Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites primordial evil, a hair raising chiller, streaming October 2025 across leading streamers

One hair-raising metaphysical nightmare movie from narrative craftsman / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an forgotten horror when passersby become victims in a satanic ordeal. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing journey of survival and old world terror that will reconstruct scare flicks this season. Directed by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and shadowy screenplay follows five strangers who regain consciousness stranded in a secluded shack under the aggressive grip of Kyra, a female presence inhabited by a ancient Old Testament spirit. Be warned to be captivated by a cinematic adventure that unites bone-deep fear with spiritual backstory, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a legendary trope in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is reimagined when the demons no longer arise externally, but rather internally. This marks the grimmest version of the cast. The result is a riveting moral showdown where the plotline becomes a merciless battle between light and darkness.


In a desolate outland, five teens find themselves sealed under the evil influence and haunting of a obscure woman. As the characters becomes incapable to reject her power, severed and targeted by powers inconceivable, they are confronted to reckon with their inner demons while the time without pity counts down toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease grows and connections break, driving each cast member to examine their character and the integrity of self-determination itself. The intensity amplify with every tick, delivering a terror ride that combines occult fear with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to draw upon instinctual horror, an malevolence that existed before mankind, manifesting in inner turmoil, and exposing a power that challenges autonomy when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra asked for exploring something past sanity. She is clueless until the evil takes hold, and that evolution is gut-wrenching because it is so internal.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for home viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—allowing viewers from coast to coast can face this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its release of trailer #1, which has collected over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, presenting the nightmare to viewers around the world.


Avoid skipping this soul-jarring path of possession. Stream *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to face these terrifying truths about inner darkness.


For featurettes, extra content, and promotions from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across online outlets and visit the movie’s homepage.





Current horror’s watershed moment: 2025 U.S. calendar melds Mythic Possession, indie terrors, stacked beside Franchise Rumbles

Ranging from fight-to-live nightmare stories drawn from legendary theology to returning series plus cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is coalescing into the most dimensioned together with precision-timed year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Top studios lay down anchors with franchise anchors, while OTT services crowd the fall with fresh voices paired with archetypal fear. Across the art-house lane, festival-forward creators is surfing the echoes from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A fat September–October lane is customary now, notably this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are targeted, hence 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige fear returns

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s pipeline begins the calendar with a bold swing: a modernized Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a modern-day environment. Steered by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. arriving mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Helmed by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

When summer tapers, Warner Bros. Pictures bows the concluding entry from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re teams, and the memorable motifs return: nostalgic menace, trauma driven plotting, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The ante is higher this round, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The continuation widens the legend, builds out the animatronic fear crew, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It posts in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Offerings: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga led by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No overweight mythology. No legacy baggage. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup 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. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, steered by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Trends Worth Watching

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

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.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Forecast: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The approaching fright calendar year ahead: brand plays, universe starters, and also A Crowded Calendar calibrated for screams

Dek: The fresh terror cycle packs right away with a January bottleneck, following that rolls through peak season, and deep into the holiday stretch, mixing marquee clout, new voices, and shrewd counterweight. The big buyers and platforms are relying on right-sized spends, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that shape these films into cross-demo moments.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror sector has become the most reliable lever in distribution calendars, a space that can lift when it catches and still protect the downside when it underperforms. After 2023 demonstrated to top brass that responsibly budgeted shockers can own pop culture, 2024 carried the beat with buzzy auteur projects and stealth successes. The momentum fed into 2025, where reboots and critical darlings confirmed there is capacity for a spectrum, from returning installments to filmmaker-driven originals that play globally. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a programming that seems notably aligned across distributors, with clear date clusters, a harmony of established brands and fresh ideas, and a re-energized emphasis on exhibition windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium digital rental and platforms.

Marketers add the horror lane now serves as a fill-in ace on the schedule. Horror can debut on open real estate, yield a clear pitch for creative and shorts, and outperform with moviegoers that respond on Thursday previews and keep coming through the subsequent weekend if the release pays off. Following a work stoppage lag, the 2026 setup telegraphs comfort in that model. The calendar opens with a busy January window, then taps spring and early summer for contrast, while keeping space for a autumn stretch that pushes into the fright window and into November. The grid also includes the expanded integration of specialty arms and subscription services that can nurture a platform play, create conversation, and scale up at the optimal moment.

