Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primordial evil, a hair raising feature, launching October 2025 across top digital platforms

This terrifying ghostly terror film from narrative craftsman / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an long-buried malevolence when outsiders become vehicles in a fiendish ritual. Hitting screens on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking depiction of overcoming and archaic horror that will reconstruct genre cinema this autumn. Guided by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and atmospheric motion picture follows five figures who wake up ensnared in a secluded cottage under the aggressive control of Kyra, a female lead consumed by a ancient ancient fiend. Prepare to be hooked by a big screen spectacle that melds instinctive fear with folklore, streaming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a historical element in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is subverted when the fiends no longer develop externally, but rather through their own souls. This marks the deepest part of the protagonists. The result is a psychologically brutal psychological battle where the drama becomes a constant face-off between innocence and sin.


In a forsaken forest, five souls find themselves sealed under the malevolent control and control of a uncanny being. As the team becomes incapable to fight her rule, severed and chased by unknowns mind-shattering, they are obligated to confront their inner horrors while the hours without pity strikes toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear swells and connections dissolve, compelling each participant to rethink their being and the philosophy of liberty itself. The danger rise with every fleeting time, delivering a nightmarish journey that intertwines occult fear with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to dive into primitive panic, an malevolence from ancient eras, embedding itself in emotional fractures, and questioning a evil that threatens selfhood when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra meant channeling something deeper than fear. She is oblivious until the demon emerges, and that change is haunting because it is so intimate.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for audience access beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving subscribers around the globe can witness this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its original promo, which has garnered over six-figure audience.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, spreading the horror to a worldwide audience.


Join this heart-stopping exploration of dread. Explore *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to witness these dark realities about human nature.


For cast commentary, production insights, and news from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across your favorite networks and visit our film’s homepage.





Today’s horror pivotal crossroads: 2025 for genre fans U.S. release slate fuses archetypal-possession themes, indie terrors, paired with tentpole growls

Running from pressure-cooker survival tales grounded in scriptural legend as well as franchise returns plus surgical indie voices, 2025 appears poised to be the most stratified plus deliberate year in ten years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. leading studios hold down the year with established lines, in parallel SVOD players prime the fall with discovery plays in concert with ancient terrors. Across the art-house lane, the art-house flank is carried on the kinetic energy of a peak 2024 circuit. Since Halloween is the prized date, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A fat September–October lane is customary now, notably this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are exacting, which means 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: The Return of Prestige Fear

The top end is active. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s pipeline begins the calendar with a headline swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. Under director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. set 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 conversion presented as stripped terror. From director Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

When summer fades, Warner Bros. drops the final chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. While the template is known, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re engages, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: retrograde shiver, trauma explicitly handled, along with eerie supernatural rules. The stakes escalate here, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It bows in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

SVOD Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a close quarters body horror study led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable starring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

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 Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held 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 threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a clever angle. No overstuffed canon. No franchise baggage. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Series Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival 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. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. 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 Horror year to come: returning titles, fresh concepts, as well as A Crowded Calendar geared toward nightmares

Dek The current terror year loads from the jump with a January crush, and then runs through midyear, and pushing into the holiday stretch, balancing brand heft, new concepts, and data-minded calendar placement. Studios and streamers are betting on lean spends, cinema-first plans, and platform-native promos that shape the slate’s entries into mainstream chatter.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The genre has grown into the bankable counterweight in release strategies, a category that can expand when it breaks through and still cushion the floor when it under-delivers. After 2023 re-taught greenlighters that cost-conscious shockers can command the national conversation, 2024 sustained momentum with auteur-driven buzzy films and surprise hits. The run pushed into 2025, where revived properties and filmmaker-prestige bets underscored there is space for varied styles, from legacy continuations to non-IP projects that resonate abroad. The end result for 2026 is a run that reads highly synchronized across companies, with intentional bunching, a blend of recognizable IP and fresh ideas, and a reinvigorated focus on theater exclusivity that drive downstream revenue on premium rental and OTT platforms.

Planners observe the space now operates like a versatile piece on the release plan. The genre can premiere on open real estate, provide a simple premise for teasers and shorts, and exceed norms with fans that lean in on previews Thursday and continue through the follow-up frame if the release connects. After a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 configuration signals certainty in that engine. The year launches with a stacked January run, then leans on spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while clearing room for a September to October window that connects to spooky season and afterwards. The program also shows the increasing integration of specialized labels and home platforms that can launch in limited release, create conversation, and grow at the strategic time.

