Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primeval horror, a nerve shredding chiller, launching October 2025 across major platforms

An bone-chilling metaphysical nightmare movie from narrative craftsman / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an archaic force when guests become vehicles in a demonic contest. Airings begin on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful journey of living through and old world terror that will reimagine genre cinema this October. Crafted by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and claustrophobic motion picture follows five figures who snap to isolated in a isolated structure under the menacing will of Kyra, a mysterious girl occupied by a biblical-era biblical force. Anticipate to be immersed by a big screen adventure that combines raw fear with ancient myths, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a recurring pillar in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is flipped when the dark entities no longer come beyond the self, but rather from their psyche. This depicts the most hidden corner of the victims. The result is a harrowing internal warfare where the story becomes a brutal conflict between good and evil.


In a barren terrain, five friends find themselves cornered under the ghastly effect and infestation of a secretive female presence. As the ensemble becomes incapable to fight her grasp, stranded and targeted by evils beyond reason, they are thrust to acknowledge their soulful dreads while the timeline relentlessly runs out toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety amplifies and ties fracture, forcing each member to doubt their personhood and the concept of decision-making itself. The consequences escalate with every tick, delivering a horror experience that intertwines occult fear with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to uncover instinctual horror, an curse born of forgotten ages, operating within emotional vulnerability, and confronting a darkness that redefines identity when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra involved tapping into something past sanity. She is insensitive until the curse activates, and that turn is shocking because it is so raw.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for streaming beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—so that subscribers in all regions can engage with this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its original promo, which has received over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, taking the terror to international horror buffs.


Be sure to catch this heart-stopping journey into fear. Watch *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to dive into these spiritual awakenings about existence.


For cast commentary, director cuts, and alerts directly from production, follow @YACFilm across online outlets and visit the official digital haunt.





Current horror’s decisive shift: calendar year 2025 U.S. release slate Mixes primeval-possession lore, festival-born jolts, plus returning-series thunder

Across grit-forward survival fare infused with ancient scripture and stretching into legacy revivals as well as focused festival visions, 2025 is shaping up as the most dimensioned plus calculated campaign year in recent memory.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. the big studios are anchoring the year with franchise anchors, concurrently SVOD players stack the fall with debut heat in concert with old-world menace. At the same time, the artisan tier is catching the afterglow of a peak 2024 circuit. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, yet in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are disciplined, so 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Premium dread reemerges

The majors are assertive. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal Pictures opens the year with a risk-forward move: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, instead in a current-day frame. From director Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. landing in mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

When summer tapers, the WB camp sets loose the finale from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Although the framework is familiar, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re boards, and the memorable motifs return: nostalgic menace, trauma driven plotting, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The stakes escalate here, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The follow up digs further into canon, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, reaching teens and game grownups. It hits in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a room scale body horror descent starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, 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 horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No overweight mythology. No continuity burden. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Heritage Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, from Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

What to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

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

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The 2026 scare season: returning titles, filmmaker-first projects, together with A jammed Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek The arriving terror cycle clusters up front with a January cluster, thereafter flows through midyear, and pushing into the holiday frame, weaving franchise firepower, novel approaches, and tactical counterplay. Studio marketers and platforms are committing to efficient budgets, cinema-first plans, and buzz-forward plans that frame horror entries into cross-demo moments.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The horror sector has established itself as the consistent move in annual schedules, a lane that can expand when it resonates and still safeguard the losses when it misses. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for leaders that lean-budget genre plays can steer the national conversation, the following year maintained heat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam pushed into the 2025 frame, where returns and prestige plays underscored there is a lane for multiple flavors, from ongoing IP entries to one-and-done originals that export nicely. The result for 2026 is a lineup that presents tight coordination across players, with intentional bunching, a combination of household franchises and first-time concepts, and a tightened strategy on theatrical windows that drive downstream revenue on premium digital rental and home platforms.

Schedulers say the genre now slots in as a fill-in ace on the release plan. The genre can debut on virtually any date, offer a quick sell for marketing and shorts, and outpace with crowds that show up on Thursday nights and stay strong through the second weekend if the entry connects. Coming out of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 layout exhibits certainty in that equation. The calendar launches with a stacked January band, then turns to spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while reserving space for a autumn stretch that reaches into the Halloween corridor and into post-Halloween. The gridline also reflects the greater integration of specialty distributors and platforms that can build gradually, stoke social talk, and go nationwide at the proper time.

