Age-old Evil Returns within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked horror feature, streaming Oct 2025 on leading streamers

One chilling unearthly thriller from screenwriter / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an timeless dread when strangers become vehicles in a cursed struggle. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing chronicle of resistance and ancient evil that will alter horror this harvest season. Crafted by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and atmospheric thriller follows five individuals who awaken caught in a cut-off house under the hostile command of Kyra, a troubled woman dominated by a two-thousand-year-old sacrosanct terror. Arm yourself to be absorbed by a visual spectacle that blends bone-deep fear with biblical origins, coming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a mainstay theme in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is challenged when the presences no longer come from an outside force, but rather internally. This echoes the grimmest corner of the victims. The result is a edge-of-seat internal warfare where the emotions becomes a brutal contest between purity and corruption.


In a bleak woodland, five adults find themselves caught under the malevolent control and haunting of a obscure character. As the cast becomes submissive to evade her influence, left alone and attacked by unknowns impossible to understand, they are required to reckon with their darkest emotions while the countdown unforgivingly winds toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease surges and ties implode, coercing each individual to reconsider their essence and the nature of independent thought itself. The hazard magnify with every tick, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that intertwines mystical fear with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to extract primitive panic, an curse that predates humanity, manipulating our weaknesses, and exposing a force that threatens selfhood when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra needed manifesting something deeper than fear. She is in denial until the takeover begins, and that evolution is shocking because it is so deep.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for audiences beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—offering streamers around the globe can witness this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its intro video, which has attracted over a viral response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, spreading the horror to a worldwide audience.


Witness this mind-warping path of possession. Join *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to uncover these chilling revelations about existence.


For bonus footage, extra content, and news from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across fan hubs and visit the movie portal.





Modern horror’s major pivot: 2025 in focus U.S. release slate blends old-world possession, indie terrors, in parallel with IP aftershocks

Beginning with fight-to-live nightmare stories infused with near-Eastern lore and stretching into brand-name continuations set beside surgical indie voices, 2025 is lining up as the genre’s most multifaceted combined with tactically planned year for the modern era.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Major studios set cornerstones by way of signature titles, even as platform operators prime the fall with emerging auteurs plus old-world menace. In the indie lane, festival-forward creators is surfing the uplift of 2024’s record festival wave. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, however this time, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are surgical, as a result 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige terror resurfaces

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal lights the fuse with a marquee bet: a reconceived Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Booked into mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Led by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

When summer tapers, the Warner lot delivers the closing chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Though the outline is tried, 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.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the tone that worked before is intact: nostalgic menace, trauma driven plotting, and eerie supernatural logic. This time, the stakes are raised, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, broadens the animatronic terror cast, bridging teens and legacy players. It hits in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Firsts: No Budget, No Problem

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a body horror chamber piece featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is destined for a fall landing.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable anchored 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 narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It reads as sharp positioning. No overinflated mythology. No series drag. 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 Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Franchise Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

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. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Trend Lines

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror resurges
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

The Road Ahead: Autumn density and winter pivot

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The 2026 spook Year Ahead: Sequels, non-franchise titles, paired with A loaded Calendar aimed at nightmares

Dek The brand-new horror calendar loads early with a January glut, before it spreads through the warm months, and carrying into the festive period, combining name recognition, fresh ideas, and well-timed counterprogramming. Distributors with platforms are betting on right-sized spends, cinema-first plans, and social-fueled campaigns that convert genre releases into all-audience topics.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The genre has become the predictable counterweight in annual schedules, a segment that can accelerate when it clicks and still protect the exposure when it falls short. After the 2023 year proved to leaders that cost-conscious chillers can shape the national conversation, the following year continued the surge with festival-darling auteurs and unexpected risers. The tailwind rolled into 2025, where revived properties and festival-grade titles underscored there is space for varied styles, from franchise continuations to director-led originals that play globally. The aggregate for 2026 is a grid that is strikingly coherent across players, with planned clusters, a mix of legacy names and original hooks, and a renewed focus on exclusive windows that enhance post-theatrical value on PVOD and home streaming.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now performs as a wildcard on the distribution slate. The genre can bow on almost any weekend, offer a sharp concept for creative and social clips, and over-index with viewers that come out on Thursday nights and sustain through the follow-up frame if the title hits. After a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 mapping shows certainty in that playbook. The calendar commences with a weighty January window, then exploits spring through early summer for contrast, while clearing room for a September to October window that pushes into the Halloween frame and into the next week. The arrangement also shows the greater integration of indie distributors and streamers that can launch in limited release, spark evangelism, and broaden at the strategic time.

