Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases age-old dread, a fear soaked shocker, premiering Oct 2025 across leading streamers

One hair-raising spiritual suspense story from storyteller / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an primordial terror when guests become puppets in a fiendish ritual. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking account of resilience and primordial malevolence that will revamp the horror genre this fall. Crafted by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and moody motion picture follows five unacquainted souls who wake up confined in a off-grid cabin under the malevolent sway of Kyra, a troubled woman occupied by a prehistoric sacred-era entity. Be warned to be immersed by a motion picture event that melds bodily fright with mythic lore, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a classic foundation in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is redefined when the demons no longer form outside the characters, but rather from deep inside. This suggests the darkest element of the protagonists. The result is a edge-of-seat inner struggle where the plotline becomes a unyielding fight between divinity and wickedness.


In a remote backcountry, five adults find themselves imprisoned under the evil grip and haunting of a unknown female figure. As the companions becomes incapacitated to break her curse, detached and pursued by evils ungraspable, they are required to acknowledge their deepest fears while the doomsday meter coldly winds toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion amplifies and associations splinter, driving each individual to challenge their true nature and the integrity of freedom of choice itself. The hazard amplify with every beat, delivering a terror ride that intertwines otherworldly suspense with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to uncover basic terror, an presence that predates humanity, emerging via psychological breaks, and wrestling with a curse that forces self-examination when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra meant evoking something more primal than sorrow. She is uninformed until the possession kicks in, and that shift is emotionally raw because it is so unshielded.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for audience access beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring users internationally can survive this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its first preview, which has pulled in over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, spreading the horror to thrill-seekers globally.


Do not miss this heart-stopping trip into the unknown. Enter *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to face these spiritual awakenings about human nature.


For featurettes, behind-the-scenes content, and news from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across Facebook and TikTok and visit the official digital haunt.





Today’s horror major pivot: 2025 across markets stateside slate braids together primeval-possession lore, art-house nightmares, plus Franchise Rumbles

Kicking off with fight-to-live nightmare stories suffused with legendary theology and stretching into legacy revivals set beside pointed art-house angles, 2025 is emerging as the most variegated along with blueprinted year in the past ten years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. studio powerhouses hold down the year using marquee IP, concurrently OTT services prime the fall with new voices as well as ancient terrors. In parallel, festival-forward creators is propelled by the backdraft of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween holding the peak, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are calculated, and 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige fear returns

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal banner begins the calendar with a big gambit: a modernized Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, inside today’s landscape. From director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. arriving mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Steered by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

Toward summer’s end, the Warner Bros. banner sets loose the finale from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: period tinged dread, trauma as text, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The stakes escalate here, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The new chapter enriches the lore, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It opens in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Originals: No Budget, No Problem

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

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

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

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 smart play. No overstuffed canon. No brand fatigue. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Brands: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Signals and Trends

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror swings back
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Forward View: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The next fear release year: continuations, fresh concepts, And A brimming Calendar optimized for frights

Dek The brand-new scare cycle loads early with a January pile-up, from there carries through June and July, and straight through the winter holidays, blending brand heft, inventive spins, and smart release strategy. The major players are doubling down on mid-range economics, exclusive theatrical windows first, and social-fueled campaigns that transform genre titles into all-audience topics.

How the genre looks for 2026

Horror filmmaking has shown itself to be the dependable play in programming grids, a pillar that can scale when it connects and still hedge the exposure when it misses. After 2023 proved to greenlighters that cost-conscious fright engines can shape pop culture, 2024 maintained heat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and quiet over-performers. The tailwind carried into 2025, where returns and awards-minded projects highlighted there is a lane for several lanes, from series extensions to one-and-done originals that carry overseas. The result for the 2026 slate is a slate that presents tight coordination across players, with clear date clusters, a harmony of brand names and new concepts, and a tightened emphasis on release windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium home window and streaming.

Buyers contend the horror lane now works like a schedule utility on the schedule. The genre can roll out on nearly any frame, offer a clear pitch for teasers and shorts, and exceed norms with patrons that come out on opening previews and stick through the follow-up frame if the release lands. Emerging from a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 pattern demonstrates trust in that approach. The slate commences with a weighty January block, then turns to spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while reserving space for a late-year stretch that runs into Halloween and past the holiday. The schedule also illustrates the greater integration of specialized imprints and platforms that can stage a platform run, stoke social talk, and go nationwide at the sweet spot.

