Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes mythic darkness, a nightmare fueled thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on major streaming services

This bone-chilling occult nightmare movie from cinematographer / director Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an timeless nightmare when unknowns become tokens in a supernatural contest. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing episode of resilience and age-old darkness that will revolutionize fear-driven cinema this Halloween season. Crafted by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and atmospheric feature follows five people who arise isolated in a off-grid dwelling under the oppressive power of Kyra, a female presence controlled by a 2,000-year-old Old Testament spirit. Get ready to be ensnared by a filmic display that weaves together bone-deep fear with arcane tradition, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a legendary foundation in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is twisted when the fiends no longer descend externally, but rather from within. This suggests the most terrifying version of all involved. The result is a edge-of-seat moral showdown where the drama becomes a constant conflict between heaven and hell.


In a desolate landscape, five youths find themselves isolated under the sinister influence and haunting of a obscure being. As the victims becomes powerless to resist her influence, marooned and preyed upon by entities unnamable, they are pushed to stand before their darkest emotions while the hours brutally edges forward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease mounts and relationships dissolve, compelling each person to challenge their existence and the integrity of independent thought itself. The consequences climb with every passing moment, delivering a cinematic nightmare that weaves together spiritual fright with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to channel raw dread, an curse beyond time, feeding on inner turmoil, and testing a spirit that erodes the self when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra was centered on something more primal than sorrow. She is uninformed until the takeover begins, and that transition is shocking because it is so internal.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—so that customers worldwide can be part of this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its initial teaser, which has racked up over a viral response.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, extending the thrill to fans of fear everywhere.


Make sure to see this unforgettable spiral into evil. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to explore these nightmarish insights about human nature.


For cast commentary, making-of footage, and alerts from the creators, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across media channels and visit the official digital haunt.





American horror’s tipping point: 2025 across markets U.S. calendar integrates archetypal-possession themes, festival-born jolts, paired with series shake-ups

Kicking off with pressure-cooker survival tales drawn from old testament echoes through to installment follow-ups plus cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is lining up as the genre’s most multifaceted together with blueprinted year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. Top studios hold down the year with known properties, concurrently subscription platforms crowd the fall with new voices plus archetypal fear. On the independent axis, festival-forward creators is fueled by the tailwinds of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A fat September–October lane is customary now, yet in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are targeted, so 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: The Return of Prestige Fear

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 presses the advantage.

the Universal banner fires the first shot with a statement play: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in an immediate now. From director Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. dated for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Under Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

By late summer, the WB camp sets loose the finale of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson again directs, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: retro dread, trauma as theme, and eerie supernatural logic. The bar is raised this go, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The follow up digs further into canon, builds out the animatronic fear crew, speaking to teens and older millennials. It lands in December, buttoning the final window.

Platform Originals: Economy, maximum dread

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a room scale body horror descent including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga with Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

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 is a clever angle. No puffed out backstory. No canon weight. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

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

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Long Running Lines: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

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

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, with Francis Lawrence directing, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Emerging Currents

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

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

Originals on platforms bite harder
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

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.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The 2026 terror slate: continuations, non-franchise titles, alongside A packed Calendar engineered for Scares

Dek: The arriving terror slate clusters in short order with a January crush, then extends through summer, and straight through the December corridor, blending name recognition, creative pitches, and smart offsets. Studio marketers and platforms are leaning into lean spends, theatrical leads, and social-fueled campaigns that convert these films into mainstream chatter.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The field has solidified as the bankable tool in release plans, a pillar that can expand when it resonates and still mitigate the floor when it does not. After the 2023 year proved to executives that disciplined-budget chillers can lead the national conversation, the following year continued the surge with high-profile filmmaker pieces and slow-burn breakouts. The energy carried into 2025, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers highlighted there is a lane for a variety of tones, from continued chapters to filmmaker-driven originals that play globally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a slate that is strikingly coherent across the market, with defined corridors, a mix of established brands and new pitches, and a renewed emphasis on exclusive windows that power the aftermarket on premium digital and streaming.

Insiders argue the space now slots in as a plug-and-play option on the distribution slate. Horror can debut on most weekends, yield a easy sell for spots and TikTok spots, and outperform with ticket buyers that line up on previews Thursday and hold through the next pass if the release fires. Exiting a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 mapping shows trust in that dynamic. The calendar rolls out with a heavy January stretch, then exploits spring through early summer for alternate plays, while reserving space for a fall corridor that extends to Halloween and past Halloween. The arrangement also illustrates the deeper integration of specialty arms and SVOD players that can build gradually, stoke social talk, and expand at the proper time.

