Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes mythic darkness, a nightmare fueled thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on leading streamers

One hair-raising spiritual suspense story from narrative craftsman / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an primeval terror when strangers become instruments in a devilish conflict. Dropping October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a intense chronicle of resilience and primeval wickedness that will remodel scare flicks this season. Guided by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and moody thriller follows five unacquainted souls who suddenly rise confined in a cut-off cabin under the ominous rule of Kyra, a haunted figure possessed by a millennia-old sacrosanct terror. Be warned to be hooked by a narrative journey that unites soul-chilling terror with folklore, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a well-established foundation in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is radically shifted when the entities no longer come externally, but rather from deep inside. This echoes the shadowy layer of the players. The result is a gripping cognitive warzone where the emotions becomes a soul-crushing fight between heaven and hell.


In a haunting landscape, five characters find themselves cornered under the ghastly dominion and control of a unknown apparition. As the companions becomes submissive to evade her curse, abandoned and pursued by unknowns beyond reason, they are compelled to endure their worst nightmares while the hours unceasingly edges forward toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion intensifies and connections dissolve, prompting each participant to question their existence and the structure of liberty itself. The risk amplify with every instant, delivering a chilling narrative that merges demonic fright with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to dig into pure dread, an force that predates humanity, feeding on our fears, and examining a will that threatens selfhood when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra meant evoking something outside normal anguish. She is oblivious until the entity awakens, and that flip is shocking because it is so raw.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing fans anywhere can enjoy this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its original promo, which has earned over strong viewer count.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, bringing the film to viewers around the world.


Do not miss this heart-stopping descent into darkness. Enter *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to dive into these ghostly lessons about mankind.


For featurettes, special features, and reveals from inside the story, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across online outlets and visit our horror hub.





Today’s horror Turning Point: the 2025 cycle American release plan fuses primeval-possession lore, art-house nightmares, plus IP aftershocks

Kicking off with pressure-cooker survival tales inspired by scriptural legend and onward to IP renewals and incisive indie visions, 2025 is emerging as the most stratified together with intentionally scheduled year of the last decade.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. leading studios set cornerstones by way of signature titles, simultaneously streaming platforms load up the fall with emerging auteurs alongside ancestral chills. On another front, horror’s indie wing is fueled by the uplift of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The fall stretch is the proving field, but this year, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are disciplined, and 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s schedule begins the calendar with a headline swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a clear present-tense world. Led by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Booked into mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Guided by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early reactions hint at fangs.

At summer’s close, Warner’s slate launches the swan song of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: retrograde shiver, trauma in the foreground, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The stakes escalate here, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The new chapter enriches the lore, builds out the animatronic fear crew, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It books December, buttoning the final window.

Streamer Exclusives: No Budget, No Problem

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a sealed box body horror arc pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. From writer director 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 the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is a clever angle. No overinflated mythology. No continuity burden. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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

Trends to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror reemerges
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Season Ahead: Fall stack and winter swing card

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The 2026 chiller cycle: continuations, non-franchise titles, in tandem with A stacked Calendar Built For chills

Dek The fresh horror cycle stacks from the jump with a January wave, before it rolls through summer corridors, and deep into the year-end corridor, braiding brand heft, fresh ideas, and tactical counterprogramming. Distributors with platforms are betting on right-sized spends, big-screen-first runs, and social-fueled campaigns that elevate these releases into broad-appeal conversations.

How the genre looks for 2026

The genre has become the predictable counterweight in programming grids, a vertical that can surge when it hits and still limit the exposure when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year proved to executives that lean-budget pictures can lead cultural conversation, 2024 extended the rally with festival-darling auteurs and stealth successes. The trend pushed into the 2025 frame, where returns and filmmaker-prestige bets proved there is room for several lanes, from continued chapters to filmmaker-driven originals that play globally. The end result for 2026 is a run that seems notably aligned across the industry, with strategic blocks, a balance of marquee IP and new pitches, and a renewed focus on big-screen windows that fuel later windows on premium digital rental and subscription services.

Buyers contend the genre now serves as a plug-and-play option on the schedule. The genre can debut on many corridors, supply a clean hook for marketing and reels, and punch above weight with crowds that appear on opening previews and stick through the next weekend if the film satisfies. Coming out of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 cadence shows comfort in that playbook. The slate commences with a front-loaded January stretch, then uses spring and early summer for alternate plays, while making space for a late-year stretch that carries into the fright window and beyond. The gridline also shows the greater integration of specialty arms and streaming partners that can platform and widen, stoke social talk, and go nationwide at the precise moment.

