Ancient Terror awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising horror feature, landing Oct 2025 on leading streamers

This spine-tingling otherworldly scare-fest from scriptwriter / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an timeless entity when drifters become vehicles in a dark game. Releasing on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching episode of staying alive and age-old darkness that will resculpt the horror genre this fall. Guided by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and moody cinema piece follows five characters who emerge stuck in a wilderness-bound shelter under the ominous grip of Kyra, a mysterious girl claimed by a legendary religious nightmare. Be prepared to be drawn in by a immersive journey that fuses deep-seated panic with ancestral stories, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a enduring tradition in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is turned on its head when the forces no longer descend externally, but rather inside them. This illustrates the grimmest side of each of them. The result is a psychologically brutal mental war where the narrative becomes a merciless push-pull between purity and corruption.


In a unforgiving no-man's-land, five adults find themselves trapped under the sinister influence and overtake of a mysterious entity. As the team becomes defenseless to oppose her dominion, detached and stalked by beings unnamable, they are compelled to stand before their soulful dreads while the time without pause draws closer toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread mounts and friendships dissolve, prompting each soul to doubt their character and the foundation of free will itself. The pressure amplify with every tick, delivering a frightening tale that weaves together unearthly horror with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to channel primal fear, an darkness beyond time, feeding on human fragility, and confronting a force that challenges autonomy when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra required summoning something darker than pain. She is unaware until the invasion happens, and that metamorphosis is terrifying because it is so personal.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for streaming beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—allowing streamers around the globe can survive this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its original promo, which has racked up over a viral response.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, delivering the story to viewers around the world.


Do not miss this mind-warping spiral into evil. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to confront these ghostly lessons about the human condition.


For exclusive trailers, extra content, and alerts from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your socials and visit the official website.





Contemporary horror’s pivotal crossroads: the 2025 season American release plan interlaces legend-infused possession, Indie Shockers, stacked beside legacy-brand quakes

Kicking off with endurance-driven terror saturated with scriptural legend and including legacy revivals and incisive indie visions, 2025 stands to become the most complex along with tactically planned year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Major studios plant stakes across the year using marquee IP, concurrently SVOD players pack the fall with new voices alongside ancient terrors. In the indie lane, the artisan tier is riding the uplift from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, yet in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are intentional, so 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

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

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s pipeline sets the tone with a marquee bet: a reimagined Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. With Leigh Whannell at the helm fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. targeting 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.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Under Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

When summer tapers, the WB camp unveils the final movement from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re teams, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: retro dread, trauma foregrounded, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This run ups the stakes, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The return delves further into myth, thickens the animatronic pantheon, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It posts in December, locking down the winter tail.

SVOD Originals: Economy, maximum dread

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a two hander body horror spiral featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is destined for a fall landing.

Next comes Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It reads as sharp positioning. No overinflated mythology. No brand fatigue. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

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 set plays urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Series Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, under Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Key Trends

Mythic lanes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror comes roaring back
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Forward View: Fall stack and winter swing card

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The approaching fear cycle: next chapters, original films, and also A busy Calendar engineered for shocks

Dek The brand-new genre slate crams in short order with a January traffic jam, before it extends through summer, and carrying into the winter holidays, fusing legacy muscle, new concepts, and savvy counterprogramming. Studios and platforms are leaning into responsible budgets, box-office-first windows, and social-driven marketing that convert genre titles into four-quadrant talking points.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The field has grown into the sturdy release in annual schedules, a category that can expand when it lands and still safeguard the exposure when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year re-taught strategy teams that modestly budgeted genre plays can drive mainstream conversation, the following year kept the drumbeat going with director-led heat and unexpected risers. The upswing translated to 2025, where reboots and critical darlings underscored there is a lane for many shades, from ongoing IP entries to one-and-done originals that translate worldwide. The aggregate for 2026 is a programming that presents tight coordination across the industry, with mapped-out bands, a pairing of brand names and new packages, and a refocused focus on release windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium video on demand and OTT platforms.

Insiders argue the category now functions as a fill-in ace on the grid. Horror can kick off on nearly any frame, supply a sharp concept for previews and shorts, and outstrip with audiences that turn out on Thursday nights and sustain through the next weekend if the picture fires. Emerging from a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 setup telegraphs comfort in that dynamic. The year starts with a front-loaded January stretch, then turns to spring and early summer for balance, while making space for a October build that stretches into the Halloween frame and into the next week. The layout also shows the tightening integration of specialty arms and streaming partners that can launch in limited release, spark evangelism, and grow at the sweet spot.

