Mythic Evil reawakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked shocker, streaming October 2025 across premium platforms

One eerie spiritual shockfest from creator / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an primordial nightmare when guests become puppets in a diabolical ceremony. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing chronicle of survival and age-old darkness that will alter scare flicks this spooky time. Visualized by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and gothic screenplay follows five figures who find themselves isolated in a off-grid shelter under the malevolent command of Kyra, a haunted figure haunted by a prehistoric biblical force. Brace yourself to be absorbed by a audio-visual journey that fuses soul-chilling terror with mystical narratives, debuting 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 well-established pillar in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is flipped when the forces no longer descend outside their bodies, but rather deep within. This embodies the haunting element of the players. The result is a bone-chilling psychological battle where the intensity becomes a perpetual conflict between light and darkness.


In a unforgiving wilderness, five individuals find themselves stuck under the unholy force and control of a unidentified figure. As the companions becomes unable to oppose her dominion, disconnected and pursued by beings unnamable, they are forced to face their darkest emotions while the timeline unceasingly counts down toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust mounts and teams fracture, driving each individual to question their existence and the concept of autonomy itself. The cost surge with every passing moment, delivering a frightening tale that blends otherworldly suspense with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to explore deep fear, an malevolence that predates humanity, emerging via human fragility, and examining a curse that challenges autonomy when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra needed manifesting something far beyond human desperation. She is uninformed until the possession kicks in, and that flip is emotionally raw because it is so internal.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for digital release beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—offering horror lovers around the globe can dive into this haunted release.


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


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, exporting the fear to lovers of terror across nations.


Tune in for this heart-stopping exploration of dread. Join *Young & Cursed* this launch day to survive these unholy truths about the mind.


For bonus footage, behind-the-scenes content, and reveals from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across Facebook and TikTok and visit the official movie site.





Modern horror’s pivotal crossroads: the 2025 season U.S. rollouts interlaces ancient-possession motifs, indie terrors, and series shake-ups

Kicking off with survival horror suffused with mythic scripture through to brand-name continuations alongside pointed art-house angles, 2025 stands to become the most complex and deliberate year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. the big studios are anchoring the year by way of signature titles, as premium streamers stack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs as well as old-world menace. On the independent axis, festival-forward creators is fueled by the momentum from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The fall stretch is the proving field, but this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are exacting, accordingly 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Premium genre swings back

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 accelerates.

the Universal camp fires the first shot with an audacious swing: a modernized Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a modern-day environment. Under director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. dated for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

At summer’s close, Warner’s slate delivers the closing chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Even with a familiar chassis, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Arriving later 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: 70s style chill, trauma as theme, along with eerie supernatural rules. The stakes escalate here, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The return delves further into myth, thickens the animatronic pantheon, speaking to teens and older millennials. It bows in December, locking down the winter tail.

SVOD Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a sealed box body horror arc fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is virtually assured for fall.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both 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. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It reads as sharp positioning. No overstuffed canon. No franchise baggage. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance is on track for grief tuned 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.

Legacy Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Trends Worth Watching

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

Body horror ascends again
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

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

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Near Term Outlook: Fall crush plus winter X factor

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The upcoming chiller cycle: returning titles, original films, in tandem with A stacked Calendar optimized for chills

Dek: The current scare year lines up from day one with a January crush, before it stretches through summer corridors, and straight through the holiday frame, combining IP strength, new voices, and well-timed alternatives. Distributors with platforms are betting on cost discipline, theatrical leads, and viral-minded pushes that pivot these films into water-cooler talk.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror sector has turned into the dependable play in annual schedules, a corner that can surge when it resonates and still limit the drawdown when it stumbles. After the 2023 year re-taught leaders that lean-budget fright engines can command the national conversation, the following year extended the rally with filmmaker-forward plays and under-the-radar smashes. The upswing moved into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and elevated films proved there is a lane for several lanes, from series extensions to fresh IP that resonate abroad. The end result for 2026 is a run that seems notably aligned across the market, with purposeful groupings, a equilibrium of marquee IP and untested plays, and a tightened attention on theater exclusivity that feed downstream value on paid VOD and home platforms.

Distribution heads claim the category now behaves like a schedule utility on the schedule. The genre can kick off on many corridors, generate a sharp concept for spots and TikTok spots, and exceed norms with fans that lean in on Thursday nights and sustain through the week two if the title pays off. Following a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 setup telegraphs certainty in that setup. The year commences with a crowded January run, then exploits spring through early summer for genre counterpoints, while clearing room for a fall cadence that connects to Halloween and into early November. The calendar also highlights the increasing integration of specialty distributors and digital platforms that can stage a platform run, build word of mouth, and expand at the precise moment.

