Mythic Horror Awakens in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on major streaming services

This frightening spectral scare-fest from screenwriter / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an mythic entity when drifters become conduits in a demonic game. Debuting October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish chronicle of overcoming and ancient evil that will resculpt fear-driven cinema this fall. Guided by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and atmospheric story follows five strangers who are stirred confined in a far-off house under the malignant influence of Kyra, a female presence possessed by a antiquated holy text monster. Anticipate to be gripped by a screen-based adventure that harmonizes bone-deep fear with mythic lore, hitting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a iconic motif in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is radically shifted when the beings no longer come outside the characters, but rather from their psyche. This embodies the shadowy corner of each of them. The result is a enthralling identity crisis where the plotline becomes a unforgiving struggle between virtue and vice.


In a forsaken woodland, five adults find themselves confined under the evil force and infestation of a enigmatic character. As the companions becomes paralyzed to reject her influence, abandoned and targeted by powers inconceivable, they are obligated to acknowledge their inner demons while the hours without pause counts down toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear intensifies and ties implode, forcing each survivor to doubt their existence and the concept of autonomy itself. The risk escalate with every instant, delivering a cinematic nightmare that merges mystical fear with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to dig into primal fear, an curse beyond time, feeding on soul-level flaws, and navigating a evil that forces self-examination when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra meant channeling something darker than pain. She is in denial until the control shifts, and that turn is eerie because it is so close.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for viewing beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—making sure audiences around the globe can be part of this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its first trailer, which has gathered over strong viewer count.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, taking the terror to international horror buffs.


Avoid skipping this heart-stopping journey into fear. Face *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to acknowledge these ghostly lessons about the soul.


For bonus footage, extra content, and reveals from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACFilm across your socials and visit our horror hub.





U.S. horror’s decisive shift: 2025 for genre fans U.S. release slate fuses Mythic Possession, independent shockers, alongside series shake-ups

Running from survival horror steeped in biblical myth and onward to franchise returns paired with pointed art-house angles, 2025 appears poised to be the most stratified together with tactically planned year since the mid-2010s.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. Major studios hold down the year with known properties, concurrently premium streamers stack the fall with discovery plays as well as ancestral chills. On another front, the art-house flank is surfing the momentum of 2024’s record festival wave. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, yet in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are intentional, therefore 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige terror resurfaces

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 accelerates.

the Universal banner leads off the quarter with a headline swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a sharp contemporary setting. Under director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. dated for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Steered by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer wanes, Warner’s slate rolls out the capstone of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the tone that worked before is intact: period tinged dread, trauma in the foreground, and a cold supernatural calculus. This pass pushes higher, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The new chapter enriches the lore, broadens the animatronic terror cast, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It arrives in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn with Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is a calculated bet. No overstuffed canon. No brand fatigue. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. 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, guided by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

What to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror comes roaring back
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
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.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The upcoming fright release year: installments, standalone ideas, together with A stacked Calendar designed for goosebumps

Dek The upcoming terror cycle stacks early with a January pile-up, from there runs through June and July, and well into the late-year period, braiding franchise firepower, untold stories, and savvy calendar placement. The major players are focusing on smart costs, theatrical exclusivity first, and influencer-ready assets that convert the slate’s entries into mainstream chatter.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror has shown itself to be the predictable counterweight in annual schedules, a lane that can spike when it lands and still protect the drawdown when it stumbles. After the 2023 year proved to decision-makers that modestly budgeted scare machines can dominate social chatter, the following year continued the surge with director-led heat and unexpected risers. The head of steam fed into 2025, where legacy revivals and premium-leaning entries demonstrated there is a lane for many shades, from ongoing IP entries to standalone ideas that export nicely. The sum for 2026 is a grid that shows rare alignment across companies, with defined corridors, a balance of brand names and first-time concepts, and a sharpened commitment on release windows that feed downstream value on premium video on demand and platforms.

Studio leaders note the space now performs as a fill-in ace on the release plan. Horror can roll out on open real estate, create a grabby hook for spots and TikTok spots, and outstrip with patrons that arrive on first-look nights and continue through the next weekend if the feature hits. Coming out of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 cadence underscores belief in that setup. The year commences with a loaded January block, then plants flags in spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while making space for a fall cadence that stretches into holiday-adjacent weekends and past the holiday. The arrangement also reflects the tightening integration of specialty arms and home platforms that can platform a title, grow buzz, and expand at the optimal moment.

