Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons primeval malevolence, a spine tingling feature, launching October 2025 across top streaming platforms

An eerie spectral scare-fest from cinematographer / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an archaic horror when unknowns become vehicles in a demonic trial. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping tale of staying alive and archaic horror that will redefine terror storytelling this autumn. Guided by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and eerie fearfest follows five lost souls who awaken confined in a isolated shack under the oppressive power of Kyra, a central character claimed by a legendary Old Testament spirit. Brace yourself to be hooked by a theatrical event that intertwines soul-chilling terror with mystical narratives, coming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a enduring theme in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is flipped when the demons no longer come from external sources, but rather from their core. This represents the shadowy element of the cast. The result is a harrowing moral showdown where the plotline becomes a perpetual clash between purity and corruption.


In a bleak backcountry, five friends find themselves sealed under the malicious effect and control of a obscure being. As the youths becomes helpless to break her command, isolated and preyed upon by entities impossible to understand, they are cornered to encounter their darkest emotions while the clock coldly edges forward toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion deepens and links splinter, prompting each soul to question their self and the philosophy of autonomy itself. The cost accelerate with every short lapse, delivering a paranormal ride that combines demonic fright with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to uncover core terror, an force that predates humanity, emerging via fragile psyche, and exposing a evil that questions who we are when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra needed manifesting something beneath mortal despair. She is innocent until the demon emerges, and that metamorphosis is terrifying because it is so raw.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—giving users globally can watch this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its intro video, which has garnered over massive response.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, bringing the film to a worldwide audience.


Don’t miss this life-altering path of possession. Stream *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to face these evil-rooted truths about the psyche.


For teasers, set experiences, and reveals directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across media channels and visit the film’s website.





The horror genre’s decisive shift: the 2025 season U.S. Slate braids together ancient-possession motifs, underground frights, plus IP aftershocks

Across survivor-centric dread inspired by primordial scripture to legacy revivals plus keen independent perspectives, 2025 appears poised to be horror’s most layered plus intentionally scheduled year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. Major studios are anchoring the year with franchise anchors, even as subscription platforms load up the fall with new perspectives paired with ancient terrors. On the independent axis, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is propelled by the backdraft from a record 2024 festival run. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, distinctly in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are intentional, accordingly 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s pipeline leads off the quarter with a headline swing: a modernized Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, instead in a current-day frame. From director Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. timed for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Eli Craig directs including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer wanes, Warner’s pipeline bows the concluding entry from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Although the framework is familiar, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 follows. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re teams, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: vintage toned fear, trauma centered writing, and a cold supernatural calculus. This pass pushes higher, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The return delves further into myth, builds out the animatronic fear crew, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It arrives in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

SVOD Originals: No Budget, No Problem

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it looks like a certain fall stream.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend starring Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to 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 threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. 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.

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. That is a savvy move. No bloated mythology. No sequel clutter. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They are increasingly launchpads rather 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 steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

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 premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Brands: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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

Trends Worth Watching

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

The Road Ahead: 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 will have to fight for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. 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 assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The approaching fear lineup: Sequels, fresh concepts, plus A loaded Calendar aimed at nightmares

Dek: The brand-new genre slate clusters right away with a January logjam, from there flows through the mid-year, and far into the holiday stretch, balancing franchise firepower, untold stories, and savvy release strategy. Studio marketers and platforms are leaning into smart costs, theatrical exclusivity first, and short-form initiatives that turn genre releases into four-quadrant talking points.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror has become the dependable play in programming grids, a pillar that can grow when it resonates and still limit the drag when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year demonstrated to decision-makers that responsibly budgeted horror vehicles can galvanize mainstream conversation, 2024 maintained heat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and surprise hits. The trend extended into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and awards-minded projects signaled there is capacity for a spectrum, from continued chapters to filmmaker-driven originals that perform internationally. The net effect for 2026 is a run that is strikingly coherent across players, with defined corridors, a equilibrium of familiar brands and new packages, and a renewed emphasis on box-office windows that feed downstream value on paid VOD and home platforms.

Schedulers say the horror lane now acts as a flex slot on the slate. Horror can roll out on almost any weekend, yield a sharp concept for marketing and platform-native cuts, and outpace with fans that come out on advance nights and return through the second frame if the feature hits. Following a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 plan reflects certainty in that approach. The calendar opens with a busy January run, then leans on spring and early summer for audience offsets, while holding room for a late-year stretch that carries into the fright window and afterwards. The map also underscores the continuing integration of arthouse labels and subscription services that can grow from platform, grow buzz, and expand at the timely point.

