Primordial Dread Stirs in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding thriller, landing October 2025 across top streamers

One frightening supernatural fear-driven tale from literary architect / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an prehistoric fear when guests become subjects in a satanic game. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing portrayal of resistance and old world terror that will alter terror storytelling this scare season. Guided by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and tone-heavy feature follows five unknowns who find themselves stranded in a off-grid cabin under the malevolent power of Kyra, a cursed figure consumed by a timeless Old Testament spirit. Brace yourself to be enthralled by a immersive adventure that fuses intense horror with mystical narratives, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a historical trope in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is twisted when the dark entities no longer emerge outside the characters, but rather inside their minds. This represents the most sinister element of these individuals. The result is a bone-chilling cognitive warzone where the narrative becomes a merciless battle between moral forces.


In a forsaken backcountry, five youths find themselves contained under the fiendish grip and possession of a secretive character. As the characters becomes unresisting to reject her grasp, marooned and hunted by spirits inconceivable, they are confronted to acknowledge their greatest panics while the hours harrowingly winds toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread intensifies and ties dissolve, prompting each person to contemplate their character and the idea of free will itself. The risk amplify with every heartbeat, delivering a chilling narrative that weaves together otherworldly suspense with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to uncover elemental fright, an threat from ancient eras, channeling itself through mental cracks, and wrestling with a curse that erodes the self when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra meant channeling something outside normal anguish. She is unseeing until the evil takes hold, and that transition is shocking because it is so personal.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for digital release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—making sure audiences internationally can dive into this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its initial teaser, which has attracted over massive response.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, presenting the nightmare to international horror buffs.


Make sure to see this unforgettable path of possession. Join *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to see these fearful discoveries about the soul.


For sneak peeks, on-set glimpses, and press updates from the creators, follow @YACFilm across fan hubs and visit our film’s homepage.





American horror’s major pivot: 2025 across markets American release plan melds legend-infused possession, signature indie scares, set against legacy-brand quakes

Kicking off with fight-to-live nightmare stories rooted in ancient scripture as well as series comebacks plus incisive indie visions, 2025 stands to become the most stratified in tandem with calculated campaign year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. top-tier distributors hold down the year using marquee IP, concurrently OTT services flood the fall with emerging auteurs alongside legend-coded dread. In the indie lane, independent banners is drafting behind the echoes from a record 2024 festival run. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, distinctly in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are exacting, hence 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal fires the first shot with a confident swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Guided by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. set for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Directed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

When summer tapers, the Warner lot bows the concluding entry within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Even with a familiar chassis, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re boards, and the tone that worked before is intact: retrograde shiver, trauma centered writing, along with eerie supernatural rules. This pass pushes higher, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The continuation widens the legend, stretches the animatronic parade, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It hits in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Platform Plays: Slim budgets, major punch

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a tight space body horror vignette pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story with Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: 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 arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

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 does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. 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.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No swollen lore. No canon weight. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Franchise Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

What to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror comes roaring back
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

What’s Next: Autumn density and winter pivot

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The oncoming chiller release year: continuations, Originals, as well as A stacked Calendar Built For chills

Dek The emerging scare year clusters early with a January bottleneck, then carries through the mid-year, and straight through the holiday stretch, mixing legacy muscle, new voices, and shrewd counterplay. Studios and streamers are committing to smart costs, box-office-first windows, and social-driven marketing that position genre releases into all-audience topics.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The horror sector has established itself as the sturdy option in studio calendars, a segment that can scale when it performs and still cushion the exposure when it stumbles. After 2023 showed buyers that cost-conscious horror vehicles can steer pop culture, the following year held pace with auteur-driven buzzy films and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam translated to the 2025 frame, where resurrections and filmmaker-prestige bets showed there is demand for a spectrum, from brand follow-ups to non-IP projects that scale internationally. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a calendar that seems notably aligned across the major shops, with planned clusters, a spread of brand names and fresh ideas, and a revived attention on exclusive windows that fuel later windows on premium rental and home platforms.

Insiders argue the space now behaves like a versatile piece on the slate. The genre can arrive on most weekends, provide a sharp concept for creative and social clips, and lead with patrons that show up on previews Thursday and return through the sophomore frame if the picture pays off. Following a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 cadence exhibits confidence in that approach. The calendar gets underway with a stacked January stretch, then targets spring into early summer for alternate plays, while holding room for a fall cadence that stretches into late October and into post-Halloween. The gridline also spotlights the ongoing integration of specialty arms and platforms that can develop over weeks, build word of mouth, and go nationwide at the optimal moment.