A parallel macro theme is IP cultivation across connected story worlds and classic IP. Major shops are not just releasing another return. They are moving to present threaded continuity with a occasion, whether that is a art treatment that suggests a refreshed voice or a lead change that reconnects a next entry to a initial period. At the very same time, the directors behind the eagerly awaited originals are returning to material texture, practical gags and distinct locales. That pairing gives the 2026 slate a confident blend of home base and unexpected turns, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount defines the early cadence with two marquee projects that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the heart, marketing it as both a cross-generational handoff and a foundation-forward character-centered film. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the story approach suggests a nostalgia-forward approach without looping the last two entries’ family thread. A campaign is expected built on brand visuals, first images of characters, and a staggered trailer plan hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

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 on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will stress. As a summer contrast play, this one will build general-audience talk through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format supporting quick reframes to whatever owns horror talk that spring.

Universal has three defined bets. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is simple, somber, and concept-forward: a grieving man adopts an digital partner that turns into a deadly partner. The date puts it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with marketing at Universal likely to bring back uncanny-valley stunts and quick hits that melds love and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a public title to become an earned moment closer to the early tease. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s work are positioned as must-see filmmaker statements, with a opaque teaser and a later creative that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The late-October frame gives Universal room to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has long shown that a raw, makeup-driven style can feel elevated on a middle budget. Position this as a splatter summer horror blast that embraces global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio deploys two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, sustaining a evergreen supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is calling a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both fans and general audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build assets around universe detail, and monster craft, elements that can boost format premiums and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on immersive craft and period speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. Focus’s team has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is robust.

Streaming windows and tactics

Digital strategies for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre slate land on copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ladder that enhances both initial urgency and sub growth in the tail. Prime Video interleaves catalogue additions with global acquisitions and small theatrical windows when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in library engagement, using curated hubs, seasonal hubs, and programmed rows to sustain interest on lifetime take. Netflix stays opportunistic about in-house releases and festival pickups, dating horror entries closer to launch and eventizing arrivals with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a laddered of limited theatrical footprints and short jumps to platform that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a curated basis. The platform has proven amenable to buy select projects with name filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for sustained usage when the genre conversation surges.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 sequence with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is no-nonsense: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, elevated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has positioned a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the October weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through select festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday frame to widen. That positioning has shown results for arthouse horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception drives. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using mini theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their subs.

Series vs standalone

By tilt, 2026 leans in favor of the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap marquee value. The question, as ever, is overexposure. The go-to fix is to package each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is spotlighting character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a continental coloration from a emerging director. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and director-first projects supply 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, puts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the bundle is recognizable enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Past-three-year patterns help explain the method. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that held distribution windows did not hamper a simultaneous release test from hitting when the brand was potent. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror punched above its weight in premium screens. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel new when they rotate perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to relate entries through character and theme and to keep assets alive without doldrums.

Creative tendencies and craft

The craft conversations behind the upcoming entries suggest a continued emphasis on material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that elevates texture and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft features before rolling out a mood teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has succeeded 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 sells overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta recalibration that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster aesthetics and world-building, which work nicely for convention activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel necessary. Look for trailers that foreground surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that benefit on big speakers.

From winter to holidays

January is loaded. 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 moody palate cleanser get redirected here amid big-brand pushes. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the variety of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Q1 into Q2 stage summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored 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 jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited teasers that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and holiday gift-card burn.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s AI companion turns into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 difficult boss push to survive on a desolate island as the pecking order shifts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: marquee survival piece 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, rooted in Cronin’s physical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 in-home haunting setup that explores the dread of a child’s unreliable perceptions. Rating: pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-crafted and marquee-led ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A parody return that skewers present-day genre chatter and true-crime buzz. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. 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 bursts, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further widens again, with a unlucky family caught in old terrors. Rating: TBA. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A reboot designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: undetermined. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: forthcoming. Production: advancing. 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 antique diction and elemental dread. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why this year, why now

Three execution-level forces organize this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shifted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, controlled 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. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can control a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will line up across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of 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 come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, 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 sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, sonics, 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, Ready To Roar

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand equity where it matters, new vision where it lands, 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 late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the frights sell the seats.