Another broad trend is brand strategy across interlocking continuities and classic IP. Studio teams are not just making another continuation. They are moving to present brand continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a title treatment that broadcasts a refreshed voice or a star attachment that anchors a new installment to a foundational era. At the very same time, the writer-directors behind the marquee originals are favoring material texture, in-camera effects and vivid settings. That blend affords the 2026 slate a vital pairing of recognition and surprise, which is why the genre exports well.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount defines the early cadence with two marquee pushes that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the heart, marketing it as both a lineage transfer and a classic-mode character-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the story approach conveys a classic-referencing framework without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive anchored in classic imagery, early character teases, and a tease cadence timed to 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 on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will emphasize. As a summer counter-slot, this one will go after mainstream recognition through imp source gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format permitting quick reframes to whatever defines genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three defined entries. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is simple, melancholic, and concept-forward: a grieving man implements an virtual partner that escalates into a killer companion. The date puts it at the front of a busy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to reprise uncanny-valley stunts and snackable content that threads attachment and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a official title to become an fan moment closer to the initial tease. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s work are treated as marquee events, with a mystery-first teaser and a second wave of trailers that signal tone without plot the concept. The spooky-season slot creates space for Universal to saturate 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, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has proven that a blood-soaked, makeup-driven strategy can feel deluxe on a disciplined budget. Position this as a blood-and-grime summer horror charge that emphasizes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio sets two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, continuing a bankable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is framing as a new foundation 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 sharper mandate to serve both players and novices. The fall slot gives Sony time to build campaign creative around narrative world, and creature design, elements that can drive IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in minute detail and language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The company has already set the date for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is favorable.

How the platforms plan to play it

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal titles land on copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a ordering that fortifies both launch urgency and sign-up momentum in the later window. Prime Video interleaves acquired titles with cross-border buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in library engagement, using editorial spots, spooky hubs, and curated rows to increase tail value on lifetime take. Netflix keeps flexible about Netflix originals and festival grabs, locking in horror entries on shorter runways and elevating as drops launches with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a two-step of precision releases and swift platform pivots that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has proven amenable to invest in select projects with award winners or star-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation ramps.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 runway with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is uncomplicated: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, reimagined for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then working the holiday slot to expand. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-first horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception encourages. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using mini theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Franchise entries versus originals

By share, 2026 leans toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on household recognition. The challenge, as ever, is viewer burnout. The near-term solution is to pitch each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is elevating character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-tinted vision from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a island survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the packaging is familiar enough to build pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Recent comps help explain the approach. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that maintained windows did not obstruct a day-date move from hitting when the brand was strong. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror over-performed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they shift POV and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on 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 shot back-to-back, creates space for marketing to relate entries through character spine and themes and to keep materials circulating without extended gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The shop talk behind 2026 horror telegraph a continued bias toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that emphasizes atmosphere and fear rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in craft journalism and guild coverage before rolling out a atmospheric tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta refresh that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature execution and sets, which favor booth activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel must-have. Look for trailers that accent disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that play in premium auditoriums.

How the year maps out

January is crowded. 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 moody palate cleanser amid big-brand pushes. The month buttons 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 formidable, but the mix of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Post-January through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s 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 underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can hit 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 cycled through PLF.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited pre-release reveals that center concept over reveals.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card spend.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s intelligent companion grows into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: aura-driven 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 severe boss battle to survive on a cut-off island as the chain of command flips and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to fear, built on Cronin’s practical effects and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting setup that filters its scares through a young child’s unreliable POV. Rating: forthcoming. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

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 genre lampoon that lampoons contemporary horror memes and true crime fixations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new clan bound to long-buried horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: forthcoming. Production: advancing. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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 language and primal menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three hands-on forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or re-slotted in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and condensed 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 outperformed straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine clippable moments from test screenings, metered scare Check This Out clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Calendar math also matters. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will cluster across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 chase continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, 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 cadence and diversity. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play 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 preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, soundcraft, and cinematography 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

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand heft where it matters, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, guard the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.