Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes ancient dread, a chilling horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on top streamers

This blood-curdling otherworldly suspense story from author / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an timeless evil when guests become conduits in a devilish ritual. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping saga of living through and forgotten curse that will revamp fear-driven cinema this ghoul season. Created by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and claustrophobic feature follows five lost souls who arise caught in a off-grid cottage under the hostile dominion of Kyra, a possessed female haunted by a antiquated holy text monster. Brace yourself to be ensnared by a big screen adventure that intertwines bone-deep fear with folklore, hitting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a time-honored theme in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is subverted when the spirits no longer come from external sources, but rather internally. This depicts the most hidden version of every character. The result is a enthralling cognitive warzone where the narrative becomes a soul-crushing contest between divinity and wickedness.


In a wilderness-stricken wild, five friends find themselves isolated under the ghastly influence and infestation of a shadowy spirit. As the cast becomes submissive to oppose her curse, cut off and stalked by entities unfathomable, they are obligated to reckon with their inner horrors while the doomsday meter without pity edges forward toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread rises and friendships crack, requiring each figure to examine their self and the integrity of decision-making itself. The pressure surge with every second, delivering a nightmarish journey that connects otherworldly panic with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to evoke primitive panic, an curse from ancient eras, filtering through inner turmoil, and challenging a will that redefines identity when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra was centered on something rooted in terror. She is oblivious until the spirit seizes her, and that conversion is shocking because it is so emotional.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for streaming beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—offering watchers across the world can get immersed in this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its intro video, which has garnered over six-figure audience.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, offering the tale to scare fans abroad.


Don’t miss this mind-warping descent into hell. Face *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to witness these fearful discoveries about mankind.


For behind-the-scenes access, director cuts, and reveals from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across your favorite networks and visit our film’s homepage.





Today’s horror watershed moment: 2025 in focus stateside slate interlaces legend-infused possession, independent shockers, plus series shake-ups

Moving from fight-to-live nightmare stories grounded in primordial scripture and including returning series and incisive indie visions, 2025 is shaping up as the most complex paired with deliberate year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio majors are anchoring the year through proven series, in parallel subscription platforms flood the fall with new voices alongside old-world menace. Across the art-house lane, horror’s indie wing is riding the tailwinds from a record 2024 festival run. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, distinctly in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are calculated, so 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Elevated fear reclaims ground

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal camp lights the fuse with a headline swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, inside today’s landscape. From director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. targeting mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Steered by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

When summer fades, the WB camp bows the concluding entry of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. While the template is known, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the memorable motifs return: old school creep, trauma as theme, plus otherworld rules that chill. This pass pushes higher, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The return delves further into myth, thickens the animatronic pantheon, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It opens in December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a tight space body horror vignette fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend with Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped 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. It is a calculated bet. No swollen lore. No IP hangover. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Long Running Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, steered by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Trends to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror returns
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.

Streaming originals get teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Projection: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The forthcoming 2026 spook cycle: Sequels, new stories, in tandem with A stacked Calendar aimed at frights

Dek The fresh genre calendar stacks at the outset with a January traffic jam, following that unfolds through peak season, and well into the December corridor, blending IP strength, untold stories, and smart counter-scheduling. Studio marketers and platforms are leaning into tight budgets, big-screen-first runs, and buzz-forward plans that frame these releases into four-quadrant talking points.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror marketplace has proven to be the sturdy counterweight in programming grids, a lane that can spike when it breaks through and still insulate the downside when it stumbles. After 2023 proved to decision-makers that cost-conscious chillers can own mainstream conversation, 2024 extended the rally with filmmaker-forward plays and quiet over-performers. The energy pushed into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and awards-minded projects underscored there is appetite for diverse approaches, from returning installments to original one-offs that export nicely. The combined impact for 2026 is a programming that presents tight coordination across players, with obvious clusters, a equilibrium of known properties and new pitches, and a re-energized emphasis on theatrical windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium digital rental and digital services.

Planners observe the space now functions as a swing piece on the grid. Horror can open on virtually any date, supply a tight logline for teasers and shorts, and exceed norms with viewers that arrive on Thursday nights and maintain momentum through the sophomore frame if the entry connects. Following a production delay era, the 2026 mapping underscores faith in that model. The slate commences with a thick January band, then taps spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while making space for a fall run that flows toward the Halloween frame and past the holiday. The calendar also features the continuing integration of boutique distributors and home platforms that can launch in limited release, create conversation, and roll out at the sweet spot.

