Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives age-old dread, a fear soaked thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on major streaming services

This chilling metaphysical fright fest from dramatist / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an forgotten malevolence when strangers become puppets in a fiendish trial. Releasing on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish portrayal of resistance and archaic horror that will alter genre cinema this Halloween season. Brought to life by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and gothic fearfest follows five figures who snap to ensnared in a hidden house under the malevolent power of Kyra, a central character possessed by a two-thousand-year-old sacred-era entity. Get ready to be hooked by a screen-based event that combines bodily fright with folklore, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a iconic trope in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is reimagined when the dark entities no longer emerge beyond the self, but rather internally. This embodies the deepest version of these individuals. The result is a bone-chilling mind game where the emotions becomes a perpetual contest between purity and corruption.


In a unforgiving landscape, five campers find themselves trapped under the possessive rule and possession of a secretive apparition. As the cast becomes unresisting to evade her power, abandoned and hunted by spirits unimaginable, they are compelled to deal with their inner horrors while the hours harrowingly counts down toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion amplifies and relationships dissolve, driving each survivor to doubt their existence and the philosophy of personal agency itself. The consequences accelerate with every heartbeat, delivering a scare-fueled ride that merges mystical fear with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to uncover primal fear, an evil born of forgotten ages, manipulating soul-level flaws, and questioning a darkness that forces self-examination when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra was centered on something more primal than sorrow. She is innocent until the curse activates, and that conversion is bone-chilling because it is so private.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for digital release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—allowing streamers in all regions can get immersed in this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its release of trailer #1, which has attracted over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, offering the tale to thrill-seekers globally.


Experience this bone-rattling descent into hell. Face *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to explore these evil-rooted truths about existence.


For sneak peeks, extra content, and alerts from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across Facebook and TikTok and visit the movie portal.





Contemporary horror’s pivotal crossroads: calendar year 2025 U.S. Slate braids together legend-infused possession, underground frights, stacked beside Franchise Rumbles

Kicking off with endurance-driven terror infused with mythic scripture and including brand-name continuations and sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 looks like the most variegated in tandem with deliberate year for the modern era.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. major banners stabilize the year with known properties, in tandem platform operators flood the fall with fresh voices together with primordial unease. At the same time, the art-house flank is buoyed by the kinetic energy from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, and in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are precise, so 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Premium genre swings back

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal lights the fuse with a marquee bet: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Slated for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. From director Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

At summer’s close, Warner Bros. bows the concluding entry from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Even if the pattern is recognizable, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson returns, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: old school creep, trauma in the foreground, along with eerie supernatural rules. This pass pushes higher, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The return delves further into myth, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It arrives in December, securing the winter cap.

SVOD Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a room scale body horror descent fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale with Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Penned and steered 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing 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 reads as sharp positioning. No bloated mythology. No canon weight. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

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

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

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, under 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.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Signals and Trends

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror resurges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

The big screen is a trust exercise
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The forthcoming 2026 Horror season: installments, filmmaker-first projects, paired with A hectic Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek: The brand-new horror season lines up from the jump with a January logjam, subsequently spreads through the warm months, and carrying into the festive period, combining name recognition, novel approaches, and tactical alternatives. The major players are focusing on lean spends, theatrical leads, and social-fueled campaigns that convert genre titles into broad-appeal conversations.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The genre has turned into the steady lever in studio slates, a genre that can surge when it clicks and still safeguard the drawdown when it fails to connect. After 2023 signaled to decision-makers that efficiently budgeted horror vehicles can galvanize the zeitgeist, 2024 held pace with festival-darling auteurs and quiet over-performers. The trend flowed into 2025, where legacy revivals and critical darlings highlighted there is capacity for many shades, from legacy continuations to fresh IP that translate worldwide. The sum for the 2026 slate is a lineup that shows rare alignment across studios, with mapped-out bands, a pairing of household franchises and first-time concepts, and a renewed focus on big-screen windows that fuel later windows on premium rental and home platforms.

Schedulers say the horror lane now serves as a plug-and-play option on the schedule. Horror can bow on nearly any frame, yield a easy sell for teasers and short-form placements, and over-index with ticket buyers that turn out on Thursday nights and continue through the week two if the offering works. Post a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 mapping exhibits conviction in that engine. The slate kicks off with a heavy January window, then targets spring into early summer for alternate plays, while holding room for a fall cadence that connects to Halloween and into post-Halloween. The layout also shows the deeper integration of arthouse labels and OTT outlets that can develop over weeks, ignite recommendations, and roll out at the proper time.

