Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes ancient dread, a spine tingling feature, landing October 2025 across major streaming services

This eerie supernatural thriller from writer / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an ancient malevolence when strangers become puppets in a demonic experiment. Going live October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking depiction of overcoming and forgotten curse that will revolutionize fear-driven cinema this spooky time. Visualized by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and gothic suspense flick follows five unacquainted souls who arise stranded in a secluded shelter under the malevolent sway of Kyra, a cursed figure occupied by a time-worn religious nightmare. Be warned to be gripped by a narrative adventure that integrates intense horror with ancestral stories, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a mainstay theme in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is reimagined when the spirits no longer originate from beyond, but rather deep within. This portrays the malevolent dimension of all involved. The result is a emotionally raw emotional conflict where the suspense becomes a merciless fight between heaven and hell.


In a unforgiving natural abyss, five souls find themselves sealed under the malevolent influence and curse of a haunted character. As the characters becomes submissive to deny her control, stranded and tracked by evils impossible to understand, they are forced to stand before their worst nightmares while the doomsday meter ruthlessly draws closer toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear amplifies and bonds splinter, pressuring each cast member to reconsider their true nature and the philosophy of decision-making itself. The risk amplify with every tick, delivering a fear-soaked story that intertwines ghostly evil with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to tap into core terror, an evil beyond recorded history, operating within mental cracks, and challenging a force that questions who we are when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra meant evoking something more primal than sorrow. She is unseeing until the invasion happens, and that transition is gut-wrenching because it is so intimate.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for horror fans beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing users around the globe can face this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its original promo, which has seen over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, making the film to fans of fear everywhere.


Avoid skipping this gripping ride through nightmares. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to explore these terrifying truths about the mind.


For bonus footage, director cuts, and reveals straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACFilm across media channels and visit the movie portal.





American horror’s decisive shift: 2025 across markets U.S. lineup braids together old-world possession, signature indie scares, and Franchise Rumbles

Running from survival horror saturated with scriptural legend and extending to legacy revivals set beside acutely observed indies, 2025 is coalescing into the most textured combined with carefully orchestrated year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. top-tier distributors hold down the year using marquee IP, in parallel streaming platforms load up the fall with unboxed visions paired with scriptural shivers. On the independent axis, the independent cohort is catching the momentum of 2024’s record festival wave. As Halloween stays the prime week, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The fall stretch is the proving field, distinctly in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are calculated, so 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Premium genre swings back

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s schedule opens the year with a marquee bet: a refashioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a modern-day environment. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. dated for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Led by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

At summer’s close, Warner’s slate unveils the final movement from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re engages, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: period tinged dread, trauma centered writing, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The ante is higher this round, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, builds out the animatronic fear crew, courting teens and the thirty something base. It arrives in December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Plays: Economy, maximum dread

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a body horror duet starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn led by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is an astute call. No overstuffed canon. No sequel clutter. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge 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. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans 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.

Franchise Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

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

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

Trend Lines

Myth turns mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to 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 reemerges
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Forward View: Fall crush plus winter X factor

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The approaching fright cycle: follow-ups, fresh concepts, paired with A jammed Calendar Built For shocks

Dek: The current horror year lines up from day one with a January crush, from there stretches through June and July, and straight through the holidays, mixing series momentum, new concepts, and calculated counter-scheduling. Major distributors and platforms are prioritizing lean spends, theatrical exclusivity first, and platform-native promos that position genre releases into national conversation.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This space has become the steady option in studio calendars, a lane that can expand when it lands and still buffer the downside when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year signaled to buyers that lean-budget genre plays can dominate the national conversation, the following year continued the surge with visionary-driven titles and word-of-mouth wins. The trend fed into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and awards-minded projects signaled there is appetite for several lanes, from sequel tracks to filmmaker-driven originals that play globally. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a grid that looks unusually coordinated across the market, with intentional bunching, a blend of known properties and original hooks, and a re-energized emphasis on cinema windows that fuel later windows on premium home window and home platforms.

Insiders argue the genre now behaves like a utility player on the calendar. Horror can premiere on most weekends, deliver a clean hook for promo reels and social clips, and lead with audiences that line up on opening previews and hold through the sophomore frame if the movie works. Exiting a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 rhythm demonstrates faith in that equation. The calendar launches with a thick January window, then exploits spring through early summer for counterweight, while making space for a September to October window that reaches into Halloween and beyond. The arrangement also underscores the stronger partnership of boutique distributors and home platforms that can stage a platform run, generate chatter, and move wide at the inflection point.

