Mythic Dread stirs: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling shocker, launching October 2025 on major streaming services

A eerie ghostly fear-driven tale from author / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an ancient fear when unfamiliar people become proxies in a fiendish ordeal. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing chronicle of survival and primeval wickedness that will redefine genre cinema this cool-weather season. Crafted by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and eerie feature follows five unknowns who snap to ensnared in a off-grid lodge under the menacing power of Kyra, a haunted figure haunted by a time-worn sacrosanct terror. Prepare to be immersed by a big screen adventure that harmonizes intense horror with timeless legends, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a time-honored element in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is twisted when the dark entities no longer manifest from an outside force, but rather internally. This suggests the most sinister shade of the cast. The result is a enthralling emotional conflict where the intensity becomes a unforgiving push-pull between good and evil.


In a haunting landscape, five souls find themselves confined under the malicious influence and grasp of a mysterious being. As the ensemble becomes submissive to fight her influence, exiled and stalked by evils inconceivable, they are obligated to stand before their greatest panics while the clock unforgivingly strikes toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread swells and alliances erode, requiring each member to contemplate their personhood and the idea of freedom of choice itself. The tension mount with every breath, delivering a paranormal ride that marries otherworldly suspense with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to extract basic terror, an power beyond time, emerging via our weaknesses, and testing a spirit that threatens selfhood when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra needed manifesting something past sanity. She is uninformed until the demon emerges, and that shift is shocking because it is so close.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for on-demand beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—giving users around the globe can enjoy this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its intro video, which has racked up over strong viewer count.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, bringing the film to global fright lovers.


Join this mind-warping descent into darkness. Confront *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to acknowledge these unholy truths about existence.


For featurettes, filmmaker commentary, and press updates from the cast and crew, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across entertainment pages and visit our film’s homepage.





Contemporary horror’s tipping point: 2025 for genre fans stateside slate Mixes archetypal-possession themes, festival-born jolts, in parallel with IP aftershocks

Moving from life-or-death fear drawn from primordial scripture through to series comebacks in concert with surgical indie voices, 2025 is emerging as the most variegated as well as calculated campaign year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. top-tier distributors hold down the year with known properties, in parallel streaming platforms load up the fall with new voices as well as legend-coded dread. In parallel, the artisan tier is surfing the afterglow from a record 2024 festival run. As Halloween stays the prime week, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, though in this cycle, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are precise, thus 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige terror resurfaces

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal opens the year with a risk-forward move: a reconceived Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in an immediate now. Directed by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. targeting mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Steered by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with 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. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

When summer tapers, Warner’s pipeline drops the final chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Even if the pattern is recognizable, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: period tinged dread, trauma as narrative engine, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time, the stakes are raised, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, builds out the animatronic fear crew, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It hits in December, holding the cold season’s end.

SVOD Originals: No Budget, No Problem

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a two hander body horror spiral featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

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.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Conceived and directed 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within 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. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

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, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Series Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. 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.

Dials to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror ascends again
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Near Term Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

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. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The coming 2026 chiller release year: brand plays, universe starters, plus A loaded Calendar engineered for frights

Dek The brand-new scare season lines up right away with a January glut, thereafter rolls through summer, and carrying into the holiday frame, braiding brand heft, new voices, and savvy counterplay. Major distributors and platforms are doubling down on cost discipline, big-screen-first runs, and social-fueled campaigns that position genre releases into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This space has turned into the predictable move in studio calendars, a lane that can expand when it resonates and still mitigate the risk when it fails to connect. After 2023 reminded leaders that lean-budget fright engines can steer cultural conversation, the following year continued the surge with signature-voice projects and slow-burn breakouts. The upswing flowed into 2025, where legacy revivals and filmmaker-prestige bets underscored there is appetite for diverse approaches, from brand follow-ups to standalone ideas that travel well. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a roster that seems notably aligned across the field, with intentional bunching, a balance of marquee IP and new packages, and a recommitted stance on theatrical windows that power the aftermarket on premium rental and home streaming.

Schedulers say the category now serves as a wildcard on the rollout map. Horror can launch on virtually any date, offer a quick sell for teasers and TikTok spots, and exceed norms with demo groups that show up on first-look nights and maintain momentum through the subsequent weekend if the feature satisfies. Exiting a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 rhythm indicates faith in that equation. The slate kicks off with a thick January run, then turns to spring and early summer for audience offsets, while making space for a October build that flows toward the Halloween corridor and afterwards. The grid also features the stronger partnership of arthouse labels and digital platforms that can launch in limited release, build word of mouth, and scale up at the optimal moment.

