Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primordial evil, a nerve shredding chiller, streaming Oct 2025 across leading streamers

A terrifying metaphysical thriller from screenwriter / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an long-buried force when guests become proxies in a hellish maze. Releasing October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking episode of perseverance and age-old darkness that will reconstruct the horror genre this scare season. Directed by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and claustrophobic suspense flick follows five strangers who come to ensnared in a remote lodge under the ominous will of Kyra, a mysterious girl claimed by a antiquated sacrosanct terror. Get ready to be shaken by a immersive event that merges intense horror with mythic lore, hitting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a well-established trope in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is challenged when the fiends no longer form outside their bodies, but rather within themselves. This mirrors the haunting version of every character. The result is a enthralling moral showdown where the events becomes a perpetual push-pull between light and darkness.


In a isolated wilderness, five young people find themselves cornered under the ominous presence and inhabitation of a enigmatic woman. As the characters becomes helpless to fight her command, cut off and hunted by unknowns unnamable, they are made to deal with their greatest panics while the seconds relentlessly strikes toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety amplifies and partnerships shatter, demanding each soul to question their character and the concept of decision-making itself. The consequences mount with every tick, delivering a terror ride that weaves together ghostly evil with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to channel core terror, an force that predates humanity, embedding itself in inner turmoil, and highlighting a entity that threatens selfhood when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra demanded embodying something rooted in terror. She is uninformed until the takeover begins, and that flip is eerie because it is so visceral.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for public screening beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing viewers no matter where they are can engage with this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its first trailer, which has racked up over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, extending the thrill to a worldwide audience.


Join this visceral trip into the unknown. Watch *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to survive these haunting secrets about human nature.


For director insights, special features, and promotions from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across your favorite networks and visit youngandcursed.com.





Modern horror’s tipping point: 2025 across markets U.S. rollouts Mixes archetypal-possession themes, art-house nightmares, together with series shake-ups

Spanning grit-forward survival fare suffused with primordial scripture and onward to franchise returns alongside cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 stands to become horror’s most layered as well as carefully orchestrated year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. the big studios hold down the year with familiar IP, in tandem premium streamers front-load the fall with emerging auteurs and scriptural shivers. In the indie lane, the art-house flank is fueled by the afterglow of a banner 2024 fest year. Since Halloween is the prized date, the other windows are mapped with care. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, and in 2025, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are calculated, accordingly 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: The Return of Prestige Fear

The top end is active. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s pipeline starts the year with an audacious swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, but a crisp modern milieu. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. timed for 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.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Eli Craig directs starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer wanes, Warner’s schedule releases the last chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the memorable motifs return: vintage toned fear, trauma centered writing, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time the stakes climb, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The next entry deepens the tale, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, courting teens and the thirty something base. It opens in December, cornering year end horror.

Streamer Exclusives: Slim budgets, major punch

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, an intimate body horror unraveling including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend led by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It reads as sharp positioning. No overweight mythology. No brand fatigue. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. 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. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

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

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, under Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Trends to Watch

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror retakes ground
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Season Ahead: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

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



The upcoming fear calendar year ahead: Sequels, new stories, and also A Crowded Calendar tailored for chills

Dek The emerging terror year builds right away with a January pile-up, thereafter unfolds through peak season, and well into the holiday stretch, mixing legacy muscle, fresh ideas, and shrewd release strategy. Studios and platforms are relying on efficient budgets, cinema-first plans, and buzz-forward plans that frame these films into all-audience topics.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror has become the predictable counterweight in programming grids, a corner that can spike when it lands and still insulate the drag when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year signaled to buyers that disciplined-budget pictures can drive pop culture, 2024 kept energy high with filmmaker-forward plays and under-the-radar smashes. The energy rolled into the 2025 frame, where returns and prestige plays made clear there is demand for several lanes, from brand follow-ups to director-led originals that travel well. The aggregate for 2026 is a run that is strikingly coherent across distributors, with clear date clusters, a combination of familiar brands and first-time concepts, and a reinvigorated focus on box-office windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium on-demand and SVOD.

Marketers add the space now serves as a versatile piece on the distribution slate. The genre can launch on most weekends, create a quick sell for previews and social clips, and exceed norms with fans that appear on Thursday nights and keep coming through the second frame if the film works. Emerging from a work stoppage lag, the 2026 cadence reflects conviction in that dynamic. The calendar rolls out with a crowded January lineup, then primes spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while keeping space for a fall run that extends to spooky season and beyond. The gridline also includes the tightening integration of arthouse labels and OTT outlets that can launch in limited release, grow buzz, and expand at the timely point.

