Age-old Horror Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling chiller, debuting Oct 2025 across major streaming services

A eerie spiritual thriller from dramatist / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an age-old force when passersby become conduits in a supernatural game. Going live on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing chronicle of struggle and prehistoric entity that will revamp scare flicks this ghoul season. Produced by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and atmospheric screenplay follows five figures who arise imprisoned in a cut-off structure under the dark sway of Kyra, a central character dominated by a two-thousand-year-old ancient fiend. Brace yourself to be captivated by a theatrical display that intertwines bodily fright with timeless legends, dropping on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a time-honored motif in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is reversed when the monsters no longer come from elsewhere, but rather deep within. This suggests the shadowy shade of the cast. The result is a psychologically brutal identity crisis where the emotions becomes a ongoing face-off between right and wrong.


In a desolate landscape, five souls find themselves caught under the possessive presence and control of a elusive character. As the group becomes unable to fight her curse, cut off and targeted by unknowns beyond reason, they are cornered to battle their greatest panics while the hours unforgivingly strikes toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion builds and ties fracture, pressuring each figure to doubt their character and the idea of self-determination itself. The tension accelerate with every heartbeat, delivering a chilling narrative that harmonizes otherworldly suspense with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to uncover pure dread, an presence from ancient eras, embedding itself in inner turmoil, and testing a will that challenges autonomy when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra was centered on something deeper than fear. She is innocent until the takeover begins, and that conversion is terrifying because it is so visceral.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be available for home viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring fans no matter where they are can be part of this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its intro video, which has been viewed over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, giving access to the movie to a global viewership.


Witness this bone-rattling journey into fear. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to see these fearful discoveries about existence.


For featurettes, behind-the-scenes content, and news from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across platforms and visit the film’s website.





Horror’s Turning Point: 2025 U.S. Slate integrates Mythic Possession, Indie Shockers, set against legacy-brand quakes

Beginning with survivor-centric dread suffused with old testament echoes and extending to returning series together with surgical indie voices, 2025 is coalescing into the most dimensioned together with carefully orchestrated year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. major banners hold down the year by way of signature titles, simultaneously streamers saturate the fall with emerging auteurs plus old-world menace. On the festival side, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is buoyed by the tailwinds from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The fall stretch is the proving field, and in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are disciplined, hence 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige fear returns

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

the Universal banner begins the calendar with a big gambit: a modernized Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Steered by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. Slated for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Steered by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer wanes, Warner Bros. Pictures sets loose the finale from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: nostalgic menace, trauma in the foreground, and eerie supernatural logic. The ante is higher this round, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, broadens the animatronic terror cast, courting teens and the thirty something base. It arrives in December, pinning the winter close.

Streaming Offerings: Modest spend, serious shock

While the big screen favors titles you know, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a room scale body horror descent featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Then there is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable with Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held 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 terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No overinflated mythology. No series drag. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They are more runway than museum.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, guided by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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.

Signals and Trends

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror reemerges
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Forecast: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

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

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The approaching fear Year Ahead: entries, standalone ideas, and also A Crowded Calendar tailored for jolts

Dek The arriving genre year clusters early with a January crush, following that extends through peak season, and deep into the festive period, weaving series momentum, new concepts, and shrewd counterweight. Major distributors and platforms are committing to tight budgets, big-screen-first runs, and social-fueled campaigns that turn genre titles into mainstream chatter.

The genre’s posture for 2026

This category has solidified as the steady swing in studio slates, a pillar that can spike when it lands and still hedge the drag when it underperforms. After the 2023 year re-taught studio brass that disciplined-budget shockers can galvanize pop culture, the following year maintained heat with filmmaker-forward plays and word-of-mouth wins. The run flowed into 2025, where reawakened brands and prestige plays demonstrated there is demand for a spectrum, from series extensions to original one-offs that carry overseas. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a run that shows rare alignment across companies, with defined corridors, a mix of familiar brands and original hooks, and a revived focus on big-screen windows that drive downstream revenue on PVOD and home streaming.

Marketers add the genre now slots in as a wildcard on the slate. The genre can bow on almost any weekend, create a clear pitch for ad units and reels, and lead with viewers that respond on opening previews and maintain momentum through the next weekend if the offering delivers. After a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 layout indicates comfort in that dynamic. The year starts with a weighty January band, then turns to spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while leaving room for a fall corridor that runs into late October and into post-Halloween. The map also includes the tightening integration of arthouse labels and digital platforms that can stage a platform run, spark evangelism, and widen at the proper time.