A further high-level trend is IP stewardship across linked properties and classic IP. The studios are not just releasing another next film. They are seeking to position lineage with a headline quality, whether that is a typeface approach that broadcasts a fresh attitude or a casting move that anchors a new entry to a heyday. At the same time, the helmers behind the most buzzed-about originals are championing practical craft, on-set effects and place-driven backdrops. That alloy delivers the 2026 slate a robust balance of comfort and discovery, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount establishes early momentum with two high-profile projects that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the spine, framing it as both a legacy handover and a origin-leaning character-first story. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the story approach conveys a classic-referencing treatment without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign fueled by signature symbols, character spotlights, and a rollout cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will lean on. As a summer relief option, this one will generate mass reach through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format allowing quick adjustments to whatever leads trend lines that spring.

Universal has three clear lanes. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is efficient, grief-rooted, and concept-forward: a grieving man brings home an synthetic partner that shifts into a dangerous lover. The date places it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to recreate uncanny-valley stunts and snackable content that hybridizes intimacy and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a final title to become an earned moment closer to the initial tease. The timing offers Universal 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 event films, with a opaque teaser and a later creative that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The Halloween runway gives Universal room to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has made clear that a gnarly, practical-first approach can feel high-value on a moderate cost. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror hit that maximizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio lines up two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, holding a steady supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is describing as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both longtime followers and newcomers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build assets around universe detail, and monster design, elements that can lift format premiums and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets 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 minute detail and period language, this time driven by werewolf stories. The imprint has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is enthusiastic.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform windowing in 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal titles land on copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a tiered path that expands both FOMO and trial spikes in the after-window. Prime Video will mix licensed content with global pickups and limited cinema engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in deep cuts, using prominent placements, Halloween hubs, and editorial rows to lengthen the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps options open about original films and festival buys, securing horror entries toward the drop and coalescing around releases with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a two-step of targeted theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown a willingness to purchase select projects with top-tier auteurs or marquee packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation builds.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 lane with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is clear: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, recalibrated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a cinema-first plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late stretch.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, have a peek at this web-site managing the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday dates to scale. That positioning has paid off for elevated genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception allows. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using boutique theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their paid base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By number, 2026 tilts in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on cultural cachet. The trade-off, as ever, is staleness. The standing approach is to brand each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is foregrounding character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-flavored turn from a fresh helmer. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and auteur plays supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the cast-creatives package is known enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

The last three-year set help explain the approach. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that preserved streaming windows did not prevent a simultaneous release test from working when the brand was powerful. In 2024, director-craft horror surged in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel new when they rotate perspective and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on 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 filmed consecutively, enables marketing to relate entries through personae and themes and to keep materials circulating without hiatuses.

Creative tendencies and craft

The craft conversations behind these films suggest a continued shift toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that foregrounds tone and tension rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in trade spotlights and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and spurs shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta pivot that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will live or die on monster realization and design, which lend themselves to fan-con activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel compelling. Look for trailers that spotlight hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that shine in top rooms.

Calendar cadence

January is stacked. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid bigger brand plays. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the tone spread carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Late winter and spring stage summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can play 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 cycled through PLF.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited plot reveals that center great post to read concept over reveals.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can play the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads 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 mourning man’s intelligent companion grows into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back 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 returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. 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 severe boss fight to survive on a isolated island as the pecking order inverts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to chill, rooted in Cronin’s physical craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting tale that teases the fear of a child’s shaky point of view. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-scale and celebrity-led occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A parody return that skewers in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime manias. Rating: TBD. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 breaks out, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further reopens, with a different family lashed to long-buried horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-driven horror over action fireworks. Rating: undetermined. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: closely held. Rating: pending. Production: moving forward. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and ancient menace. Rating: TBA. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three hands-on forces define this lineup. First, production that stalled or shuffled in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and compressed 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage shareable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, freeing space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will cluster across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where lower and 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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a feast, 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 runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, lean footprints, 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 grain, sonics, and camera work 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

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is name recognition where it counts, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, hold the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.