A parallel macro theme is franchise tending across unified worlds and long-running brands. The companies are not just releasing another next film. They are setting up brand continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a typeface approach that suggests a re-angled tone or a casting move that ties a latest entry to a initial period. At the concurrently, the directors behind the most watched originals are leaning into material texture, real effects and distinct locales. That pairing delivers 2026 a healthy mix of trust and newness, which is how the films export.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount defines the early cadence with two big-ticket projects that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the focus, angling it as both a passing of the torch and a heritage-centered character-centered film. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the creative posture signals a throwback-friendly mode without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Watch for a push driven by heritage visuals, early character teases, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm targeting late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will spotlight. As a summer relief option, this one will chase general-audience talk through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format allowing quick redirects to whatever owns genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three discrete strategies. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is tidy, melancholic, and commercial: a grieving man implements an artificial companion that unfolds into a perilous partner. The date slots it at the front of a heavy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to renew odd public stunts and brief clips that melds love and unease.

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 leaves room for a official title to become an fan moment closer to the teaser. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s pictures are set up as event films, with a opaque teaser and a second wave of trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-October frame offers Universal room to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. this content The franchise has demonstrated that a gritty, in-camera leaning mix can feel cinematic on a lean spend. Frame it as a gore-forward summer horror rush that pushes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio launches two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, sustaining a evergreen supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is calling a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both devotees and first-timers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build artifacts around environmental design, and creature builds, elements that can lift large-format demand 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 extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by textural authenticity and dialect, this time set against lycan legends. The company has already set the date for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is robust.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform tactics for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s releases shift to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a tiered path that optimizes both debut momentum and sign-up spikes in the late-window. Prime Video will mix licensed content with global acquisitions and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library pulls, using editorial spots, fright rows, and programmed rows to keep attention on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps flexible about internal projects and festival grabs, timing horror entries toward the drop and positioning as event drops rollouts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a dual-phase of selective theatrical runs and speedy platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a per-project basis. The platform has been willing to invest in select projects with acclaimed directors or star-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation swells.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is curating a 2026 lane with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is simple: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, refined for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a theatrical-first plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, stewarding the film through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday frame to open out. That positioning has worked well for craft-driven horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception supports. Expect 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 as partners, using mini theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subs.

Legacy titles versus originals

By weight, 2026 tilts in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness legacy awareness. The question, as ever, is fatigue. The standing approach is to pitch each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is underscoring core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is floating a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a European tilt from a emerging director. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the packaging is comforting enough to generate pre-sales and early previews.

Recent-year comps illuminate the approach. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that kept streaming intact did not foreclose a same-day experiment from winning when the brand was strong. In 2024, auteur craft horror punched above its weight in premium screens. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they shift POV and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters shot consecutively, provides the means for marketing to connect the chapters through relationships and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without hiatuses.

How the films are being made

The craft rooms behind this slate point to a continued shift toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that elevates aura and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and medieval diction, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in trade spotlights and artisan spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and gathers shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a self-aware reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature craft and set design, which work nicely for convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel essential. Look for trailers that center fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in premium houses.

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 moody palate cleanser amid headline IP. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the palette of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Q1 into Q2 prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Back half into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a tease-and-hold strategy and limited previews that prioritize concept over plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card spend.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s AI companion evolves into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked 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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 hard-edged boss claw to survive on a isolated island as the hierarchy turns and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to dread, anchored by Cronin’s tactile craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting piece that mediates the fear via a preteen’s unsteady point of view. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A satirical comeback that needles modern genre fads and true crime preoccupations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a unlucky family snared by residual nightmares. Rating: to be announced. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-driven horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: to be announced. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: moving forward. 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 period-specific language and primordial menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three operational forces shape this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or re-sequenced in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming releases. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on social-ready stingers from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

There is also the slotting calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will line up across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where modest-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 quiet breakout 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, 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 fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with 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 justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, aural design, and visuals 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, Ready To Roar

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is IP strength where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, hold the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.