Mythic Dread surfaces: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling horror thriller, debuting Oct 2025 across major platforms

One unnerving spiritual thriller from writer / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an primeval curse when passersby become tokens in a dark struggle. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing chronicle of struggle and timeless dread that will alter the fear genre this ghoul season. Brought to life by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and atmospheric thriller follows five lost souls who suddenly rise isolated in a wooded dwelling under the malevolent dominion of Kyra, a mysterious girl inhabited by a ancient sacrosanct terror. Ready yourself to be gripped by a filmic event that fuses bone-deep fear with biblical origins, hitting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a iconic theme in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is radically shifted when the fiends no longer appear from external sources, but rather within themselves. This suggests the haunting layer of the group. The result is a psychologically brutal spiritual tug-of-war where the tension becomes a unyielding battle between right and wrong.


In a remote backcountry, five young people find themselves cornered under the unholy aura and infestation of a secretive figure. As the characters becomes powerless to combat her manipulation, severed and pursued by evils unnamable, they are obligated to encounter their darkest emotions while the time harrowingly winds toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia builds and friendships shatter, urging each soul to reflect on their being and the integrity of decision-making itself. The risk surge with every passing moment, delivering a horror experience that harmonizes otherworldly suspense with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to dive into instinctual horror, an power that predates humanity, filtering through emotional vulnerability, and wrestling with a will that dismantles free will when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra asked for exploring something unfamiliar to reason. She is blind until the entity awakens, and that transformation is haunting because it is so emotional.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for public screening beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—providing viewers around the globe can watch this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its original promo, which has pulled in over strong viewer count.


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


Make sure to see this gripping ride through nightmares. Confront *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to face these evil-rooted truths about the mind.


For previews, on-set glimpses, and promotions from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across entertainment pages and visit the movie’s homepage.





The horror genre’s tipping point: 2025 for genre fans U.S. Slate weaves ancient-possession motifs, Indie Shockers, set against Franchise Rumbles

Running from endurance-driven terror saturated with mythic scripture all the way to series comebacks alongside keen independent perspectives, 2025 stands to become horror’s most layered along with deliberate year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. Top studios plant stakes across the year with established lines, as SVOD players saturate the fall with new voices together with mythic dread. On another front, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is carried on the carry from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Since Halloween is the prized date, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, notably this year, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are calculated, so 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s distribution arm sets the tone with a marquee bet: a refashioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, instead in a current-day frame. From director Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. Slated for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. launches the swan song of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re engages, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: throwback unease, trauma as theme, and a cold supernatural calculus. The stakes escalate here, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, thickens the animatronic pantheon, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It arrives in December, buttoning the final window.

SVOD Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

With cinemas leaning into known IP, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a body horror duet featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Also notable is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable led by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Written and helmed by 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. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

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 reads as sharp positioning. No overstuffed canon. No IP hangover. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

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 posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

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.

Signals and Trends

Mythic currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

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

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

What’s Next: Fall stack and winter swing card

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The oncoming spook lineup: follow-ups, standalone ideas, as well as A Crowded Calendar aimed at chills

Dek The arriving terror year clusters early with a January bottleneck, and then carries through summer, and straight through the holiday stretch, mixing IP strength, creative pitches, and data-minded counterweight. Studios and streamers are relying on tight budgets, cinema-first plans, and social-fueled campaigns that position genre releases into national conversation.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The genre has turned into the sturdy move in annual schedules, a corner that can accelerate when it connects and still mitigate the floor when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year showed buyers that cost-conscious horror vehicles can drive the discourse, the following year sustained momentum with visionary-driven titles and stealth successes. The run rolled into 2025, where reawakened brands and awards-minded projects underscored there is a lane for varied styles, from ongoing IP entries to original features that scale internationally. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a programming that seems notably aligned across the industry, with planned clusters, a spread of brand names and fresh ideas, and a revived attention on exclusive windows that fuel later windows on paid VOD and SVOD.

Studio leaders note the category now acts as a plug-and-play option on the distribution slate. Horror can roll out on many corridors, deliver a quick sell for creative and short-form placements, and outstrip with crowds that appear on advance nights and maintain momentum through the next weekend if the offering delivers. Exiting a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration demonstrates conviction in that approach. The calendar launches with a loaded January run, then leans on spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while keeping space for a fall corridor that carries into holiday-adjacent weekends and into the next week. The gridline also highlights the greater integration of specialty arms and subscription services that can nurture a platform play, stoke social talk, and scale up at the timely point.