A second macro trend is IP stewardship across unified worlds and long-running brands. The companies are not just turning out another sequel. They are trying to present ongoing narrative with a heightened moment, whether that is a typeface approach that announces a recalibrated tone or a casting move that threads a next entry to a foundational era. At the meanwhile, the helmers behind the most buzzed-about originals are celebrating material texture, in-camera effects and site-specific worlds. That blend offers the 2026 slate a healthy mix of home base and invention, which is what works overseas.

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

Paramount fires first with two spotlight entries that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the front, marketing it as both a relay and a rootsy character-focused installment. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the authorial approach suggests a roots-evoking strategy without replaying the last two entries’ sibling arc. Count on a promo wave driven by brand visuals, initial cast looks, and a tiered teaser plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will emphasize. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will drive general-audience talk through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format fitting quick shifts to whatever dominates the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three clear pushes. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is straightforward, heartbroken, and easily pitched: a grieving man implements an digital partner that escalates into a perilous partner. The date positions it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s marketing likely to bring back uncanny live moments and snackable content that blurs love and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a official title to become an headline beat closer to the opening teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s pictures are set up as must-see filmmaker statements, with a opaque teaser and a second beat that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot opens a lane to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has long shown that a blood-soaked, practical-first aesthetic can feel top-tier on a tight budget. Frame it as a grime-caked summer horror hit that centers offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio rolls out two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, carrying a proven supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is describing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both devotees and general audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build marketing units around mythos, and monster craft, elements that can stoke PLF interest and fan events.

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 carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in rigorous craft and dialect, this time driven by werewolf stories. The imprint 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 positive.

How the platforms plan to play it

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal titles feed copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a sequence that expands both first-week urgency and subscription bumps in the back half. Prime Video interleaves third-party pickups with world buys and select theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library engagement, using timely promos, October hubs, and curated strips to sustain interest on overall cume. Netflix keeps flexible about original films and festival buys, securing horror entries toward the drop and coalescing around go-lives with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a staged of tailored theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that converts WOM to subscribers. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has indicated interest to board select projects with award winners or star-driven packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation intensifies.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 slate with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is tight: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, modernized for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an promising marker for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in this contact form the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday frame to scale. That positioning has served the company well for filmmaker-first horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception supports. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using select theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their user base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By count, the 2026 slate favors the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap brand equity. The challenge, as ever, is brand erosion. The operating solution is to package each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is elevating character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-flavored turn from a new voice. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a crash-survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the configuration is anchored enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Recent-year comps announce the plan. In 2023, a exclusive window model that observed windows did not hamper a simultaneous release test from winning when the brand was robust. In 2024, precision craft horror rose in premium large format. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they pivot perspective and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, creates space for marketing to connect the chapters through relationships and themes and to keep assets in-market without extended gaps.

Production craft signals

The craft rooms behind 2026 horror telegraph a continued shift toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that emphasizes texture and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft features before rolling out a mood teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and creates shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta reframe that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature craft and set design, which fit with con floor moments and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel must-have. Look for trailers that underscore pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that land in premium houses.

How the year maps out

January is jammed. 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 foggy reset amid marquee brands. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller have a peek at these guys from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the mix of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth spreads.

February through May tee up summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can hit 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 finished their premium pass.

Late summer into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a late-September window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited disclosures that my company lean on concept not plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card use.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s synthetic partner escalates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

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 confront a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 severe boss claw to survive on a remote island as the control dynamic reverses and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to terror, rooted in Cronin’s hands-on craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting piece that routes the horror through a minor’s uneven point of view. Rating: rating pending. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-grade and star-fronted occult chiller.

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 reboot that teases contemporary horror memes and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBA. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites detonates, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new clan snared by long-buried horrors. Rating: pending. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A clean reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on pure survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: pending. Production: underway. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 elemental fear. Rating: not yet rated. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the moment is 2026

Three practical forces define this lineup. First, production that decelerated or reshuffled in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and shorter 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 out-earned straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on shareable moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can command a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will coexist across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 stealth-hit search 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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

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

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, aural design, and cinematography 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 Is Well Positioned

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is recognizable IP where it plays, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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, edit tight trailers, hold the mystery, and let the gasps sell the seats.