A further high-level trend is series management across shared universes and classic IP. Studios are not just producing another continuation. They are working to present threaded continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a typeface approach that broadcasts a recalibrated tone or a casting pivot that binds a fresh chapter to a foundational era. At the in tandem, the writer-directors behind the top original plays are prioritizing on-set craft, physical gags and place-driven backdrops. That fusion gives the 2026 slate a vital pairing of recognition and unexpected turns, which is the formula for international play.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount sets the tone early with two high-profile pushes that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a succession moment and a DNA-forward relationship-driven entry. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach indicates a roots-evoking bent without replaying the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Expect a marketing push stacked with heritage visuals, intro reveals, and a tiered teaser plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will foreground. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will drive broad awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format making room for quick turns to whatever shapes trend lines that spring.

Universal has three differentiated plays. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is crisp, somber, and concept-forward: a grieving man sets up an intelligent companion that escalates into a fatal companion. The date lines it up at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s promo team likely to replay off-kilter promo beats and snackable content that melds devotion and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a official title to become an marketing beat closer to the opening teaser. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Capping 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 treated as signature events, with a mystery-first teaser and a next wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The Halloween runway gives Universal room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has demonstrated that a tactile, on-set effects led mix can feel prestige on a controlled budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror shock that leans hard into global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio sets two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, extending a bankable supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is marketing as a new foundation 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 directive to serve both longtime followers and casuals. The fall slot affords Sony time to build assets around world-building, and creature work, elements that can accelerate premium format interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by minute detail and language, this time steeped in lycan lore. Focus has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is robust.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform tactics for 2026 run on stable tracks. The studio’s horror films flow to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a sequence that expands both opening-weekend urgency and trial spikes in the post-theatrical. Prime Video blends library titles with global acquisitions and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in archive usage, using featured rows, seasonal hubs, and curated strips to sustain interest on the horror cume. Netflix retains agility about in-house releases and festival grabs, securing horror entries closer to launch and coalescing around drops with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a dual-phase of selective theatrical runs and rapid platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a curated basis. The platform has shown a willingness to purchase select projects with established auteurs or name-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for platform stickiness when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is curating a 2026 runway with two brand-forward moves. 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 brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, reimagined for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a theatrical rollout for the title, an positive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the autumn stretch.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, guiding the film through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday corridor to go wider. That positioning has been successful for director-led genre with award possibilities. 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 plausible forecast is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception justifies. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using select theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By volume, the 2026 slate skews toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit marquee value. The question, as ever, is staleness. The standing approach is to present each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is emphasizing character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a European tilt from a new voice. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a crash-survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the assembly is comforting enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Past-three-year patterns announce the template. In 2023, a exclusive window model that preserved streaming windows did not stop a day-and-date experiment from thriving when the brand was trusted. In 2024, auteur craft horror over-performed in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel renewed 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 two-film strategy, with chapters lensed sequentially, allows marketing to bridge entries through character web and themes and to keep assets alive without long breaks.

Creative tendencies and craft

The shop talk behind the upcoming entries suggest a continued move toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that centers mood and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric 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 built for red-band excess, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and sparks shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta recalibration that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature craft and set design, which match well with convention floor stunts and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that accent hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that play in premium auditoriums.

How the year maps out

January is heavy. 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 marquee brands. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the spread of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth endures.

Pre-summer months set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

August and September into October leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited plot reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card use.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genetic code. 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 mutates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. 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 severe boss scramble to survive on a isolated island as the control dynamic tilts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to menace, founded on Cronin’s practical craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting chiller that frames the panic through a youngster’s unreliable point of view. movies Rating: TBD. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed and A-list fronted paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that needles today’s horror trends and true-crime manias. Rating: not yet rated. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 flares, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new household tethered to past horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on true survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: to be announced. Production: ongoing. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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 era-accurate language and elemental dread. Rating: TBD. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 lands now

Three hands-on forces frame this lineup. First, production that stalled or recalendared in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Calendar math also matters. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will jostle across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where 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 leverage those opportunities. 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 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 journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two 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 somber, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to 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 tactility, soundcraft, and cinematography 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 Looks Exciting

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is IP strength where it matters, filmmaker 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the fear sell the seats.