Another broad trend is brand management across shared IP webs and established properties. The companies are not just releasing another entry. They are working to present ongoing narrative with a marquee sheen, whether that is a logo package that conveys a new tone or a star attachment that links a next entry to a classic era. At the in tandem, the visionaries behind the top original plays are returning to practical craft, on-set effects and vivid settings. That combination hands 2026 a robust balance of recognition and freshness, which is how the films export.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount sets the tone early with two prominent projects that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, setting it up as both a handoff and a return-to-roots relationship-driven entry. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture announces a memory-charged angle without retreading the last two entries’ sibling arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive driven by classic imagery, first images of characters, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm hitting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will play up. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will chase mass reach through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format inviting quick reframes to whatever drives the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three discrete plays. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is simple, sorrow-tinged, and logline-clear: a grieving man adopts an digital partner that turns into a fatal companion. The date slots it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s marketing likely to iterate on creepy live activations and bite-size content that threads devotion and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a proper title to become an marketing beat closer to the teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele titles are framed as signature events, with a minimalist tease and a next wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween runway offers Universal room to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a flesh-and-blood, practical-first treatment can feel elevated on a lean spend. Position this as a gore-forward summer horror shock that embraces international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio deploys two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, continuing a evergreen supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is positioning 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 explicit mandate to serve both devotees and new audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build assets around canon, and practical creature work, elements that can stoke premium booking interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books 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 built on careful craft and linguistic texture, this time orbiting have a peek at this web-site lycan myth. Focus has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is positive.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform windowing in 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s releases head to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a sequence that maximizes both FOMO and sign-up spikes in the downstream. Prime Video continues to mix licensed films with global pickups and select theatrical runs when the data supports it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library curation, using editorial spots, seasonal hubs, and collection rows to increase tail value on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps flexible about own-slate titles and festival snaps, locking in horror entries toward the drop and staging as events drops with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a one-two of targeted theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that converts WOM to subscribers. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to board select projects with acclaimed directors or name-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 arc with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is straightforward: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, recalibrated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a cinema-first plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the autumn weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday frame to broaden. That positioning has delivered for arthouse horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception drives. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using limited runs to seed evangelism that fuels their community.

IP versus fresh ideas

By count, the 2026 slate skews toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate marquee value. The question, as ever, is viewer burnout. The practical approach is to brand each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is leading with character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-tinted vision from a new voice. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a survival shocker premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the team and cast is comforting enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and preview-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the plan. In 2023, a cinema-first model that observed windows did not foreclose a day-date move from winning when the brand was big. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror rose in large-format rooms. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they alter lens and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, permits marketing to tie installments through relationships and themes and to continue assets in field without pause points.

How the look and feel evolve

The filmmaking conversations behind 2026 horror signal a continued preference for real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that foregrounds aura and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in feature stories and guild coverage before rolling out a mood teaser that leans on mood over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and spurs shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta recalibration that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature work and production design, which work nicely for fan conventions and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel irresistible. Look for trailers that accent fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that benefit on big speakers.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is busy. 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 foggy reset amid big-brand pushes. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the palette of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth carries.

Q1 into Q2 tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now nurtures 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 heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

End of summer through fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a late-September window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited previews that stress concept over spoilers.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday card usage.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s intelligent companion turns into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked 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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot 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 returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss battle to survive on a cut-off island as the chain of command upends and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal 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 kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to fear, built on Cronin’s hands-on craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting premise that refracts terror through a child’s volatile POV. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-crafted and celebrity-led ghost thriller.

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 parody return that pokes at hot-button genre motifs and true crime fixations. Rating: to be announced. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new clan snared by residual nightmares. Rating: pending. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A new start designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: TBA. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: TBD. Production: in progress. 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 period language and primordial menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three practical forces frame this lineup. First, production that paused or recalendared in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming launches. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on turnkey scare beats from test screenings, managed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will jostle across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

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 deep PLF penetration 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where value-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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, aural 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 Shapes Up Strong

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand gravity where needed, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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, cut sharp trailers, hold the mystery, and let the chills sell the seats.