A second macro trend is brand curation across shared IP webs and legacy franchises. Studios are not just making another sequel. They are aiming to frame connection with a premium feel, whether that is a logo package that signals a tonal shift or a ensemble decision that bridges a fresh chapter to a classic era. At the simultaneously, the auteurs behind the eagerly awaited originals are doubling down on tactile craft, practical gags and place-driven backdrops. That interplay delivers the 2026 slate a robust balance of trust and newness, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

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

Paramount opens strong with two prominent releases that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, steering it as both a handoff and a foundation-forward relationship-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance conveys a nostalgia-forward campaign without going over the last two entries’ sibling arc. A campaign is expected stacked with franchise iconography, character spotlights, and a two-beat trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is big-screen 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 paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will foreground. As a summer alternative, this one will go after broad awareness through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format enabling quick switches to whatever shapes horror talk that spring.

Universal has three unique strategies. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is efficient, tragic, and logline-clear: a grieving man brings home an algorithmic mate that escalates into a perilous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a competition-heavy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to echo uncanny-valley stunts and short-form creative that interlaces attachment and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a proper title to become an earned moment closer to the early tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. His projects are sold as marquee events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a next wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor offers Universal room to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has proven that a tactile, hands-on effects treatment can feel top-tier on a disciplined budget. Look for a red-band summer horror surge that leans hard into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio launches two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, preserving a steady supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is selling as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both diehards and casuals. The fall slot offers Sony space to build materials around environmental design, and monster aesthetics, elements that can accelerate IMAX and PLF uptake and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on immersive craft and textual fidelity, this time orbiting lycan myth. The distributor has already set the date for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform tactics for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s releases feed copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ladder that elevates both FOMO and platform bumps in the late-window. Prime Video combines catalogue additions with global acquisitions and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data backs it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in archive usage, using editorial spots, genre hubs, and curated rows to lengthen the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix stays opportunistic about in-house releases and festival acquisitions, dating horror entries near launch and framing as events debuts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a two-step of targeted theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a curated basis. The platform has proven amenable to invest in select projects with established auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for retention when the genre conversation builds.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 arc with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is no-nonsense: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, elevated for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the autumn stretch.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, managing the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the December frame to widen. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-first horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception drives. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using targeted theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their audience.

Franchise entries versus originals

By count, the 2026 slate favors the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness brand equity. The risk, as ever, is staleness. The standing approach is to sell each entry as a new angle. Paramount is leading with character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a European tilt from a emerging director. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the team and cast is known enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Three-year comps outline the strategy. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that preserved streaming windows did not prevent a day-date move from paying off when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror surged in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they alter lens and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, enables marketing to cross-link entries through cast and motif and to continue assets in field without extended gaps.

How the films are being made

The director conversations behind the 2026 entries signal a continued tilt toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that leans on creep and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for textured sound and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft features before rolling out a initial teaser that leans on mood over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for red-band excess, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and produces shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta refresh that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature craft and set design, which work nicely for convention floor stunts and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel definitive. Look for trailers that accent disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats More about the author that land in premium houses.

Month-by-month map

January is busy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid headline IP. The month concludes 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 real, but the tone spread gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

February through May build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The 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 spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late summer into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder season window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited disclosures that trade in concept over detail.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s DNA. 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 sorrowing man’s algorithmic partner evolves into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: atmospheric 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 scramble to survive on a cut-off island as the control dynamic tilts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to horror, based on Cronin’s on-set craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting piece that teases the dread of a child’s unreliable read. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: finished. Positioning: major-studio and name-above-title haunting thriller.

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 satirical comeback that needles modern genre fads and true-crime More about the author buzz. Rating: to be announced. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

Evil Dead weblink Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites surges, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a young family entangled with residual nightmares. Rating: to be announced. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A new start designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on pure survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: not yet rated. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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 era-accurate language and raw menace. Rating: TBA. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 2026 lands now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces frame this lineup. First, production that eased or shuffled in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage turnkey scare beats from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will trade weekends 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 benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, 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 cost-efficient 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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

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

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, efficient screen counts, 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 surface detail, sonics, 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 Looks Exciting

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is franchise muscle where it helps, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence 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, produce clean trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the frights sell the seats.