A companion trend is IP cultivation across interlocking continuities and veteran brands. Studio teams are not just mounting another next film. They are looking to package brand continuity with a specialness, whether that is a graphic identity that telegraphs a re-angled tone or a talent selection that bridges a fresh chapter to a initial period. At the alongside this, the directors behind the marquee originals are favoring practical craft, practical gags and location-forward worlds. That convergence hands 2026 a confident blend of assurance and newness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount plants an early flag with two centerpiece pushes that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the focus, steering it as both a lineage transfer and a rootsy character piece. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the directional approach suggests a legacy-leaning campaign without covering again the last two entries’ sisters thread. Plan for a rollout centered on brand visuals, first images of characters, and a two-beat trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will emphasize. As a summer contrast play, this one will drive mass reach through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format enabling quick switches to whatever dominates horror talk that spring.

Universal has three unique entries. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is simple, grief-rooted, and easily pitched: a grieving man implements an synthetic partner that evolves into a dangerous lover. The date positions it at the front of a packed window, with the Universal machine likely to revisit viral uncanny stunts and short-form creative that interlaces companionship and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a branding reveal to become an fan moment closer to the initial tease. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s pictures are set up as must-see filmmaker statements, with a minimalist tease and a second wave of trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-October frame allows Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work 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 helms, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has consistently shown that a in-your-face, practical-effects forward approach can feel prestige on a middle budget. Expect a hard-R summer horror surge that centers foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio lines up two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, continuing a proven supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is describing as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both devotees and fresh viewers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build marketing units around world-building, and practical creature work, elements that can lift deluxe auditorium demand and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on meticulous craft and language, this time set against lycan legends. Focus’s team has already navigate to this website planted the flag for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a navigate here specialty play that can move wide if early reception is robust.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform tactics for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal titles head to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a sequence that amplifies both launch urgency and sign-up spikes in the tail. Prime Video interleaves outside acquisitions with global pickups and short theatrical plays when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library pulls, using seasonal hubs, holiday hubs, and curated rows to keep attention on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps options open about originals and festival buys, dating horror entries near launch and framing as events launches with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a one-two of targeted cinema placements and rapid platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has been willing to pick up select projects with established auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for sustained usage when the genre conversation surges.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 sequence with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is simple: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, updated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through festival season if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday dates to go wider. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-first horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception warrants. Keep an eye on 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 limited runs to prime evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Brands and originals

By count, the 2026 slate favors the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap name recognition. The trade-off, as ever, is viewer burnout. The operating solution is to package each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is centering character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is promising a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-tinted vision from a buzzed-about director. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the deal build is anchored enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Rolling three-year comps contextualize the logic. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that respected streaming windows did not hamper a same-day experiment from succeeding when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror hit big in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they shift POV and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses 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 lensed sequentially, allows marketing to tie installments through character web and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without hiatuses.

Behind-the-camera trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind this year’s genre suggest a continued move toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that leans on unease and texture rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft features before rolling out a first look that withholds plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and sparks shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta recalibration that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature execution and sets, which fit with convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel must-have. Look for trailers that spotlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that explode in larger rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is busy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid larger brand plays. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the mix of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth spreads.

February through May tee up summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects 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 comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Back half into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited previews that put concept first.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card burn.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

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

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem 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 finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: gothic-game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss push to survive on a far-flung island as the hierarchy turns and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to chill, based on Cronin’s tactile craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting setup that threads the dread through a kid’s wavering inner lens. Rating: forthcoming. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-built and marquee-led eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A comic send-up that targets of-the-moment horror beats and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBD. Production: cameras due to roll 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 ignites, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new family anchored to returning horrors. Rating: pending. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A fresh restart designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-driven horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: TBD. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: pending. Production: in progress. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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 era-accurate language and elemental dread. Rating: TBD. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three practical forces structure this lineup. First, production that slowed or shifted in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more strict 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 dumps. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate repeatable beats from test screenings, precision scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will coexist across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where modest-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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, soundcraft, and camera work that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is IP strength where it matters, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline More about the author into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, guard the secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.