Antediluvian Evil awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding chiller, rolling out October 2025 on major streaming services

One frightening spectral terror film from dramatist / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an primeval evil when unrelated individuals become conduits in a fiendish experiment. Hitting screens this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a intense episode of perseverance and primordial malevolence that will alter scare flicks this cool-weather season. Created by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and gothic fearfest follows five figures who are stirred locked in a isolated wooden structure under the malignant dominion of Kyra, a mysterious girl occupied by a time-worn holy text monster. Ready yourself to be absorbed by a cinematic presentation that harmonizes instinctive fear with timeless legends, dropping on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a long-standing pillar in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is turned on its head when the beings no longer originate outside their bodies, but rather from deep inside. This echoes the haunting version of each of them. The result is a harrowing moral showdown where the emotions becomes a soul-crushing fight between good and evil.


In a desolate outland, five youths find themselves contained under the ominous presence and inhabitation of a unknown woman. As the team becomes defenseless to evade her command, disconnected and tormented by creatures unimaginable, they are forced to reckon with their darkest emotions while the countdown without pause runs out toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease escalates and relationships fracture, forcing each survivor to reconsider their existence and the idea of freedom of choice itself. The pressure climb with every instant, delivering a cinematic nightmare that harmonizes mystical fear with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to dig into core terror, an force born of forgotten ages, working through emotional vulnerability, and confronting a darkness that questions who we are when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra demanded embodying something beyond human emotion. She is blind until the invasion happens, and that metamorphosis is haunting because it is so raw.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be available for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—giving subscribers internationally can watch this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its original promo, which has pulled in over massive response.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, bringing the film to thrill-seekers globally.


Make sure to see this cinematic ride through nightmares. Experience *Young & Cursed* this launch day to explore these haunting secrets about the mind.


For sneak peeks, making-of footage, and announcements from those who lived it, follow @YACMovie across social media and visit the movie portal.





Modern horror’s tipping point: calendar year 2025 U.S. lineup weaves archetypal-possession themes, indie terrors, in parallel with series shake-ups

Running from survivor-centric dread drawn from legendary theology through to canon extensions alongside acutely observed indies, 2025 is coalescing into horror’s most layered together with blueprinted year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. the big studios plant stakes across the year with familiar IP, concurrently OTT services front-load the fall with emerging auteurs together with legend-coded dread. In parallel, independent banners is carried on the momentum from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, and now, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are methodical, hence 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The majors are assertive. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s pipeline lights the fuse with a confident swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in an immediate now. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. landing in mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Guided by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. launches the swan song within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Even with a familiar chassis, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: 70s style chill, trauma as theme, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The bar is raised this go, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The continuation widens the legend, broadens the animatronic terror cast, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It lands in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streamer Exclusives: Economy, maximum dread

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a room scale body horror descent featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Also rising is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Conceived 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. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

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. 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 looks like sharp programming. No bloated mythology. No legacy baggage. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy IP: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

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

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

What to Watch

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

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

Streaming originals get teeth
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

The Road Ahead: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The coming 2026 Horror lineup: entries, filmmaker-first projects, And A brimming Calendar optimized for shocks

Dek The new terror cycle lines up from day one with a January bottleneck, and then carries through the summer months, and running into the holidays, braiding marquee clout, new voices, and savvy counterplay. Distributors with platforms are doubling down on cost discipline, big-screen-first runs, and social-fueled campaigns that turn the slate’s entries into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror momentum into 2026

Horror filmmaking has solidified as the steady lever in studio slates, a genre that can grow when it performs and still buffer the exposure when it falls short. After the 2023 year re-taught executives that efficiently budgeted shockers can steer audience talk, the following year carried the beat with auteur-driven buzzy films and sleeper breakouts. The tailwind pushed into the 2025 frame, where reboots and elevated films proved there is an opening for a variety of tones, from returning installments to filmmaker-driven originals that translate worldwide. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a lineup that feels more orchestrated than usual across players, with mapped-out bands, a combination of household franchises and new packages, and a tightened priority on theater exclusivity that drive downstream revenue on premium video on demand and SVOD.

Schedulers say the genre now functions as a schedule utility on the release plan. Horror can kick off on open real estate, furnish a simple premise for promo reels and platform-native cuts, and outperform with fans that arrive on Thursday previews and return through the subsequent weekend if the entry delivers. Exiting a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 cadence underscores assurance in that logic. The slate opens with a stacked January window, then taps spring and early summer for contrast, while clearing room for a fall run that stretches into the Halloween frame and into early November. The schedule also reflects the deeper integration of arthouse labels and digital platforms that can grow from platform, build word of mouth, and widen at the optimal moment.

