Primordial Horror stirs: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling thriller, streaming October 2025 on major streaming services

One unnerving metaphysical fear-driven tale from cinematographer / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an mythic fear when strangers become vehicles in a hellish maze. Airings begin this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking narrative of resilience and primordial malevolence that will remodel fear-driven cinema this autumn. Crafted by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and gothic film follows five unknowns who suddenly rise stranded in a remote dwelling under the aggressive sway of Kyra, a tormented girl controlled by a biblical-era Old Testament spirit. Anticipate to be enthralled by a audio-visual experience that unites visceral dread with legendary tales, unleashing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a mainstay foundation in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is turned on its head when the spirits no longer come externally, but rather deep within. This echoes the deepest dimension of each of them. The result is a psychologically brutal emotional conflict where the tension becomes a ongoing confrontation between right and wrong.


In a barren outland, five figures find themselves marooned under the sinister control and inhabitation of a obscure spirit. As the victims becomes unresisting to combat her command, abandoned and tracked by beings impossible to understand, they are thrust to deal with their deepest fears while the clock without pause runs out toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread rises and ties crack, pushing each person to reconsider their essence and the philosophy of self-determination itself. The risk grow with every heartbeat, delivering a nightmarish journey that weaves together mystical fear with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to uncover pure dread, an power from prehistory, feeding on our weaknesses, and challenging a curse that peels away humanity when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra meant evoking something beneath mortal despair. She is clueless until the control shifts, and that pivot is shocking because it is so deep.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for on-demand beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—so that audiences around the globe can be part of this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its intro video, which has gathered over 100,000 views.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, making the film to viewers around the world.


Experience this haunted journey into fear. Explore *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to survive these ghostly lessons about the psyche.


For teasers, filmmaker commentary, and insider scoops from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across fan hubs and visit youngandcursed.com.





Today’s horror tipping point: the 2025 cycle U.S. release slate fuses ancient-possession motifs, signature indie scares, in parallel with Franchise Rumbles

Moving from pressure-cooker survival tales infused with legendary theology and including IP renewals and cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 stands to become the genre’s most multifaceted along with precision-timed year in years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. top-tier distributors lay down anchors through proven series, while platform operators saturate the fall with new voices together with ancestral chills. In parallel, indie storytellers is fueled by the tailwinds of a peak 2024 circuit. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, yet in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are surgical, so 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige terror resurfaces

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s pipeline kicks off the frame with a statement play: a reimagined Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, inside today’s landscape. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. arriving mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Under Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

When summer fades, Warner’s slate rolls out the capstone from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

After that, The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re engages, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: vintage toned fear, trauma as narrative engine, and a cold supernatural calculus. The bar is raised this go, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, thickens the animatronic pantheon, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It bows in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Offerings: No Budget, No Problem

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a sealed box body horror arc anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend with Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. 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 work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and directed 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 nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. 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. That is a savvy move. No bloated canon. No continuity burden. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Series Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, with Francis Lawrence directing, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Trend Lines

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror reemerges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Season Ahead: Autumn density and winter pivot

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch 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.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The approaching genre Year Ahead: continuations, filmmaker-first projects, in tandem with A brimming Calendar Built For Scares

Dek The current terror slate stacks early with a January pile-up, after that extends through midyear, and straight through the festive period, mixing franchise firepower, inventive spins, and savvy calendar placement. Studios and platforms are focusing on mid-range economics, theatrical leads, and social-driven marketing that pivot horror entries into all-audience topics.

Where horror stands going into 2026

Horror filmmaking has turned into the sturdy tool in annual schedules, a pillar that can accelerate when it clicks and still limit the risk when it misses. After 2023 reconfirmed for strategy teams that responsibly budgeted fright engines can steer cultural conversation, the following year maintained heat with festival-darling auteurs and unexpected risers. The head of steam flowed into 2025, where revivals and prestige plays proved there is a market for multiple flavors, from brand follow-ups to standalone ideas that resonate abroad. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a schedule that appears tightly organized across the major shops, with purposeful groupings, a balance of established brands and novel angles, and a revived commitment on release windows that fuel later windows on premium video on demand and digital services.