A reinforcing pattern is brand management across unified worlds and established properties. The companies are not just producing another continuation. They are aiming to frame story carry-over with a premium feel, whether that is a graphic identity that broadcasts a tonal shift or a ensemble decision that threads a latest entry to a classic era. At the parallel to that, the auteurs behind the most watched originals are returning to hands-on technique, practical effects and grounded locations. That combination delivers the 2026 slate a smart balance of assurance and unexpected turns, which is the formula for international play.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount fires first with two big-ticket titles that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the focus, marketing it as both a passing of the torch and a heritage-centered character piece. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance suggests a memory-charged treatment without covering again the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Expect a marketing push rooted in brand visuals, first-look character reveals, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm targeting late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also reawakens 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 selling point the campaign will play up. As a counterweight in summer, this one will go after general-audience talk through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick pivots to whatever leads pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three separate bets. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is elegant, heartbroken, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man sets up an artificial companion that mutates into a murderous partner. The date positions it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the studio’s marketing likely to mirror odd public stunts and brief clips that melds longing and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid horror currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a branding reveal to become an PR pop closer to the opening teaser. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s work are positioned as event films, with a concept-forward tease and a follow-up trailer set that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-month date allows Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has shown that a in-your-face, hands-on effects style can feel high-value on a lean spend. Position this as a viscera-heavy summer horror blast that centers worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio mounts two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, sustaining a evergreen supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is framing as a fresh restart 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 charge to serve both franchise faithful and curious audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build artifacts around lore, and creature design, elements that can increase premium screens and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by immersive craft and period speech, this time focused on werewolf legend. The imprint has already locked the day for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is supportive.

Platform lanes and windowing

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on familiar rails. The studio’s horror films head to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a pacing that expands both week-one demand and trial spikes in the later window. Prime Video blends licensed titles with world buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog engagement, using timely promos, fright rows, and editorial rows to sustain interest on 2026 genre cume. Netflix retains agility about own-slate titles and festival deals, timing horror entries closer to drop and eventizing arrivals with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a tiered of precision releases and accelerated platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a curated basis. The platform has proven amenable to pick up select projects with top-tier auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for platform stickiness when the genre conversation peaks.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 arc with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is direct: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, retooled for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an promising marker for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the back half.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, piloting the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then working the Christmas window to go wider. That positioning has served the company well for filmmaker-driven genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception allows. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using small theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their membership.

Brands and originals

By weight, the 2026 slate favors the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate franchise value. The potential drawback, as ever, is staleness. The pragmatic answer is to position each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is bringing forward relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-flavored turn from a buzzed-about director. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the package is assuring enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Recent-year comps outline the logic. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that kept clean windows did not block a dual release from working when the brand was compelling. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror outperformed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they angle differently and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 check over here with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, permits marketing to thread films through character spine and themes and to keep assets in-market without long gaps.

How the films are being made

The director conversations behind the year’s horror indicate a continued turn toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that elevates unease and texture rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and artisan spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that keeps plot minimal, 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 spurs shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta refresh that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature execution and sets, which match well with booth activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel essential. Look for trailers that emphasize pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that land in big rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is loaded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, click to read more 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 gloomy counterbalance amid bigger brand plays. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the tone spread makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Post-January through spring tee up summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now accommodates 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 underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can deliver 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.

August and September into October leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a peekaboo tease plan and limited previews that center concept over reveals.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s digital partner shifts into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss work to survive on a remote island as the pecking order tilts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to fear, rooted in Cronin’s in-camera craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting piece that twists the unease of a child’s fragile read. Rating: pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that skewers hot-button genre motifs and true crime fascinations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. 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 overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a young family entangled with residual nightmares. Rating: not yet rated. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A clean reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: TBD. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on antique diction and primal menace. Rating: forthcoming. 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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three workable forces structure this lineup. First, production that downshifted or shifted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic 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 placements. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on shareable moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can command a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will share space across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on 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 budget under the $40–$50 million tier, 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to leverage those opportunities. 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, 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 tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, 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 conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sound, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand gravity where needed, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, keep secrets, and let the gasps sell the seats.