A notable top-line trend is legacy care across shared IP webs and storied titles. Major shops are not just turning out another continuation. They are moving to present story carry-over with a premium feel, whether that is a title presentation that announces a tonal shift or a talent selection that links a incoming chapter to a original cycle. At the meanwhile, the creative leads behind the most anticipated originals are prioritizing on-set craft, makeup and prosthetics and vivid settings. That combination delivers 2026 a solid mix of brand comfort and surprise, which is what works overseas.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount plants an early flag with two marquee bets that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the spine, steering it as both a succession moment and a classic-mode character-focused installment. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the story approach suggests a nostalgia-forward framework without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive anchored in brand visuals, character spotlights, and a trailer cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects 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 creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will feature. As a summer counter-slot, this one will build large awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format supporting quick adjustments to whatever tops the conversation that spring.

Universal has three distinct lanes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is crisp, melancholic, and easily pitched: a grieving man adopts an digital partner that becomes a harmful mate. The date locates it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to recreate eerie street stunts and short-form creative that threads love and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a public title to become an marketing beat closer to the first look. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele projects are positioned as director events, with a hinting teaser and a later creative that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor creates space for Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has long shown that a flesh-and-blood, physical-effects centered approach can feel top-tier on a lean spend. Position this as a gore-forward summer horror blast that maximizes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio launches two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, continuing a trusty supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is billing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both players and casuals. The fall slot hands Sony window to build marketing units around universe detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can stoke format premiums and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by historical precision and period language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The distributor has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is supportive.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform tactics for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal titles flow to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a cadence that fortifies both FOMO and sub growth in the back half. Prime Video pairs outside acquisitions with world buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their edges in back-catalog play, using seasonal hubs, spooky hubs, and editorial rows to stretch the tail on aggregate take. Netflix stays opportunistic about Netflix films and festival grabs, slotting horror entries closer to launch and coalescing around premieres with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a tiered of focused cinema runs and quick platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown appetite to buy select projects with award winners or star packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation swells.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is curating a 2026 lane with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is clear: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, updated for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a theatrical rollout for the title, an positive signal for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the fall weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then working the Christmas corridor to increase reach. That positioning has delivered for prestige horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception prompts. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using targeted theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subs.

IP versus fresh ideas

By count, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit legacy awareness. The risk, as ever, is brand erosion. The workable fix is to pitch each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is elevating core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is promising a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-tinted vision from a fresh helmer. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and talent-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the bundle is anchored enough to spark pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Recent-year comps help explain the model. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that kept clean windows did not prevent a dual release from working when the brand was big. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror rose in large-format rooms. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they change perspective and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters lensed back-to-back, enables marketing to bridge entries through relationships and themes and to continue assets in field without dead zones.

Behind-the-camera trends

The craft conversations behind this slate point to a continued tilt toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that foregrounds texture and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in long-lead press and technical spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and spurs shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta-horror reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature and environment design, which work nicely for convention floor stunts and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel key. Look for trailers that spotlight fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that work in PLF.

Annual flow

January is jammed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid heavier IP. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the palette of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth carries.

Winter into spring build the summer base. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

August and September into October leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a late-September window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited information drops that elevate concept over story.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift card usage.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s machine mate turns into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially 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 comes 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: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss battle to survive on a far-flung island as the control dynamic inverts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

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 fresh reimagining that returns the monster to terror, built on Cronin’s on-set craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting chiller that leverages the dread of a child’s mercurial perceptions. Rating: pending. Production: finished. 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 reuniting creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that skewers modern genre fads and true crime fascinations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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: undetermined. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a young family caught this page in residual nightmares. Rating: TBA. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A restart designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on pure survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: TBD. Production: underway. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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 antique diction and raw menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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

Why 2026 lands now

Three hands-on forces define this lineup. First, production that decelerated or recalendared in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more measured 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 landings. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on shareable moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, 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 sleeper-hit hunt 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 unexpected breakout 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, 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 hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient placements, 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, sound field, 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 Is Well Positioned

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is recognizable IP where it plays, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, protect the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.