Age-old Evil returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising horror feature, landing Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

A frightening supernatural shockfest from author / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an primordial force when foreigners become victims in a diabolical game. Debuting October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a intense narrative of staying alive and primeval wickedness that will revamp horror this season. Brought to life by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and eerie tale follows five individuals who wake up trapped in a unreachable hideaway under the malignant command of Kyra, a mysterious girl consumed by a 2,000-year-old sacred-era entity. Be warned to be absorbed by a visual outing that weaves together visceral dread with folklore, debuting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a mainstay concept in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is subverted when the entities no longer form from elsewhere, but rather deep within. This marks the most terrifying version of these individuals. The result is a harrowing spiritual tug-of-war where the suspense becomes a intense struggle between righteousness and malevolence.


In a wilderness-stricken backcountry, five youths find themselves confined under the malicious aura and haunting of a elusive figure. As the cast becomes vulnerable to break her manipulation, severed and targeted by creatures mind-shattering, they are confronted to battle their soulful dreads while the countdown ruthlessly runs out toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension escalates and teams disintegrate, prompting each figure to examine their being and the concept of autonomy itself. The risk climb with every fleeting time, delivering a terror ride that marries occult fear with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to explore pure dread, an evil that existed before mankind, embedding itself in our fears, and questioning a entity that challenges autonomy when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra meant evoking something past sanity. She is clueless until the evil takes hold, and that change is shocking because it is so visceral.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for worldwide release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—ensuring audiences anywhere can enjoy this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its release of trailer #1, which has received over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, bringing the film to viewers around the world.


Witness this soul-jarring exploration of dread. Experience *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to see these unholy truths about inner darkness.


For featurettes, production insights, and social posts via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across Facebook and TikTok and visit the film’s website.





Horror’s major pivot: the year 2025 U.S. calendar Mixes old-world possession, festival-born jolts, stacked beside returning-series thunder

Running from fight-to-live nightmare stories drawn from legendary theology through to brand-name continuations alongside acutely observed indies, 2025 looks like horror’s most layered and deliberate year in years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. leading studios set cornerstones by way of signature titles, as OTT services load up the fall with new perspectives plus legend-coded dread. In parallel, horror’s indie wing is fueled by the carry from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, notably this year, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are disciplined, so 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

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

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal starts the year with an audacious swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in a modern-day environment. Guided by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Slated for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Helmed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer eases, the Warner lot bows the concluding entry from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson returns, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: retro dread, trauma explicitly handled, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. Here the stakes rise, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, grows the animatronic horror lineup, courting teens and the thirty something base. It hits in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streamer Exclusives: No Budget, No Problem

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a close quarters body horror study with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Also notable is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. 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 smart play. No overweight mythology. No IP hangover. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

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 this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Lines: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, 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 first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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.

What to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror ascends again
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Big screen is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Forward View: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

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 mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The approaching chiller release year: Sequels, universe starters, paired with A hectic Calendar geared toward shocks

Dek The brand-new horror season lines up at the outset with a January wave, after that spreads through June and July, and carrying into the festive period, mixing IP strength, new concepts, and tactical release strategy. The big buyers and platforms are focusing on tight budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and social-fueled campaigns that shape the slate’s entries into cross-demo moments.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The field has solidified as the predictable swing in distribution calendars, a segment that can accelerate when it clicks and still insulate the liability when it doesn’t. After 2023 re-taught greenlighters that lean-budget chillers can drive audience talk, 2024 kept energy high with filmmaker-forward plays and slow-burn breakouts. The head of steam translated to 2025, where legacy revivals and critical darlings proved there is appetite for a spectrum, from brand follow-ups to fresh IP that export nicely. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a programming that shows rare alignment across companies, with mapped-out bands, a combination of established brands and original hooks, and a recommitted priority on theater exclusivity that enhance post-theatrical value on premium video on demand and digital services.

Distribution heads claim the category now acts as a flex slot on the slate. The genre can premiere on many corridors, create a grabby hook for creative and UGC-friendly snippets, and exceed norms with moviegoers that appear on advance nights and keep coming through the next pass if the release lands. Post a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 cadence signals faith in that playbook. The calendar commences with a loaded January lineup, then exploits spring through early summer for alternate plays, while clearing room for a fall corridor that stretches into holiday-adjacent weekends and into the next week. The map also includes the stronger partnership of indie arms and digital platforms that can build gradually, create conversation, and move wide at the precise moment.

