Ancient Terror Rises in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding thriller, landing October 2025 across top streamers

One bone-chilling otherworldly horror tale from author / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an timeless fear when unknowns become instruments in a satanic contest. Streaming this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving narrative of endurance and archaic horror that will reimagine scare flicks this Halloween season. Directed by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and moody tale follows five young adults who arise sealed in a cut-off dwelling under the malignant sway of Kyra, a central character possessed by a biblical-era Old Testament spirit. Get ready to be seized by a big screen presentation that fuses bone-deep fear with mystical narratives, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a time-honored trope in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is redefined when the malevolences no longer originate from elsewhere, but rather internally. This embodies the haunting corner of the protagonists. The result is a bone-chilling cognitive warzone where the narrative becomes a perpetual push-pull between innocence and sin.


In a desolate backcountry, five young people find themselves marooned under the sinister force and spiritual invasion of a uncanny woman. As the characters becomes incapacitated to fight her control, isolated and attacked by entities unimaginable, they are thrust to stand before their inner horrors while the moments relentlessly ticks toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension builds and friendships implode, driving each participant to reflect on their essence and the notion of volition itself. The risk mount with every beat, delivering a cinematic nightmare that merges supernatural terror with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to explore deep fear, an presence born of forgotten ages, operating within psychological breaks, and exposing a evil that questions who we are when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra involved tapping into something far beyond human desperation. She is unaware until the haunting manifests, and that evolution is eerie because it is so emotional.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing streamers from coast to coast can be part of this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its first preview, which has seen over 100,000 views.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, bringing the film to fans of fear everywhere.


Join this bone-rattling voyage through terror. Confront *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to survive these evil-rooted truths about the soul.


For behind-the-scenes access, on-set glimpses, and alerts directly from production, follow @YACMovie across social media and visit youngandcursed.com.





Modern horror’s Turning Point: the 2025 season American release plan Mixes myth-forward possession, microbudget gut-punches, plus series shake-ups

Moving from endurance-driven terror steeped in ancient scripture and stretching into series comebacks set beside incisive indie visions, 2025 is tracking to be the most textured as well as calculated campaign year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. the big studios lay down anchors with franchise anchors, at the same time streamers prime the fall with first-wave breakthroughs plus ancestral chills. In parallel, the art-house flank is buoyed by the carry from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The fall stretch is the proving field, but this year, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are intentional, as a result 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal Pictures opens the year with a statement play: a refashioned Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in a clear present-tense world. Steered by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. targeting mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Directed by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

By late summer, Warner’s pipeline releases the last chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re teams, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: old school creep, trauma as text, along with eerie supernatural rules. This time, the stakes are raised, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The return delves further into myth, stretches the animatronic parade, reaching teens and game grownups. It bows in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Offerings: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a room scale body horror descent fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural 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.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No overinflated mythology. No brand fatigue. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Long Running Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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

Trends Worth Watching

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

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

Streaming originals get teeth
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. 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 seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Season Ahead: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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 battle for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The 2026 Horror calendar year ahead: brand plays, filmmaker-first projects, in tandem with A stacked Calendar optimized for Scares

Dek: The arriving scare slate crams immediately with a January logjam, after that carries through the summer months, and continuing into the late-year period, marrying series momentum, inventive spins, and data-minded offsets. Distributors with platforms are embracing right-sized spends, big-screen-first runs, and shareable marketing that elevate the slate’s entries into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The field has emerged as the dependable swing in programming grids, a lane that can break out when it lands and still limit the liability when it falls short. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for decision-makers that modestly budgeted chillers can dominate social chatter, 2024 carried the beat with signature-voice projects and sleeper breakouts. The energy flowed into 2025, where revived properties and awards-minded projects underscored there is a lane for varied styles, from series extensions to non-IP projects that translate worldwide. The end result for 2026 is a run that feels more orchestrated than usual across players, with strategic blocks, a equilibrium of established brands and new concepts, and a tightened focus on cinema windows that boost PVOD and platform value on paid VOD and subscription services.

Studio leaders note the space now functions as a utility player on the slate. Horror can launch on almost any weekend, yield a grabby hook for promo reels and social clips, and outperform with demo groups that lean in on opening previews and stick through the follow-up frame if the picture lands. Post a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 layout exhibits confidence in that logic. The calendar begins with a busy January window, then uses spring and early summer for balance, while saving space for a October build that extends to late October and into early November. The calendar also underscores the stronger partnership of boutique distributors and streaming partners that can platform and widen, ignite recommendations, and move wide at the proper time.

