Age-old Terror stirs: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling horror thriller, debuting Oct 2025 across major platforms

One eerie unearthly terror film from scriptwriter / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an age-old dread when newcomers become vehicles in a dark contest. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing account of survival and ancient evil that will resculpt horror this fall. Helmed by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and immersive fearfest follows five lost souls who wake up stuck in a hidden lodge under the oppressive command of Kyra, a young woman inhabited by a ancient holy text monster. Be warned to be hooked by a narrative experience that melds bodily fright with mystical narratives, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a long-standing element in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is twisted when the fiends no longer descend from elsewhere, but rather internally. This suggests the most sinister dimension of every character. The result is a gripping cognitive warzone where the drama becomes a constant contest between right and wrong.


In a bleak wilderness, five figures find themselves isolated under the sinister grip and grasp of a mysterious character. As the ensemble becomes unable to oppose her power, severed and preyed upon by spirits mind-shattering, they are compelled to encounter their darkest emotions while the moments without pity winds toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear builds and friendships shatter, requiring each protagonist to evaluate their existence and the idea of personal agency itself. The hazard climb with every short lapse, delivering a nightmarish journey that fuses ghostly evil with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to channel ancestral fear, an curse from prehistory, embedding itself in fragile psyche, and dealing with a being that questions who we are when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra was about accessing something outside normal anguish. She is oblivious until the control shifts, and that transformation is soul-crushing because it is so unshielded.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be available for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—making sure audiences around the globe can watch this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its first preview, which has gathered over massive response.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, taking the terror to a global viewership.


Make sure to see this cinematic journey into fear. Watch *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to witness these fearful discoveries about inner darkness.


For director insights, making-of footage, and press updates from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursed across Instagram and Twitter and visit our horror hub.





The horror genre’s Turning Point: 2025 in focus U.S. calendar Mixes archetypal-possession themes, Indie Shockers, set against returning-series thunder

Beginning with pressure-cooker survival tales saturated with scriptural legend and including brand-name continuations plus acutely observed indies, 2025 is emerging as the most complex as well as intentionally scheduled year of the last decade.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. top-tier distributors bookend the months using marquee IP, in tandem streaming platforms saturate the fall with fresh voices paired with primordial unease. At the same time, the artisan tier is surfing the tailwinds of a banner 2024 fest year. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A fat September–October lane is customary now, but this year, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are disciplined, therefore 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: High-craft horror returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal Pictures starts the year with a headline swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a crisp modern milieu. Directed by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. targeting mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Steered by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer eases, Warner’s pipeline drops the final chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: retrograde shiver, trauma explicitly handled, with ghostly inner logic. This time, the stakes are raised, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The follow up digs further into canon, thickens the animatronic pantheon, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It bows in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Offerings: Low budgets, big teeth

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a two hander body horror spiral with 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 lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn featuring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in 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 screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is an astute call. No overinflated mythology. No legacy baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy IP: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows 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, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, with Francis Lawrence directing, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

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

Trends to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror swings back
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Forward View: Fall pileup, winter curveball

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

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 plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The forthcoming 2026 fear cycle: entries, original films, alongside A busy Calendar geared toward frights

Dek: The new scare cycle builds at the outset with a January bottleneck, subsequently carries through midyear, and well into the December corridor, marrying brand heft, inventive spins, and strategic counterweight. Major distributors and platforms are committing to smart costs, exclusive theatrical windows first, and viral-minded pushes that frame the slate’s entries into all-audience topics.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The genre has shown itself to be the bankable move in studio lineups, a pillar that can expand when it hits and still cushion the downside when it falls short. After 2023 re-taught buyers that mid-range horror vehicles can command the zeitgeist, the following year sustained momentum with high-profile filmmaker pieces and under-the-radar smashes. The run pushed into 2025, where reboots and elevated films proved there is space for different modes, from series extensions to filmmaker-driven originals that carry overseas. The result for the 2026 slate is a programming that presents tight coordination across studios, with mapped-out bands, a combination of familiar brands and new pitches, and a refocused strategy on big-screen windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium rental and OTT platforms.

Studio leaders note the horror lane now functions as a fill-in ace on the distribution slate. The genre can premiere on nearly any frame, deliver a clear pitch for previews and short-form placements, and over-index with demo groups that appear on Thursday previews and return through the second weekend if the film satisfies. Exiting a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 plan indicates certainty in that equation. The calendar rolls out with a crowded January corridor, then plants flags in spring and early summer for audience offsets, while leaving room for a fall corridor that carries into holiday-adjacent weekends and into the next week. The calendar also features the tightening integration of specialty distributors and SVOD players that can nurture a platform play, ignite recommendations, and broaden at the proper time.

