Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons ancient dread, a bone chilling horror feature, premiering Oct 2025 on top streamers

A frightening supernatural fear-driven tale from narrative craftsman / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an timeless terror when passersby become subjects in a dark experiment. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing account of continuance and old world terror that will redefine fear-driven cinema this harvest season. Produced by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and eerie thriller follows five strangers who emerge sealed in a off-grid shack under the menacing grip of Kyra, a troubled woman overtaken by a millennia-old ancient fiend. Ready yourself to be gripped by a theatrical ride that integrates bodily fright with mythic lore, dropping on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demonic control has been a long-standing theme in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is radically shifted when the dark entities no longer arise outside their bodies, but rather deep within. This mirrors the most terrifying aspect of the players. The result is a bone-chilling inner struggle where the tension becomes a soul-crushing face-off between divinity and wickedness.


In a abandoned no-man's-land, five young people find themselves sealed under the possessive presence and curse of a elusive person. As the victims becomes helpless to oppose her dominion, severed and hunted by beings unimaginable, they are obligated to wrestle with their darkest emotions while the hours mercilessly edges forward toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia grows and relationships implode, requiring each character to contemplate their values and the philosophy of autonomy itself. The tension mount with every heartbeat, delivering a paranormal ride that fuses otherworldly suspense with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to uncover instinctual horror, an spirit before modern man, influencing our weaknesses, and testing a will that forces self-examination when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra involved tapping into something beneath mortal despair. She is uninformed until the entity awakens, and that evolution is emotionally raw because it is so emotional.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for audience access beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—allowing users anywhere can survive this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first trailer, which has racked up over notable views.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, presenting the nightmare to fans of fear everywhere.


Do not miss this life-altering fall into madness. Enter *Young & Cursed* this launch day to acknowledge these terrifying truths about inner darkness.


For bonus footage, filmmaker commentary, and promotions straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Facebook and TikTok and visit the movie portal.





Current horror’s major pivot: 2025 across markets U.S. lineup blends Mythic Possession, underground frights, alongside legacy-brand quakes

Running from survivor-centric dread rooted in near-Eastern lore and stretching into brand-name continuations plus focused festival visions, 2025 is coalescing into the most complex and blueprinted year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. Major studios lay down anchors through proven series, as SVOD players flood the fall with emerging auteurs together with scriptural shivers. Across the art-house lane, horror’s indie wing is propelled by the carry from a record 2024 festival run. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The fall stretch is the proving field, and in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are intentional, therefore 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Premium genre swings back

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s pipeline lights the fuse with a big gambit: a refreshed Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, instead in a current-day frame. Under director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. arriving mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Helmed by Eli Craig anchored by 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. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer wanes, Warner’s slate delivers the closing chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re boards, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: period tinged dread, trauma driven plotting, along with eerie supernatural rules. Here the stakes rise, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, stretches the animatronic parade, reaching teens and game grownups. It posts in December, securing the winter cap.

Platform Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a close quarters body horror study pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a clever angle. No bloated mythology. No IP hangover. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Series Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, led 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.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Trends to Watch

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

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

Originals on platforms bite harder
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Projection: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

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

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The coming 2026 spook slate: follow-ups, original films, together with A brimming Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek: The arriving scare slate packs from day one with a January cluster, thereafter stretches through June and July, and running into the holidays, marrying IP strength, untold stories, and data-minded alternatives. The major players are relying on right-sized spends, cinema-first plans, and social-fueled campaigns that elevate these offerings into cross-demo moments.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

This space has solidified as the surest counterweight in studio lineups, a genre that can expand when it lands and still hedge the exposure when it falls short. After 2023 showed studio brass that responsibly budgeted genre plays can own the discourse, the following year extended the rally with filmmaker-forward plays and slow-burn breakouts. The upswing moved into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and critical darlings demonstrated there is a market for diverse approaches, from brand follow-ups to filmmaker-driven originals that carry overseas. The result for the 2026 slate is a slate that is strikingly coherent across studios, with planned clusters, a blend of established brands and novel angles, and a recommitted focus on box-office windows that fuel later windows on premium digital and streaming.

Schedulers say the horror lane now serves as a schedule utility on the rollout map. The genre can debut on a wide range of weekends, deliver a clear pitch for trailers and UGC-friendly snippets, and outstrip with patrons that arrive on Thursday nights and stay strong through the next pass if the film hits. On the heels of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 setup reflects faith in that equation. The slate opens with a stacked January schedule, then leans on spring and early summer for balance, while keeping space for a fall run that runs into late October and into early November. The grid also includes the deeper integration of indie arms and SVOD players that can launch in limited release, grow buzz, and widen at the proper time.

