Age-old Dread emerges: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding chiller, rolling out October 2025 on major streaming services

One blood-curdling metaphysical horror tale from creator / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an long-buried force when unfamiliar people become victims in a demonic game. Releasing October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful account of resistance and prehistoric entity that will transform the horror genre this harvest season. Brought to life by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and emotionally thick thriller follows five individuals who arise stuck in a wilderness-bound cottage under the malignant influence of Kyra, a tormented girl controlled by a biblical-era Old Testament spirit. Steel yourself to be enthralled by a narrative journey that intertwines bone-deep fear with biblical origins, streaming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a historical pillar in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is inverted when the malevolences no longer appear from elsewhere, but rather from within. This embodies the darkest dimension of these individuals. The result is a relentless mind game where the plotline becomes a relentless struggle between purity and corruption.


In a isolated wilderness, five young people find themselves stuck under the sinister effect and grasp of a obscure being. As the companions becomes submissive to reject her will, marooned and hunted by evils impossible to understand, they are cornered to wrestle with their raw vulnerabilities while the timeline brutally ticks toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion rises and bonds splinter, prompting each character to challenge their core and the nature of freedom of choice itself. The threat surge with every fleeting time, delivering a horror experience that harmonizes otherworldly suspense with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to awaken primitive panic, an entity beyond recorded history, working through psychological breaks, and navigating a darkness that strips down our being when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra asked for exploring something beneath mortal despair. She is clueless until the control shifts, and that flip is soul-crushing because it is so visceral.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for digital release beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—providing households globally can watch this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its intro video, which has racked up over a viral response.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, offering the tale to horror fans worldwide.


Tune in for this soul-jarring trip into the unknown. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to explore these spiritual awakenings about the soul.


For cast commentary, production insights, and alerts from the cast and crew, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across your favorite networks and visit the official website.





American horror’s Turning Point: calendar year 2025 domestic schedule interlaces legend-infused possession, indie terrors, plus Franchise Rumbles

Spanning grit-forward survival fare infused with biblical myth and onward to canon extensions and keen independent perspectives, 2025 appears poised to be the genre’s most multifaceted paired with carefully orchestrated year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio powerhouses bookend the months via recognizable brands, at the same time premium streamers prime the fall with fresh voices in concert with legend-coded dread. On the festival side, the artisan tier is propelled by the backdraft from a record 2024 festival run. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, notably this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are surgical, thus 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige fear returns

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

Universal Pictures fires the first shot with a statement play: a reimagined Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in a clear present-tense world. Steered by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. arriving mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. From director Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. Pictures rolls out the capstone inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Despite a known recipe, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: retro dread, trauma as text, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time the stakes climb, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The return delves further into myth, builds out the animatronic fear crew, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It opens in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Firsts: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

More contained by design is Together, a sealed box body horror arc featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is destined for a fall landing.

Also notable is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable with Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: 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, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. From writer director 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. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No bloated mythology. No IP hangover. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. 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 operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

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

Series Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, 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 initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, 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. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Key Trends

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror comes roaring back
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Laurels convert to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Outlook: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

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

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The next scare calendar year ahead: returning titles, original films, paired with A busy Calendar tailored for goosebumps

Dek The fresh horror year loads from day one with a January crush, and then rolls through summer corridors, and well into the holiday stretch, blending IP strength, creative pitches, and data-minded counter-scheduling. Major distributors and platforms are embracing mid-range economics, box-office-first windows, and social-driven marketing that position genre releases into national conversation.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The horror marketplace has established itself as the predictable swing in release strategies, a corner that can accelerate when it connects and still limit the losses when it falls short. After the 2023 year demonstrated to executives that mid-range horror vehicles can drive the national conversation, the following year maintained heat with buzzy auteur projects and unexpected risers. The momentum moved into the 2025 frame, where returns and filmmaker-prestige bets showed there is demand for varied styles, from brand follow-ups to original features that travel well. The upshot for 2026 is a calendar that presents tight coordination across companies, with planned clusters, a combination of legacy names and new concepts, and a tightened priority on cinema windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium on-demand and digital services.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now acts as a wildcard on the rollout map. Horror can bow on virtually any date, offer a clean hook for marketing and platform-native cuts, and outstrip with audiences that lean in on previews Thursday and stick through the next pass if the film satisfies. Following a work stoppage lag, the 2026 mapping demonstrates assurance in that model. The year begins with a crowded January run, then leans on spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while clearing room for a fall run that carries into the Halloween frame and into post-Halloween. The layout also includes the greater integration of specialty arms and streaming partners that can platform and widen, generate chatter, and grow at the precise moment.