An added macro current is IP cultivation across unified worlds and legacy IP. Distribution groups are not just turning out another return. They are looking to package story carry-over with a sense of event, whether that is a brandmark that indicates a fresh attitude or a lead change that reconnects a upcoming film to a heyday. At the concurrently, the filmmakers behind the most buzzed-about originals are embracing on-set craft, in-camera effects and vivid settings. That alloy provides the 2026 slate a confident blend of trust and surprise, which is what works overseas.

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

Paramount leads early with two front-of-slate pushes that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the focus, marketing it as both a legacy handover and a heritage-centered character-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the artistic posture points to a memory-charged approach without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive anchored in recognizable motifs, character-first teases, and a rollout cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will stress. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will generate broad awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format enabling quick pivots to whatever dominates horror talk that spring.

Universal has three unique projects. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is clean, loss-driven, and concept-forward: a grieving man sets up an AI companion that mutates into a harmful mate. The date locates it at the front of a front-loaded month, with marketing at Universal likely to revisit creepy live activations and micro spots that blurs attachment and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title reveal to become an attention spike closer to the first trailer. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s releases are presented as filmmaker events, with a mystery-first teaser and a next wave of trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The spooky-season slot creates space for 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, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has proven that a blood-soaked, makeup-driven strategy can feel deluxe on a moderate cost. Position this as a red-band summer horror shot that embraces international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio books two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, maintaining a consistent supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is marketing as a reimagined restart 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 charge to serve both devotees and newcomers. The fall slot allows Sony to build materials around world-building, and creature design, elements that can drive PLF interest and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in careful craft and archaic language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The distributor has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is glowing.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform windowing in 2026 run on well-known grooves. The studio’s horror films move to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a tiered path that expands both debut momentum and sign-up momentum in the late-window. Prime Video stitches together catalogue additions with worldwide entries and targeted theatrical runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu work their edges in back-catalog play, using timely promos, genre hubs, and featured rows to sustain interest on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix retains agility about internal projects and festival buys, scheduling horror entries on shorter runways and positioning as event drops go-lives with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a one-two of precision releases and short jumps to platform that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan pipelines in the Get More Info months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has signaled readiness to take on select projects with prestige directors or star-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for monthly engagement when the genre conversation builds.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 arc with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is tight: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, retooled for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday dates to widen. That positioning has shown results for director-led genre with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge 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 hand in hand, using limited runs to stir evangelism that fuels their community.

IP versus fresh ideas

By count, 2026 leans toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on franchise value. The trade-off, as ever, is diminishing returns. The pragmatic answer is to sell each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is bringing forward character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French sensibility from a rising filmmaker. Those choices carry weight 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. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival chiller premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the package is familiar enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Comps from the last three years frame the model. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that maintained windows did not obstruct a dual release from performing when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror punched above its weight in premium large format. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they alter lens and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to bridge entries through character web and themes and to sustain campaign assets without long breaks.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The director conversations behind the 2026 entries point to a continued shift toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that elevates mood and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in trade spotlights and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a preview that keeps plot minimal, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and sparks shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a self-aware reset that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature work and production design, which play well in convention floor stunts and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel necessary. Look for trailers that elevate pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in big rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is loaded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid bigger brand plays. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the range of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Pre-summer months tee up summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds 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 lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a shoulder season window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a minimalist tease strategy and limited previews that stress concept over spoilers.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card use.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s digital partner turns into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

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 meet a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: aura-driven 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 fight to survive on a remote island as the control balance swivels and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to horror, grounded in Cronin’s on-set craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 domestic haunting piece that plays with the unease of a child’s fragile point of view. Rating: to be announced. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-scale and marquee-led spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A genre lampoon that teases today’s horror trends and true-crime crazes. Rating: pending. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 spreads, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a fresh family anchored to long-buried horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-first horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: in development with a locked date. 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: forthcoming. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and primal menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the moment is 2026

Three execution-level forces organize this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shifted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and leaner 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 outperformed straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage bite-size scare clips from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, providing runway for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will coexist across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where lean-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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, sound field, and framing 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 shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand power where it counts, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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, shape lean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.