A parallel macro theme is brand curation across interlocking continuities and veteran brands. Studio teams are not just releasing another continuation. They are trying to present lineage with a must-see charge, whether that is a title design that telegraphs a tonal shift or a casting move that anchors a new installment to a first wave. At this content the in tandem, the directors behind the most watched originals are returning to material texture, makeup and prosthetics and specific settings. That alloy yields the 2026 slate a strong blend of trust and shock, which is how the genre sells abroad.

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

Paramount establishes early momentum with two headline entries that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the center, marketing it as both a passing of the torch and a origin-leaning relationship-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the tonal posture indicates a fan-service aware approach without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Plan for a rollout driven by signature symbols, first images of characters, and a tiered teaser plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will stress. As a summer contrast play, this one will generate mainstream recognition through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format fitting quick switches to whatever leads genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three separate lanes. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is straightforward, grief-rooted, and high-concept: a grieving man onboards an synthetic partner that evolves into a harmful mate. The date sets it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with marketing at Universal likely to recreate strange in-person beats and micro spots that interlaces love and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a branding reveal to become an headline beat closer to the debut look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. The filmmaker’s films are marketed as filmmaker events, with a minimalist tease and a next wave of trailers that signal tone without plot the concept. The late-October frame offers Universal room to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has made clear that a raw, physical-effects centered style can feel cinematic on a middle budget. Look for a hard-R summer horror hit that maximizes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio deploys two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, keeping a evergreen supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is selling as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both franchise faithful and fresh viewers. The fall slot gives Sony time to build campaign pieces around mythos, and creature work, elements that can stoke IMAX and PLF uptake and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror centered on immersive craft and textual fidelity, this time steeped in lycan lore. The company has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is strong.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform windowing in 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal titles land on copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a tiered path that expands both launch urgency and platform bumps in the late-window. Prime Video pairs acquired titles with international acquisitions and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data backs it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in catalog discovery, using prominent placements, Halloween hubs, and editorial rows to extend momentum on the horror cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about in-house releases and festival acquisitions, locking in horror entries closer to drop and eventizing rollouts with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a paired of targeted theatrical exposure and swift platform pivots that monetizes buzz via trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a situational basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to take on select projects with accomplished filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for sustained usage when the genre conversation builds.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 corridor with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is clean: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, modernized for modern sonics 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 hinted a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the fall weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday slot to expand. That positioning has shown results for auteur horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception justifies. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using limited runs to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Balance of brands and originals

By weight, the 2026 slate tips toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap fan equity. The question, as ever, is audience fatigue. The workable fix is to frame each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is emphasizing core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a Francophone tone from a emerging director. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the packaging is comforting enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday previews.

Recent comps frame the plan. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that respected streaming windows did not hamper a day-date try from working when the brand was sticky. In 2024, precision craft horror over-performed in premium formats. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they pivot perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, gives leeway to marketing to bridge entries through character arcs and themes and to continue assets in field without extended gaps.

Creative tendencies and craft

The shop talk behind the year’s horror indicate a continued preference for real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that centers mood and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in deep-dive features and guild coverage before rolling out a atmospheric tease that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and spurs shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta recalibration that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature design and production design, which match well with expo activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel must-have. Look for trailers that underscore pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in premium houses.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is crowded. 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 quiet contrast amid headline IP. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the variety of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

February through May load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

End of summer through fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a transitional slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited plot reveals that center concept over reveals.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can play the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card burn.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s digital partner shifts into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 prickly boss fight to survive on a uninhabited island as the power dynamic shifts and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: 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 to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to fright, anchored by Cronin’s physical craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage his comment is here Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting scenario that leverages the chill of a child’s inconsistent perspective. Rating: rating pending. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that riffs on present-day genre chatter and true-crime obsessions. Rating: pending. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. 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: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new clan snared by residual nightmares. Rating: pending. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A clean reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-first horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: pending. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: to be announced. Production: continuing. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and ancient menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces define this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or re-sequenced in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming releases. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage social-ready stingers from test screenings, controlled scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Calendar math also matters. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, making room for genre entries that can capture a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will share space across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 left-field winner of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, lean 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 materiality, audio 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.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is IP strength where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, lock the reveals, and let the chills sell the seats.