A companion trend is brand management across linked properties and legacy IP. Big banners are not just making another chapter. They are shaping as lore continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a title presentation that signals a new tone or a lead change that binds a new entry to a early run. At the in tandem, the filmmakers behind the most buzzed-about originals are celebrating material texture, makeup and prosthetics and specific settings. That alloy hands 2026 a confident blend of assurance and unexpected turns, which is what works overseas.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount defines the early cadence with two front-of-slate moves that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the center, presenting it as both a succession moment and a origin-leaning relationship-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a throwback-friendly angle without covering again the last two entries’ sibling arc. Count on a promo wave driven by brand visuals, first-look character reveals, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm arriving in late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will stress. As a counterweight in summer, this one will generate mass reach through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format making room for quick adjustments to whatever owns horror talk that spring.

Universal has three distinct pushes. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is tight, soulful, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man installs an synthetic partner that escalates into a lethal partner. The date slots it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s promo team likely to renew off-kilter promo beats and short reels that melds devotion and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a final title to become an event moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. His entries are framed as must-see filmmaker statements, with a teaser that reveals little and a later creative that signal tone without plot the concept. The pre-Halloween slot creates space for Universal to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has consistently shown that a flesh-and-blood, on-set effects led approach can feel cinematic on a middle budget. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror charge that emphasizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio mounts two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, extending a dependable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is calling a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new More about the author take has a sharper mandate to serve both franchise faithful and new audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build materials around environmental design, and creature design, elements that can stoke format premiums and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on rigorous craft and period speech, this time focused on werewolf legend. The specialty arm has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is glowing.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform plans for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s horror titles head to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ordering that maximizes both week-one demand and viewer acquisition in the after-window. Prime Video will mix acquired titles with global acquisitions and limited runs in theaters when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library pulls, using prominent placements, spooky hubs, and programmed rows to stretch the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix stays nimble about own-slate titles and festival wins, locking in horror entries closer to launch and framing as events launches with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a dual-phase of limited theatrical footprints and speedy platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a discrete basis. The platform has been willing to board select projects with recognized filmmakers or star packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for sustained usage when the genre conversation builds.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 slate with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is uncomplicated: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, recalibrated for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a theatrical rollout for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday dates to go wider. That positioning has paid off for prestige horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception justifies. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using boutique theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By tilt, the 2026 slate leans toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit household recognition. The challenge, as ever, is staleness. The workable fix is to brand each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is underscoring character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing Source a continental coloration from a fresh helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the package is recognizable enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Rolling three-year comps outline the method. In 2023, a theater-first model that preserved streaming windows did not preclude a day-and-date experiment from thriving when the brand was strong. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror punched above its weight in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they shift POV and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends 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 shot in tandem, gives leeway to marketing to interlace chapters through character web and themes and to leave creative active without hiatuses.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The shop talk behind the year’s horror point to a continued preference for tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that emphasizes grain and menace rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and era-correct language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in long-lead features and artisan spotlights before rolling out a first look that keeps plot minimal, a move that has performed 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 produces shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta inflection that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster work and world-building, which lend themselves to see here fan conventions and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that elevate razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that land in premium houses.

From winter to holidays

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 gloomy counterbalance amid bigger brand plays. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the palette of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Winter into spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

End of summer through fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a transitional slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a opaque tease strategy and limited information drops that prioritize concept over plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card redemption.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s AI companion escalates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. 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 demanding boss push to survive on a cut-off island as the power balance of power upends and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to chill, based on Cronin’s material craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting story that manipulates the unease of a child’s tricky point of view. Rating: TBA. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-supported and A-list fronted occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A comic send-up that teases current genre trends and true-crime obsessions. Rating: TBD. Production: shoot planned 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 detonates, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a different family tethered to long-buried horrors. 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: forthcoming. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A reboot designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-driven horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: not yet rated. Production: underway. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on historical diction and elemental menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 lands now

Three execution-level forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that slowed or shuffled in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work meme-ready beats from test screenings, curated scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will coexist across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, aural design, 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.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand gravity where needed, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, guard the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.