A second macro trend is brand curation across linked properties and classic IP. The studios are not just making another return. They are looking to package lineage with a sense of event, whether that is a title treatment that broadcasts a refreshed voice or a ensemble decision that binds a new entry to a heyday. At the alongside this, the creative leads behind the headline-grabbing originals are embracing in-camera technique, makeup and prosthetics and vivid settings. That interplay delivers 2026 a smart balance of trust and surprise, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount fires first with two spotlight projects that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the spine, presenting it as both a succession moment and a rootsy character-forward chapter. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the narrative stance announces a fan-service aware approach without repeating the last two entries’ sibling arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive built on iconic art, initial cast looks, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm aimed at late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

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 set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will emphasize. As a summer relief option, this one will chase four-quadrant chatter through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format enabling quick adjustments to whatever rules genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three distinct plays. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is elegant, grief-rooted, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man sets up an digital partner that unfolds into a fatal companion. The date locates it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s team likely to replay viral uncanny stunts and short reels that threads affection and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a branding reveal to become an PR pop closer to the teaser. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s work are marketed as auteur events, with a minimalist tease and a second beat that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween runway opens a lane to maximize 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, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has consistently shown that a in-your-face, hands-on effects method can feel elevated on a efficient spend. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror charge that spotlights offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio rolls out two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, holding a bankable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is positioning as a new foundation 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 sharper mandate to serve both loyalists and curious audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build materials around setting detail, and creature builds, elements that can stoke format premiums and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by careful craft and archaic language, this time set against lycan legends. Focus Features has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is favorable.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform plans for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal titles land on copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a structure that amplifies both FOMO and platform bumps in the late-window. Prime Video blends licensed films with global acquisitions and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library pulls, using seasonal hubs, Halloween hubs, and featured rows to keep attention on the 2026 genre total. Netflix retains agility about in-house releases and festival acquisitions, dating horror entries closer to drop and eventizing drops with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a laddered of targeted cinema placements and prompt platform moves 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 turning to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a per-project basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to pick up select projects with prestige directors or headline-cast packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for platform stickiness when the genre conversation heats up.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 track with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is straightforward: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, reimagined for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the October weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through festival season if the cut is ready, then deploying the year-end corridor to go wider. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-first horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception allows. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using targeted theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their membership.

Franchises versus originals

By count, the 2026 slate favors the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap name recognition. The risk, as ever, is fatigue. The standing approach is to brand each entry as a new angle. Paramount is underscoring core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French sensibility from a emerging director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and talent-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling 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 generate pre-sales and early previews.

Comparable trends from recent years clarify the approach. In 2023, a cinema-first model that kept streaming intact did not block a day-and-date experiment from hitting when the brand was big. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror rose in premium screens. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they pivot perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances 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 shot in tandem, permits marketing to interlace chapters through protagonists and motifs and to keep assets in-market without lulls.

Craft and creative trends

The shop talk behind this year’s genre point to a continued turn toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that highlights unease and texture rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that elevates tone over story, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and produces shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta recalibration that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature craft and set design, which work nicely for convention activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel essential. Look for trailers that highlight fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that play in premium auditoriums.

The schedule at a glance

January is packed. Universal’s 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 quiet contrast amid headline IP. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the tonal variety affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Late Q1 and spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Late-season stretch leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil follows September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited plot reveals that favor idea over plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card spend.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s artificial companion mutates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed 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 surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run 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 unyielding boss scramble to survive on a remote island as the chain of command flips and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to terror, rooted in Cronin’s tactile craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting setup that filters its scares through a child’s uncertain internal vantage. Rating: rating pending. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that riffs on current genre trends and true crime fixations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites detonates, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further opens again, with a fresh family lashed to long-buried horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A new start designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: to be announced. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: pending. Production: moving forward. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and ancient menace. Rating: TBA. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three execution-level forces frame this lineup. First, production that downshifted or re-sequenced in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on bite-size scare clips from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will trade weekends across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

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

The search for sleepers continues in Q1, where 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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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. Anticipate a robust 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 journey through the year

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

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, sound, and imagery 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 Looks Exciting

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand heft where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the shocks sell the seats.