A parallel macro theme is IP cultivation across shared IP webs and legacy franchises. Distribution groups are not just rolling another continuation. They are aiming to frame connection with a headline quality, whether that is a art treatment that telegraphs a reframed mood or a ensemble decision that links a next film to a heyday. At the parallel to that, the writer-directors behind the marquee originals are prioritizing in-camera technique, makeup and prosthetics and grounded locations. That pairing produces the 2026 slate a lively combination of known notes and unexpected turns, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount plants an early flag with two headline bets that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the spine, steering it as both a succession moment and a classic-mode character-first story. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the authorial approach points to a throwback-friendly approach without looping the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Expect a marketing push rooted in classic imagery, early character teases, and a rollout cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches 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 in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will emphasize. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will chase mainstream recognition through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format inviting quick redirects to whatever dominates the discourse that spring.

Universal has three separate projects. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is efficient, melancholic, and concept-forward: a grieving man implements an AI companion that shifts into a lethal partner. The date places it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s team likely to mirror creepy live activations and quick hits that hybridizes longing and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a official title to become an event moment closer to the debut look. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s pictures are presented as marquee events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a subsequent trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot lets the studio to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on 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 steers, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has long shown that a flesh-and-blood, prosthetic-heavy method can feel elevated on a efficient spend. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror shock that spotlights overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio mounts two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, continuing a trusty supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is calling a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both franchise faithful and novices. The fall slot gives Sony time to build assets around setting detail, and creature builds, elements that can accelerate PLF interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants 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 obsessive craft and historical speech, this time engaging werewolf myth. The label has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is robust.

Streaming windows and tactics

Digital strategies for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s horror titles move to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a pacing that optimizes both opening-weekend urgency and viewer acquisition in the post-theatrical. Prime Video combines licensed titles with cross-border buys and limited runs in theaters when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library curation, using prominent placements, genre hubs, and staff picks to keep attention on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps flexible about internal projects and festival snaps, finalizing horror entries on shorter runways and framing as events drops with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a one-two of focused cinema runs and swift platform pivots that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a per-project basis. The platform has shown a willingness to take on select projects with award winners or star packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for platform stickiness when the genre conversation peaks.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 lane with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is no-nonsense: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, retooled for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a big-screen first plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the autumn stretch.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then relying on the year-end corridor to widen. That positioning has shown results for prestige horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed 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 brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception encourages. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using limited runs to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Franchise entries versus originals

By count, the 2026 slate tips toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap legacy awareness. The caveat, as ever, is staleness. The standing approach is to brand each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is elevating character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is promising a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a Francophone tone from a emerging director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the bundle is recognizable enough to build pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

The last three-year set frame the logic. In 2023, a theater-first model that kept clean windows did not hamper a hybrid test from succeeding when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror rose in premium screens. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reframe POV and expand the canvas. 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, creates space for marketing to link the films through personae and themes and to leave creative active without dead zones.

Creative tendencies and craft

The filmmaking conversations behind 2026 horror point to a continued move toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that underscores creep and texture rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in trade spotlights and artisan spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and drives shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta-horror reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster work and world-building, which match well with fan conventions and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel must-have. Look for trailers that spotlight hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in premium houses.

Calendar cadence

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. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a foggy reset amid heftier brand moves. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the tonal variety lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Pre-summer months seed summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Late summer into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a opaque tease strategy and limited previews that favor idea over plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with More about the author care, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and card redemption.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s founding notes. 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 intelligent companion unfolds into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back 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 encounter a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: mood-led 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 tough boss struggle to survive on a uninhabited island as the control balance reverses and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to menace, anchored by Cronin’s tactile craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting piece that pipes the unease through a little one’s unreliable personal vantage. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-supported and star-fronted supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that skewers in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime manias. Rating: TBD. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites breaks out, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further widens again, with a fresh family anchored to lingering terrors. Rating: TBD. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-driven horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and raw menace. Rating: TBA. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces inform this lineup. First, production that paused or reshuffled in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and pared-down timelines. 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, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, precision scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Calendar math also matters. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will cluster across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 disciplined-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first surprise 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.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate 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 tactility, 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 Shapes Up Strong

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