A notable top-line trend is legacy care across ongoing universes and heritage properties. Studio teams are not just pushing another chapter. They are trying to present ongoing narrative with a specialness, whether that is a title treatment that conveys a reframed mood or a cast configuration that links a this contact form upcoming film to a heyday. At the in tandem, the helmers behind the top original plays are returning to hands-on technique, practical effects and distinct locales. That fusion gives 2026 a solid mix of familiarity and surprise, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount opens strong with two front-of-slate projects that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the center, angling it as both a succession moment and a origin-leaning character-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach suggests a legacy-leaning treatment without rehashing the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Watch for a push leaning on classic imagery, first-look character reveals, and a rollout cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will emphasize. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will pursue general-audience talk through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format fitting quick updates to whatever leads trend lines that spring.

Universal has three clear lanes. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tidy, soulful, and big-hook: a grieving man implements an intelligent companion that escalates into a harmful mate. The date nudges it to the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to reprise viral uncanny stunts and snackable content that threads love and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a title reveal to become an fan moment closer to the first look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele titles are positioned as auteur events, with a concept-forward tease and a later trailer push that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-October frame lets the studio to take 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, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has consistently shown that a flesh-and-blood, hands-on effects treatment can feel deluxe on a tight budget. Position this as a blood-and-grime summer horror charge that centers international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio launches two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, holding a evergreen supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is calling a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both fans and curious audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build campaign creative around universe detail, and monster design, elements that can increase format premiums and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by immersive craft and period language, this time focused on werewolf legend. Focus Features has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is supportive.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform strategies for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s genre entries flow to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a structure that fortifies both first-week urgency and viewer acquisition in the late-window. Prime Video stitches together library titles with cross-border buys and limited cinema engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in deep cuts, using well-timed internal promotions, spooky hubs, and handpicked rows to maximize the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix plays opportunist about Netflix films and festival deals, securing horror entries closer to launch and eventizing drops with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a staged of tailored theatrical exposure and rapid platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has shown a willingness to invest in select projects with accomplished filmmakers or A-list packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for monthly activity when the genre conversation intensifies.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 slate with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is uncomplicated: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, modernized for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical-first plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the October weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday dates to broaden. That positioning has worked well for auteur horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception allows. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using limited runs to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Franchise entries versus originals

By tilt, the 2026 slate leans toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness cultural cachet. The risk, as ever, is staleness. The standing approach is to present each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is centering character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is promising a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-flavored turn from a hot helmer. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the assembly is anchored enough to drive advance ticketing and advance-audience nights.

Past-three-year patterns frame the approach. In 2023, a cinema-first model that honored streaming windows did not deter a simultaneous release test from hitting when the brand was big. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror exceeded expectations in PLF. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they pivot perspective and raise the stakes. 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 double feature plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, creates space for marketing to thread films through personae and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without pause points.

Creative tendencies and craft

The creative meetings behind the year’s horror signal a continued shift toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that foregrounds creep and texture rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop 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 craft spotlights before rolling out a tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and generates shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta recalibration that centers its original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature design and production design, which fit with convention floor stunts and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel definitive. Look for trailers that emphasize pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that land in premium houses.

From winter to holidays

January is stacked. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid headline IP. The month closes 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 carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

Late Q1 and spring prime the summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The 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 light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

August and September into October leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a bridge slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a peekaboo tease plan and limited plot reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and holiday card usage.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s digital partner escalates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a mutable 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 hard-edged boss scramble to survive on a lonely island as the power balance of power swivels and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: A-list survival chiller 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 from-today rework that returns the monster to terror, rooted in Cronin’s tactile craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting story that frames the panic through a preteen’s wavering subjective lens. Rating: pending. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-supported and star-led supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that riffs on contemporary horror memes and true crime fixations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: principal photography set for 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 spreads, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new household entangled with residual nightmares. Rating: TBD. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: to be announced. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: closely held. Rating: not yet rated. Production: active. 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 time-true diction and primal menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why this year, why now

Three workable forces shape this lineup. First, production that downshifted or shuffled in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and accelerated 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 surpassed straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate clippable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

There is also the slotting calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will cluster across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where lower and mid-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 sleeper overperformer 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing 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 chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, aural design, 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 Is Well Positioned

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand power where it counts, creative ambition where it counts, 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the scares sell the seats.