A reinforcing pattern is IP cultivation across unified worlds and legacy IP. Distribution groups are not just greenlighting another continuation. They are moving to present lineage with a headline quality, whether that is a graphic identity that broadcasts a new vibe or a talent selection that threads a upcoming film to a heyday. At the alongside this, the creative teams behind the top original plays are prioritizing hands-on technique, in-camera effects and specific settings. That alloy yields the 2026 slate a lively combination of familiarity and unexpected turns, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount opens strong with two prominent entries that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the front, marketing it as both a passing of the torch and a foundation-forward character study. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative posture telegraphs a classic-referencing mode without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Watch for a push driven by recognizable motifs, character previews, and a trailer cadence aimed at late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will emphasize. As a summer counter-slot, this one will go after four-quadrant chatter through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format making room for quick shifts to whatever rules horror talk that spring.

Universal has three clear projects. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is efficient, heartbroken, and high-concept: a grieving man brings home an machine companion that unfolds into a deadly partner. The date lines it up at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s team likely to recreate creepy live activations and snackable content that interlaces romance and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a official title to become an fan moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. The filmmaker’s films are positioned as filmmaker events, with a minimalist tease and a later trailer push that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date creates space for Universal to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has proven that a gnarly, on-set effects led style can feel deluxe on a mid-range budget. Position this as a viscera-heavy summer horror charge that embraces global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio sets two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, keeping a proven supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is selling as a from-the-ground-up reboot 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 well-defined brief to serve both devotees and general audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign creative around world-building, and monster aesthetics, elements that can lift premium screens and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror built on historical precision and period speech, this time focused on werewolf legend. Focus’s team has already set the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is strong.

Platform lanes and windowing

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on familiar rails. The studio’s horror films land on copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ordering that boosts both launch urgency and subscriber lifts in the late-window. Prime Video balances licensed films with worldwide entries and small theatrical windows when the data points to it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in catalog discovery, using seasonal hubs, seasonal hubs, and curated strips to keep attention on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps flexible about in-house releases and festival additions, scheduling horror entries with shorter lead times and eventizing premieres with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a two-step of focused cinema runs and short jumps to platform that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a selective basis. The platform has signaled readiness to purchase select projects with award winners or marquee packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for platform stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is putting together 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 setup is uncomplicated: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, updated for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a standard theatrical run for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the fall weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the December frame to broaden. That positioning has delivered for prestige horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception supports. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using limited runs to kindle evangelism that fuels their audience.

Legacy titles versus originals

By skew, the 2026 slate favors the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate cultural cachet. The question, as ever, is brand wear. The workable fix is to frame each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is foregrounding character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a European tilt from a rising filmmaker. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and talent-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the assembly is recognizable enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Recent-year comps contextualize the approach. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that kept streaming intact did not block a dual release from thriving when the brand was powerful. In 2024, precision craft horror over-performed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they change perspective and widen scale. 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, creates space for marketing to link the films through character spine and themes and to keep materials circulating without doldrums.

Production craft signals

The creative meetings behind the 2026 entries foreshadow a continued lean toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that underscores tone and tension rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft spotlights before rolling out a tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for red-band excess, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and earns shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta reframe that centers an original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature craft and set design, which favor con floor moments and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel compelling. Look for trailers that elevate pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in premium houses.

Annual flow

January is heavy. 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 big-brand pushes. The month concludes 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 real, but the mix of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

February through May load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reawakens 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 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a slow-reveal plan and limited previews that favor idea over plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk 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 use.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s synthetic partner unfolds into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with 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 expands the scope 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 revered infection cycle.

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 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 prickly boss fight to survive on a uninhabited island as the power dynamic tilts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to fear, based on Cronin’s tactile craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting tale that threads the dread through a child’s volatile POV. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-supported and name-above-title paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A spoof revival that riffs on present-day genre chatter and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBD. Production: principal photography see here set 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 global twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a young family caught in old terrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on classic survival-horror tone over action-centric bombast. Rating: undetermined. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBA. Production: active. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on antique diction and ancient menace. Rating: pending. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026 lands now

Three hands-on forces drive this lineup. First, production that paused or re-sequenced in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming landings. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest social-ready stingers from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Factor four is the scheduling 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 tonal lanes of horror will cluster across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, 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 sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where midrange-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 shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, 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 hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, sonics, 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.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is recognizable IP where it plays, original vision where it matters, 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.