Distribution heads claim the genre now works like a schedule utility on the rollout map. The genre can bow on many corridors, provide a tight logline for marketing and platform-native cuts, and outpace with fans that come out on preview nights and keep coming through the sophomore frame if the offering delivers. Post a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 pattern indicates assurance in that dynamic. The calendar opens with a crowded January window, then primes spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while saving space for a late-year stretch that extends to the Halloween corridor and into post-Halloween. The layout also illustrates the deeper integration of boutique distributors and digital platforms that can nurture a platform play, ignite recommendations, and scale up at the precise moment.

A parallel macro theme is IP cultivation across brand ecosystems and legacy IP. The players are not just greenlighting another continuation. They are shaping as continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title treatment that suggests a refreshed voice or a cast configuration that ties a next film to a early run. At the alongside this, the auteurs behind the marquee originals are embracing tactile craft, in-camera effects and location-forward worlds. That blend affords the 2026 slate a healthy mix of recognition and newness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

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

Paramount leads early with two centerpiece entries that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the lead, positioning the film as both a relay and a classic-mode character piece. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance points to a fan-service aware approach without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Count on a promo wave leaning on classic imagery, early character teases, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm timed to late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will foreground. As a counterweight in summer, this one will generate four-quadrant chatter through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick adjustments to whatever drives the discourse that spring.

Universal has three specific plays. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is clean, grief-rooted, and premise-first: a grieving man adopts an algorithmic mate that mutates into a lethal partner. The date slots it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s marketing likely to replay off-kilter promo beats and brief clips that hybridizes affection and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a final title to become an PR pop closer to the first look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. His entries are positioned as marquee events, with a opaque teaser and a second wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot opens a lane to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has made clear that a in-your-face, practical-effects forward aesthetic can feel top-tier on a tight budget. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror rush that centers foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio books two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, carrying a consistent supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is describing as a clean-slate approach 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 sharper mandate to serve both longtime followers and first-timers. The fall slot allows Sony to build campaign creative around narrative world, and monster craft, elements that can lift PLF interest and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by textural authenticity and historical speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. The imprint has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is strong.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform tactics for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal titles window into copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a sequence that expands both premiere heat and platform bumps in the downstream. Prime Video combines library titles with worldwide buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog discovery, using seasonal hubs, genre hubs, and staff picks to stretch the tail on the horror cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix originals and festival wins, slotting horror entries tight to release and eventizing premieres with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a paired of selective theatrical runs and swift platform pivots that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has shown a willingness to invest in select projects with top-tier auteurs or name-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation swells.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is curating a 2026 corridor with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is simple: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, refined for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has positioned a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the back half.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through select festivals if the cut is ready, then working the holiday frame to widen. That positioning has worked well for auteur horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception allows. Look for 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 together, using precision theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Franchise entries versus originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage fan equity. The concern, as ever, is viewer burnout. The workable fix is to sell each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is centering core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French sensibility from a new voice. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the packaging is assuring enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Three-year comps outline the strategy. 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 formats. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they angle differently and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters produced back-to-back, allows marketing to cross-link entries through relationships and themes and to hold creative in the market without extended gaps.

Craft and creative trends

The shop talk behind the year’s horror indicate a continued move toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that elevates atmosphere and fear rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta-horror reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature execution and sets, which lend themselves to con floor moments and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel key. Look for trailers that emphasize fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that work in PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is jammed. 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 foggy reset amid heavier IP. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam my company Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the mix of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth carries.

Late winter and spring load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The 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 sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can hit 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 worked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited pre-release reveals that elevate concept over story.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Title snapshots

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 counter a new Ghostface while the narrative returns 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 loss-struck man’s artificial companion turns into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her demanding boss fight to survive on a cut-off island as the pecking order shifts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

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


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting scenario that threads the dread through a preteen’s unreliable perspective. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A satirical comeback that riffs on hot-button genre motifs and true-crime buzz. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 surges, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new family entangled with ancient dread. Rating: TBD. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-core horror over action fireworks. Rating: pending. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: TBA. Production: underway. 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 historical diction and primordial menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a big-screen run before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 and why now

Three workable forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that eased or migrated in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on repeatable beats from test screenings, select scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will line up across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many More about the author far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 dark-horse hunt 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 left-field winner 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 smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, 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 sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, tight deployments, 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 detail, soundcraft, and cinematography 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.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is franchise muscle where it helps, filmmaker 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.