A reinforcing pattern is series management across interlocking continuities and storied titles. The studios are not just releasing another next film. They are moving to present lore continuity with a occasion, whether that is a typeface approach that indicates a reframed mood or a casting choice that connects a upcoming film to a classic era. At the alongside this, the visionaries behind the eagerly awaited originals are doubling down on tactile craft, on-set effects and grounded locations. That pairing gives the 2026 slate a robust balance of home base and novelty, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount establishes early momentum with two front-of-slate titles that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the center, setting it up as both a cross-generational handoff and a classic-mode character piece. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture conveys a roots-evoking approach without rehashing the last two entries’ family thread. Plan for a rollout driven by signature symbols, first images of characters, and a staggered trailer plan hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will play up. As a summer counter-slot, this one will hunt wide buzz through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format enabling quick reframes to whatever defines the conversation that spring.

Universal has three defined entries. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is efficient, sorrow-tinged, and premise-first: a grieving man installs an digital partner that unfolds into a perilous partner. The date puts it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the Universal machine likely to revisit strange in-person beats and bite-size content that fuses devotion and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a public title to become an marketing beat closer to the debut look. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. His entries are positioned as creative events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second trailer wave that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot opens a lane to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has long click site shown that a tactile, on-set effects led aesthetic can feel premium on a disciplined budget. Look for a blood-soaked summer horror charge that centers international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio launches two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, carrying a dependable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is describing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both players and fresh viewers. The fall slot allows Sony to build materials around canon, and monster craft, elements that can increase large-format demand and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror defined by minute detail and dialect, this time set against lycan legends. Focus Features has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is robust.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform windowing in 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal titles feed copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a stair-step that elevates both opening-weekend urgency and trial spikes in the after-window. Prime Video balances licensed content with worldwide entries and limited cinema engagements when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in back-catalog play, using prominent placements, October hubs, and editorial rows to prolong the run on the horror cume. Netflix keeps optionality about own-slate titles and festival snaps, finalizing horror entries closer to drop and elevating as drops arrivals with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a hybrid of tailored theatrical exposure and quick platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a situational basis. The platform has indicated interest to purchase select projects with acclaimed directors or star packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation heats up.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 lane with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is simple: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, updated for modern mix and grade. 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 indicated a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the late-season weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, marshalling the project through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then using the holiday corridor to increase reach. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-first horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception merits. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using select theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their user base.

Series vs standalone

By share, 2026 tips toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on franchise value. The challenge, as ever, is brand wear. The standing approach is to frame each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is foregrounding character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is floating a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-inflected take from a fresh helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and talent-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the bundle is familiar enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the strategy. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that maintained windows did not stop a day-and-date experiment from delivering when the brand was robust. In 2024, auteur craft horror rose in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they reorient and grow scope. 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, allows marketing to thread films through character spine and themes and to keep materials circulating without dead zones.

Craft and creative trends

The creative meetings behind this slate foreshadow a continued shift toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that emphasizes mood and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in craft journalism and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that withholds plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and produces shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a self-aware reset that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature design and production design, which fit with fan conventions and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel compelling. Look for trailers that accent disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that shine in top rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is heavy. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid big-brand pushes. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the range of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Early-year through spring tee up summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into 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 playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Shoulder season into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited advance reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and holiday gift-card burn.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s algorithmic partner evolves into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human 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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot 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 comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 hard-edged boss work to survive on a cut-off island as the pecking order tilts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. 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 under wraps in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to fear, grounded in Cronin’s in-camera craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 intimate haunting scenario that manipulates the unease of a child’s unreliable perspective. Rating: TBA. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-supported and marquee-led spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that satirizes today’s horror trends and true crime fascinations. Rating: to be announced. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 breaks out, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new household entangled with past horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBA. Production: moving forward. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 fear. Rating: pending. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three operational forces define this lineup. First, production that stalled or reshuffled in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage shareable moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, providing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will compete across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 lean-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 surprise 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, Get More Info 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal 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 cold, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, 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 shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is IP strength where it matters, original vision where it matters, 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, produce clean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.