A further high-level trend is brand strategy across linked properties and established properties. Major shops are not just pushing another next film. They are aiming to frame brand continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a graphic identity that telegraphs a new tone or a cast configuration that reconnects a latest entry to a initial period. At the in tandem, the directors behind the high-profile originals are favoring material texture, on-set effects and specific settings. That convergence produces the 2026 slate a robust balance of known notes and shock, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount leads early with two high-profile releases that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, presenting it as both a legacy handover and a origin-leaning character-centered film. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the narrative stance suggests a legacy-leaning mode without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Look for a marketing run stacked with iconic art, early character teases, and a tiered teaser plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will stress. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will chase mainstream recognition through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick pivots to whatever dominates the discourse that spring.

Universal has three defined lanes. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is straightforward, melancholic, and premise-first: a grieving man sets up an intelligent companion that turns into a perilous partner. The date slots it at the front of a thick month, with the marketing arm likely to mirror viral uncanny stunts and micro spots that hybridizes attachment and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a official title to become an marketing beat closer to the opening teaser. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele titles are sold as director events, with a teaser that holds back and a second wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The prime October weekend allows Universal to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has consistently shown that a gritty, hands-on effects mix can feel big on a lean spend. Expect a splatter summer horror blast that pushes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio lines up two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, keeping a evergreen supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is positioning as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both core fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot allows Sony to build campaign pieces around narrative world, and monster aesthetics, elements that can amplify premium format interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by careful craft and dialect, this time steeped in lycan lore. The company has already set the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is favorable.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform plans for 2026 run on well-known grooves. The Universal horror run move to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a pacing that optimizes both premiere heat and subscriber lifts in the downstream. Prime Video combines licensed titles with global acquisitions and limited cinema engagements when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in archive usage, using featured rows, seasonal hubs, and curated strips to prolong the run on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps options open about Netflix films and festival grabs, finalizing horror entries near launch and positioning as event drops releases with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a one-two of targeted theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a situational basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to board select projects with top-tier auteurs or star packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for platform stickiness when the genre conversation ramps.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building 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 promise is clear: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, recalibrated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the autumn stretch.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, marshalling the project through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the year-end corridor to increase reach. That positioning has helped for auteur horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale 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 as partners, using limited runs to stir evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Brands and originals

By volume, 2026 leans toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on marquee value. The question, as ever, is brand erosion. The practical approach is to pitch each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is foregrounding relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a continental coloration from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival-thriller premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the deal build is assuring enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and Thursday-night crowds.

The last three-year set frame the template. In 2023, a theater-first model that honored streaming windows did not stop a parallel release from paying off when the brand was compelling. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror punched above its weight in premium screens. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they pivot perspective and expand the canvas. 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 paired-chapter approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, lets marketing to link the films through relationships and themes and to continue assets in field without long breaks.

How the look and feel evolve

The filmmaking conversations behind the 2026 slate point to a continued turn toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that highlights grain and menace rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely frame Young & Cursed this aesthetic in feature stories and craft features before rolling out a tease that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and drives shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta inflection that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature and environment design, which work nicely for expo activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel must-have. Look for trailers that foreground fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that benefit on big speakers.

Month-by-month map

January is heavy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid heavier IP. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the menu of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth spreads.

Late winter and spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects 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 playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Late summer into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited disclosures that stress concept over spoilers.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold 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 pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genome. 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 loss-struck man’s algorithmic partner grows into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: mood-led 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 abrasive boss try to survive on a rugged island as the power dynamic reverses and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to fear, driven by Cronin’s practical effects and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting setup that explores the terror of a child’s mercurial interpretations. Rating: TBD. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-financed and A-list fronted 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 comic send-up that skewers present-day genre chatter and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBA. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites flares, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a another family bound to older hauntings. Rating: undetermined. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A fresh restart designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on pure survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

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

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other navigate here regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on antique diction and ancient menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why this year, why now

Three workable forces frame this lineup. First, production that stalled or recalendared in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage shareable moments from test screenings, curated scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, creating valuable space for genre entries that can control a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will coexist across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where midrange-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 capitalize on those pockets. 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse 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 earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, acoustics, 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.

2026, Ready To Roar

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is IP strength where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, hold the mystery, and let the gasps sell the seats.