A companion trend is IP cultivation across linked properties and legacy franchises. The players are not just pushing another entry. They are looking to package story carry-over with a specialness, whether that is a graphic identity that announces a refreshed voice or a lead change that anchors a new entry to a early run. At the parallel to that, the writer-directors behind the high-profile originals are returning to practical craft, real effects and specific settings. That fusion produces the 2026 slate a lively combination of assurance and invention, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount marks the early tempo with two prominent pushes that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the spine, positioning the film as both a baton pass and a classic-mode character-first story. Production is active in Atlanta, and the authorial approach hints at a legacy-leaning treatment without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push rooted in heritage visuals, first images of characters, and a trailer cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will stress. As a counterweight in summer, this one will generate mass reach through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format making room for quick updates to whatever tops trend lines that spring.

Universal has three clear bets. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is straightforward, heartbroken, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man implements an algorithmic mate that unfolds into a perilous partner. The date places it at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s team likely to iterate on uncanny-valley stunts and bite-size content that blurs affection and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places 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 public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a name unveil to become an marketing beat closer to the teaser. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s pictures are positioned as director events, with a concept-forward tease and a follow-up trailer set that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The prime October weekend opens a lane to dominate 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, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has proven that a visceral, practical-effects forward mix can feel cinematic on a lean spend. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror jolt that maximizes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio deploys two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, preserving a steady supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is framing as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both loyalists and curious audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build promo materials around lore, and creature work, elements that can boost PLF interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by textural authenticity and dialect, this time driven by werewolf stories. The imprint has already set the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

How the platforms plan to play it

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on well-known grooves. The Universal horror run transition to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ordering that elevates both initial urgency and subscriber lifts in the post-theatrical. Prime Video continues to mix licensed titles with international acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in back-catalog play, using timely promos, Halloween hubs, and editorial rows to keep attention on lifetime take. Netflix stays opportunistic about Netflix films and festival additions, dating horror entries closer to drop and eventizing rollouts with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a staged of limited theatrical footprints and rapid platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a curated basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to board select projects with prestige directors or star-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 arc with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is straightforward: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, elevated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a big-screen first plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the fall weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, managing the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the year-end corridor to widen. That positioning has served the company well for filmmaker-driven genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception justifies. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using limited theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Legacy titles versus originals

By skew, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate household recognition. The caveat, as ever, is brand wear. The near-term solution is to sell each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is foregrounding character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a Francophone tone from a emerging director. Those choices register 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 marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a island-set survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the package is familiar enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

The last three-year set help explain the approach. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that kept streaming intact did not block a hybrid test from delivering when the brand was powerful. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror hit big in premium large format. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they change perspective and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters shot in tandem, permits marketing to link the films through character and theme and to leave creative active without extended gaps.

Production craft signals

The craft conversations behind 2026 horror forecast a continued turn toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that elevates creep and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and era-true language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and guild coverage before rolling out a atmospheric tease that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for red-band excess, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and creates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta-horror reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature work and production design, which work nicely for booth activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel must-have. Look for trailers that underscore surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that play in premium auditoriums.

Annual flow

January is packed. 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 atmospheric change-up amid heftier brand moves. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the palette of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Late winter and spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s 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 sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

August into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a bridge slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited advance reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card use.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s algorithmic partner turns into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back 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 be swallowed by a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 try to survive on a desolate island as the control dynamic inverts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to terror, driven by Cronin’s material craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 family-home haunting premise that teases the panic of a child’s shaky perspective. Rating: forthcoming. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A genre lampoon that teases today’s horror trends and true crime fascinations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites erupts, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new household lashed to older hauntings. Rating: to be announced. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A new start designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-driven horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: continuing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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 ancient menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: gearing up with December 25 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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026 and why now

Three workable forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-sequenced in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming placements. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest social-ready stingers from test screenings, curated scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

There is also the slotting calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can control a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will trade weekends across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where lean-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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 Source Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, right-sized allotments, 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, audio design, and framing 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

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is recognizable IP where it plays, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the fear sell the seats.