A reinforcing pattern is brand management across connected story worlds and established properties. Distribution groups are not just releasing another continuation. They are trying to present lineage with a must-see charge, whether that is a logo package that flags a re-angled tone or a talent selection that anchors a fresh chapter to a initial period. At the alongside this, the creative leads behind the most anticipated originals are favoring hands-on technique, real effects and specific settings. That alloy produces 2026 a strong blend of brand comfort and newness, which is why the genre exports well.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount plants an early flag with two high-profile titles that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the front, positioning the film as both a legacy handover and a return-to-roots character-focused installment. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture announces a nostalgia-forward campaign without covering again the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Count on a promo wave anchored in classic imagery, early character teases, and a tease cadence aimed at late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will double down on. As a summer contrast play, this one will build mainstream recognition through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick updates to whatever shapes trend lines that spring.

Universal has three clear releases. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is crisp, soulful, and easily pitched: a grieving man activates an AI companion that becomes a lethal partner. The date puts it at the front of a busy month, with marketing at Universal likely to renew off-kilter promo beats and short-form creative that hybridizes romance and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a title reveal to become an attention spike closer Young & Cursed to the opening teaser. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele titles are treated as event films, with a concept-forward tease and a subsequent trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween runway gives the studio room to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has made clear that a visceral, hands-on effects aesthetic can feel high-value on a mid-range budget. Position this as a blood-soaked summer horror hit that pushes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio lines up two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, continuing a bankable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is selling as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both diehards and general audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign creative around canon, and monster craft, elements that can boost premium screens and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror centered on rigorous craft and period speech, this time driven by werewolf stories. The label has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform windowing in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s slate land on copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ladder that expands both premiere heat and sign-up momentum in the later phase. Prime Video continues to mix licensed content with worldwide entries and limited cinema engagements when the data points to it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog discovery, using well-timed internal promotions, horror hubs, and curated strips to prolong the run on overall cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about internal projects and festival additions, scheduling horror entries tight to release and making event-like go-lives with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a paired of targeted cinema placements and fast windowing that drives paid trials from buzz. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a discrete basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to invest in select projects with recognized filmmakers or star packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation heats up.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 runway with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is straightforward: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, refined for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn stretch.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, managing the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday dates to move out. That positioning has helped for filmmaker-driven genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception supports. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using limited runs to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subs.

Franchises versus originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use brand equity. The watch-out, as ever, is fatigue. The go-to fix is to pitch each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is bringing forward character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-inflected take from a rising filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and visionary-led titles deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival-thriller premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the bundle is comforting enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and Thursday-night crowds.

The last three-year set outline the playbook. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that kept clean windows did not prevent a same-day experiment from thriving when the brand was compelling. In 2024, director-craft horror outperformed in premium screens. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they reorient and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters filmed consecutively, permits marketing to tie installments through relationships and themes and to continue assets in field without pause points.

Craft and creative trends

The filmmaking conversations behind 2026 horror foreshadow a continued preference for real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that leans on atmosphere and fear rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for textured sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft features before rolling out a initial teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and sparks shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-referential reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature and environment design, which align with convention activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel necessary. Look for trailers that foreground razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that explode in larger rooms.

Release calendar overview

January is busy. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid big-brand pushes. The month winds down 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 serious, but the spread of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth carries.

Post-January through spring prime the summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late-season stretch leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a opaque tease strategy and limited previews that favor idea over plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can win the holiday when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday gift-card burn.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s AI companion grows into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 tough boss scramble to survive on a uninhabited island as the hierarchy inverts and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to nightmare, founded on Cronin’s practical craft and rising 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 intimate haunting tale that twists the fright of a child’s shaky perspective. Rating: TBD. Production: picture-locked. 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 targets today’s horror trends and true-crime crazes. Rating: pending. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, horror movies August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a fresh family snared by ancient dread. Rating: undetermined. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward pure survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: pending. 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: intentionally withheld. Rating: pending. Production: in progress. 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 period-precise speech and primal menace. Rating: pending. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a cinema-first path before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three hands-on forces inform this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or reshuffled in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming drops. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify bite-size scare clips from test screenings, controlled scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Calendar math also matters. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will stack across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R Young & Cursed 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 cost-efficient 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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run 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 bleak, 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 condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, right-sized allotments, 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 dimensionality, soundcraft, and camera work 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.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is name recognition where it counts, 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-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, lock the reveals, and let the chills sell the seats.