Mythic Evil emerges: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding feature, bowing Oct 2025 on leading streamers

One bone-chilling paranormal fright fest from cinematographer / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an timeless terror when guests become victims in a satanic maze. Launching October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing chronicle of perseverance and mythic evil that will reimagine horror this fall. Created by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and gothic fearfest follows five figures who arise stuck in a isolated dwelling under the menacing dominion of Kyra, a central character dominated by a ancient sacred-era entity. Arm yourself to be absorbed by a theatrical spectacle that weaves together intense horror with biblical origins, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a mainstay motif in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is reversed when the forces no longer develop from beyond, but rather deep within. This portrays the most primal version of every character. The result is a psychologically brutal emotional conflict where the story becomes a ongoing confrontation between innocence and sin.


In a unforgiving wild, five youths find themselves sealed under the malicious presence and spiritual invasion of a unidentified character. As the team becomes incapable to fight her will, exiled and stalked by beings beyond reason, they are required to stand before their raw vulnerabilities while the final hour unceasingly counts down toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion amplifies and partnerships break, demanding each participant to reconsider their personhood and the nature of free will itself. The cost mount with every heartbeat, delivering a terror ride that combines otherworldly panic with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to tap into primal fear, an evil beyond recorded history, working through soul-level flaws, and highlighting a power that erodes the self when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra needed manifesting something beneath mortal despair. She is oblivious until the possession kicks in, and that transformation is soul-crushing because it is so intimate.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for audience access beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing audiences globally can witness this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its release of trailer #1, which has collected over six-figure audience.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, extending the thrill to scare fans abroad.


Mark your calendar for this visceral ride through nightmares. Experience *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to confront these evil-rooted truths about the psyche.


For director insights, on-set glimpses, and news straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursed across your favorite networks and visit our spooky domain.





Modern horror’s watershed moment: 2025 across markets U.S. rollouts weaves myth-forward possession, underground frights, stacked beside tentpole growls

Ranging from survivor-centric dread infused with old testament echoes and stretching into series comebacks in concert with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 appears poised to be the most stratified as well as strategic year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. the big studios hold down the year with established lines, at the same time subscription platforms crowd the fall with first-wave breakthroughs in concert with archetypal fear. On the independent axis, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is catching the afterglow from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, and in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are disciplined, and 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: High-craft horror returns

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s pipeline leads off the quarter with a confident swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in a clear present-tense world. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. dated for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

By late summer, Warner’s slate rolls out the capstone from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re teams, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: retro dread, trauma as theme, and eerie supernatural logic. The stakes escalate here, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, broadens the animatronic terror cast, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It opens in December, pinning the winter close.

Digital Originals: Economy, maximum dread

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, 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. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn led by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within 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 reads as sharp positioning. No bloated mythology. No sequel clutter. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Brands: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

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

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Trend Lines

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror swings back
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Forward View: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The approaching scare season: continuations, original films, plus A hectic Calendar optimized for goosebumps

Dek: The upcoming scare slate packs immediately with a January cluster, thereafter spreads through peak season, and pushing into the holidays, marrying IP strength, creative pitches, and shrewd release strategy. The big buyers and platforms are relying on efficient budgets, box-office-first windows, and buzz-forward plans that frame genre titles into broad-appeal conversations.

The genre’s posture for 2026

This category has emerged as the surest release in annual schedules, a category that can accelerate when it performs and still mitigate the exposure when it under-delivers. After 2023 reassured greenlighters that responsibly budgeted entries can lead social chatter, the following year sustained momentum with buzzy auteur projects and stealth successes. The carry pushed into the 2025 frame, where returns and filmmaker-prestige bets proved there is capacity for diverse approaches, from sequel tracks to director-led originals that travel well. The upshot for 2026 is a lineup that feels more orchestrated than usual across companies, with intentional bunching, a mix of marquee IP and new concepts, and a refocused strategy on theatrical windows that increase tail monetization on PVOD and SVOD.

Insiders argue the category now performs as a versatile piece on the grid. Horror can premiere on a wide range of weekends, deliver a sharp concept for teasers and TikTok spots, and exceed norms with audiences that come out on preview nights and continue through the next weekend if the offering works. Exiting a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 configuration demonstrates confidence in that approach. The calendar commences with a crowded January lineup, then turns to spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while leaving room for a autumn stretch that carries into holiday-adjacent weekends and into the next week. The map also features the greater integration of specialty arms and streamers that can platform a title, build word of mouth, and roll out at the precise moment.