A second macro trend is series management across brand ecosystems and established properties. The studios are not just rolling another next film. They are looking to package connection with a sense of event, whether that is a title design that broadcasts a fresh attitude or a casting pivot that anchors a next film to a vintage era. At the same time, the creative teams behind the eagerly awaited originals are championing physical effects work, real effects and specific settings. That convergence gives the 2026 slate a strong blend of home base and unexpected turns, which is the formula for international play.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount plants an early flag with two prominent pushes that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the heart, steering it as both a lineage transfer and a DNA-forward relationship-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative stance points to a throwback-friendly angle without recycling the last two entries’ family thread. Count on a promo wave built on franchise iconography, early character teases, and a tiered teaser plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will play up. As a summer alternative, this one will pursue four-quadrant chatter through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick updates to whatever defines genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three unique strategies. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is crisp, sorrow-tinged, and concept-forward: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that shifts into a lethal partner. The date puts it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the marketing arm likely to recreate off-kilter promo beats and bite-size content that blurs companionship and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a proper title to become an event moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s pictures are presented as must-see filmmaker statements, with a hinting teaser and a second trailer wave that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date allows Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has shown that a gritty, in-camera leaning style can feel premium on a mid-range budget. Look for a hard-R summer horror shot that leans hard into offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio lines up two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, carrying a reliable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is billing as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both longtime followers and fresh viewers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build materials around setting detail, and creature builds, elements that can stoke deluxe auditorium demand and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by textural authenticity and period speech, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and Check This Out expand if early reception is glowing.

Streaming windows and tactics

Digital strategies for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s genre entries flow to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a structure that maximizes both first-week urgency and platform bumps in the later phase. Prime Video blends acquired titles with global pickups and targeted theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in catalog engagement, using seasonal hubs, horror hubs, and handpicked rows to lengthen the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix stays nimble about in-house releases and festival pickups, dating horror entries closer to launch and elevating as drops debuts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a staged of tailored theatrical exposure and prompt platform moves that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to take on select projects with established auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for sustained usage when the genre conversation spikes.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 corridor 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 pitch is tight: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, elevated for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late stretch.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday corridor to go wider. That positioning has shown results for elevated genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception prompts. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using limited runs to stir evangelism that fuels their community.

Known brands versus new stories

By share, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate household recognition. The watch-out, as ever, is brand wear. The standing approach is to present each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is leading with relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a continental coloration from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the package is recognizable enough to generate pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Three-year comps outline the approach. In 2023, a cinema-first model that preserved streaming windows did not deter a day-date move from delivering when the brand was potent. In 2024, director-craft horror popped in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they reframe POV and expand the canvas. 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, creates space for marketing to link the films through protagonists and motifs and to continue assets in field without lulls.

Creative tendencies and craft

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 entries telegraph a continued preference for material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that elevates unease and texture rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in craft journalism and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and gathers shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta pivot that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which match well with con floor moments and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel primary. Look for trailers that accent pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that shine in top rooms.

Month-by-month map

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. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid bigger brand plays. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the menu of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth carries.

Q1 into Q2 build the summer base. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The 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 underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can deliver 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 run their PLF course.

End of summer through fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a early fall window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a peekaboo tease plan and limited pre-release reveals that trade in concept over detail.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and holiday card usage.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s intelligent companion turns into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: tone-first 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 difficult boss claw to survive on a cut-off island as the control dynamic reverses and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to dread, rooted in Cronin’s on-set craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting setup that manipulates the panic of a child’s shaky read. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural 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 genre lampoon that needles in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime manias. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. 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 detonates, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new family linked to lingering terrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for pure survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: forthcoming. Production: moving forward. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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-precise speech and bone-deep menace. Rating: pending. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces drive this lineup. First, production that downshifted or recalendared in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming launches. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify bite-size scare clips from test screenings, managed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can command a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will jostle across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. 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 modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to work 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. 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.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo 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 bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, audio design, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Ready To Roar

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand gravity where needed, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the gasps sell the seats.