Another broad trend is brand management across shared universes and legacy franchises. The studios are not just making another sequel. They are seeking to position ongoing narrative with a premium feel, whether that is a typeface approach that telegraphs a recalibrated tone or a casting pivot that reconnects a upcoming film to a foundational era. At the same time, the visionaries behind the high-profile originals are returning to on-set craft, special makeup and vivid settings. That pairing gives the 2026 slate a robust balance of home base and invention, which is how the films export.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount defines the early cadence with two high-profile plays that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the focus, marketing it as both a baton pass and a heritage-centered character-first story. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the creative stance points to a nostalgia-forward campaign without looping the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign built on signature symbols, character previews, and a two-beat trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also resurrects 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 as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will lean on. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will pursue general-audience talk through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format supporting quick reframes to whatever drives the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three clear projects. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is efficient, soulful, and commercial: a grieving man purchases an digital partner that evolves into a perilous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a front-loaded month, with the Universal machine likely to recreate viral uncanny stunts and short reels that mixes intimacy and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a proper title to become an marketing beat closer to the first trailer. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. The filmmaker’s films are treated as signature events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second trailer wave that signal tone without plot the concept. The prime October weekend offers Universal room to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a flesh-and-blood, in-camera leaning aesthetic can feel top-tier on a controlled budget. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror hit that leans into international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio sets two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, holding a steady supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is framing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both players and casuals. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign pieces around lore, and practical creature work, elements that can drive IMAX and PLF uptake and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror defined by obsessive craft and historical speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. The label has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform tactics for 2026 run on predictable routes. The Universal horror run transition to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a pacing that optimizes both first-week urgency and viewer acquisition in the after-window. Prime Video continues to mix third-party pickups with cross-border buys and small theatrical windows when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu movies lean on their strengths in back-catalog play, using seasonal hubs, horror hubs, and staff picks to prolong the run on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix films and festival deals, scheduling horror entries toward the drop and coalescing around releases with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a laddered of limited theatrical footprints and fast windowing that translates talk to trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to purchase select projects with recognized filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 arc with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is no-nonsense: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, elevated for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a cinema-first plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late stretch.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then working the December frame to increase reach. That positioning has paid off for arthouse horror with mainstream crossovers. 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 plausible forecast is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception encourages. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using targeted theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By number, 2026 leans toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit franchise value. The caveat, as ever, is overexposure. The operating solution is to package each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is underscoring core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-inflected take from a fresh helmer. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the packaging is assuring enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

The last three-year set help explain the template. In 2023, a exclusive window model that maintained windows did not obstruct a same-day experiment from winning when the brand was powerful. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror punched above its weight in premium screens. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they alter lens and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances 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 filmed consecutively, provides the means for marketing to thread films through character arcs and themes and to hold creative in the market without dead zones.

Production craft signals

The craft rooms behind this slate forecast a continued preference for hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that foregrounds grain and menace rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and technical spotlights before rolling out a teaser that withholds plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and produces shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-aware reset that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster work and world-building, which match well with convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel irresistible. Look for trailers that accent razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that shine in top rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is full. 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 somber counterpoint amid heftier brand moves. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the menu of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Late Q1 and spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now backs 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 underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Shoulder season into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a late-September window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a minimalist tease strategy and limited information drops that lean on concept not plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s machine mate becomes something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a shifting 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 difficult boss claw to survive on a desolate island as the control dynamic upends and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to nightmare, grounded in Cronin’s hands-on craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 closed-door haunting setup that leverages the chill of a child’s fragile read. Rating: pending. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-built and toplined occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A parody return that needles modern genre fads and true crime preoccupations. Rating: to be announced. 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 transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a unlucky family anchored to past horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survivalist horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on antique diction and bone-deep menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: gearing up with December 25 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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why this year, why now

Three hands-on forces organize this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or re-sequenced in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on bite-size scare clips from test screenings, precision scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Calendar math also matters. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will trade weekends across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for 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 low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first 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. Anticipate a robust 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.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sonics, and camera work 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 Promising 2026

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand power where it counts, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the shocks sell the seats.