & Cursed John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a big-screen run before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the moment is 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces drive this lineup. First, production that downshifted or recalendared in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more structured 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, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on clippable moments from test screenings, select scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Calendar math also matters. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will stack across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where value-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, optimized 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 texture, soundscape, and visual design 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

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is name recognition where it counts, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the shudders sell the seats.