A companion trend is franchise tending across shared universes and veteran brands. Major shops are not just making another next film. They are moving to present lineage with a heightened moment, whether that is a graphic identity that broadcasts a fresh attitude or a talent selection that links a upcoming film to a classic era. At the in tandem, the writer-directors behind the headline-grabbing originals are celebrating hands-on technique, practical gags and distinct locales. That mix offers 2026 a confident blend of comfort and freshness, which is why the genre exports well.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount marks the early tempo with two front-of-slate moves that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the core, positioning the film as both a cross-generational handoff and a heritage-centered character-driven entry. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative stance hints at a fan-service aware treatment without repeating the last two entries’ sisters thread. Expect a marketing push stacked with heritage visuals, intro reveals, and a tease cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also revives 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 in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will double down on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will seek four-quadrant chatter through remixable clips, with the see here horror spoof format lending itself to quick redirects to whatever drives pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three specific bets. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is elegant, grief-rooted, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man installs an synthetic partner that mutates into a deadly partner. The date nudges it to the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s marketing likely to revisit strange in-person beats and short reels that melds romance and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a proper title to become an marketing beat closer to the first trailer. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. His projects are presented as filmmaker events, with a minimalist tease and a second wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date opens a lane to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has consistently shown that a gnarly, in-camera leaning execution can feel big on a mid-range budget. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror rush that pushes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio launches two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, extending a proven supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is positioning as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both players and newcomers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build promo materials around world-building, and practical creature work, elements that can lift premium screens and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by historical precision and period speech, this time exploring werewolf lore. The distributor has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is robust.

Where the platforms fit in

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s releases flow to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a structure that enhances both FOMO and platform bumps in the late-window. Prime Video will mix licensed content with worldwide buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library curation, using featured rows, Halloween hubs, and staff picks to stretch the tail on lifetime take. Netflix keeps flexible about internal projects and festival grabs, timing horror entries closer to drop and coalescing around releases with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a staged of selective theatrical runs and rapid platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has indicated interest to acquire select projects with name filmmakers or star-driven packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for retention when the genre conversation swells.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 arc with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is clear: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, updated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, curating the rollout through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then leveraging the Christmas corridor to expand. That positioning has shown results for auteur 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 typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception allows. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using limited theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Series vs standalone

By proportion, 2026 leans toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate name recognition. The question, as ever, is brand wear. The practical approach is to package each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is underscoring character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a continental coloration from a emerging director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the cast-creatives package is known enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

The last three-year set clarify the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept clean windows did not obstruct a same-day experiment from hitting when the brand was strong. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror hit big in large-format rooms. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they alter lens and grow scope. 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 lensed back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to bridge entries through character and theme and to continue assets in field without long gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft conversations behind the upcoming entries telegraph a continued tilt toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that spotlights mood and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in long-lead features and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a first look that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for red-band excess, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and produces shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta pivot that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature execution and sets, which favor fan conventions and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel necessary. Look for trailers that elevate razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that shine in top rooms.

Calendar cadence

January is packed. 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 larger brand plays. The month closes 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 legit, but the tonal variety lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth spreads.

Late Q1 and spring load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can connect 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.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a early fall window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited teasers that stress concept over spoilers.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card spend.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s virtual companion mutates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively 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 travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her hard-edged boss push to survive on a desolate island as the control balance reverses and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to fear, founded on Cronin’s in-camera craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting tale that routes the horror through a minor’s uneven POV. Rating: forthcoming. 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 participating creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that teases in-vogue horror tropes and true crime preoccupations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 global twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a new family entangled with returning horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A clean reboot designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on classic survival-horror tone over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: not yet rated. Production: underway. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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 primal menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the moment is 2026

Three hands-on forces drive this lineup. First, production that eased or migrated in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify meme-ready beats from test screenings, managed scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will share space across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to 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.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, 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 heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, sound, and visual design 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 Promising 2026

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is recognizable IP where it plays, creative ambition where it counts, 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.