Another broad trend is IP stewardship across connected story worlds and heritage properties. Studio teams are not just rolling another entry. They are seeking to position connection with a headline quality, whether that is a title presentation that signals a new vibe or a casting pivot that bridges a next entry to a early run. At the alongside this, the auteurs behind the marquee originals are favoring hands-on technique, in-camera effects and distinct locales. That pairing provides the 2026 slate a vital pairing of trust and discovery, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount establishes early momentum with two high-profile releases that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, steering it as both a passing of the torch and a origin-leaning character-centered film. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach signals a throwback-friendly campaign without recycling the last two entries’ sibling arc. Count on a promo wave leaning on franchise iconography, character spotlights, and a staggered trailer plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will emphasize. As a summer relief option, this one will hunt four-quadrant chatter through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format permitting quick adjustments to whatever defines trend lines that spring.

Universal has three defined entries. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is tight, melancholic, and premise-first: a grieving man activates an synthetic partner that becomes a murderous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to recreate eerie street stunts and micro spots that fuses romance and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a title reveal to become an PR pop closer to the early tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s work are treated as must-see filmmaker statements, with a teaser that holds back and a second trailer wave that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor gives the studio room to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has established that a flesh-and-blood, prosthetic-heavy method can feel top-tier on a disciplined budget. Look for a red-band summer horror surge that pushes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio launches two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, sustaining a proven supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what Sony is framing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both loyalists and new audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build promo materials around universe detail, and monster craft, elements that can boost PLF interest and fandom activation.

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 advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in immersive craft and linguistic texture, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus’s team has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is positive.

Digital platform strategies

Platform windowing in 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal titles window into copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a ordering that expands both first-week urgency and subscriber lifts in the downstream. Prime Video continues to mix library titles with worldwide entries and small theatrical windows when the data backs it. Max and Hulu work their edges in catalog engagement, using curated hubs, holiday hubs, and programmed rows to prolong the run on the 2026 genre total. Netflix remains opportunistic about own-slate titles and festival grabs, confirming horror entries near launch and positioning as event drops go-lives with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a two-step of tailored theatrical exposure and prompt platform moves that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has been willing to purchase select projects with acclaimed directors or star-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation surges.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 track 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 clean: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, modernized for modern sound and cinematography. 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 positioned a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then pressing the Christmas corridor to move out. That positioning has helped for filmmaker-driven genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception prompts. Watch 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 hand in hand, using select theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their membership.

IP versus fresh ideas

By share, the 2026 slate skews toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap brand equity. The risk, as ever, is fatigue. The near-term solution is to brand each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is bringing forward core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is promising a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-inflected take from a ascendant talent. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the team and cast is grounded enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years help explain the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that respected streaming windows did not deter a day-and-date experiment from hitting when the brand was robust. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror rose in premium screens. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they pivot perspective and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, allows marketing to cross-link entries through cast and motif and to leave creative active without pause points.

Technique and craft currents

The filmmaking conversations behind the year’s horror foreshadow a continued tilt toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that spotlights tone and tension rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in feature stories and artisan spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for red-band excess, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta refresh that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature work and production design, which are ideal for convention floor stunts and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that accent fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that explode in larger rooms.

Release calendar overview

January is packed. 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 marquee brands. The month caps 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 credible, but the range of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth holds.

Q1 into Q2 prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

August and September into October leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a early fall window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a opaque tease strategy and limited previews that favor idea over plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Title snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s AI companion becomes something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

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 run into a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her severe boss struggle to survive on a cut-off island as the pecking order reverses and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to menace, founded on Cronin’s material craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting scenario that interrogates the chill of a child’s inconsistent perspective. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-grade and A-list fronted ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A genre lampoon that lampoons modern genre fads and true crime preoccupations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 international twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a new family lashed to returning horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstruct the franchise from the his comment is here ground up, with an emphasis on survival-core horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: closely held. Rating: to be announced. Production: ongoing. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and elemental menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three nuts-and-bolts forces structure this lineup. First, production that downshifted or re-slotted in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD horror and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage shareable moments from test screenings, metered scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will line up across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

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 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where lower and 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 exploit those windows. 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. Expect a healthy 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 year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, 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 maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, 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 visual texture, sound field, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is name recognition where it counts, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the screams sell the seats.