Primeval Horror awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding chiller, launching October 2025 on top streamers

An haunting occult fear-driven tale from dramatist / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an long-buried malevolence when unfamiliar people become vehicles in a cursed game. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing account of survival and primeval wickedness that will reshape genre cinema this October. Guided by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and eerie screenplay follows five people who arise imprisoned in a secluded wooden structure under the aggressive power of Kyra, a mysterious girl inhabited by a prehistoric ancient fiend. Get ready to be ensnared by a visual presentation that merges soul-chilling terror with spiritual backstory, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a legendary theme in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is redefined when the malevolences no longer arise beyond the self, but rather within themselves. This marks the darkest version of the players. The result is a edge-of-seat identity crisis where the emotions becomes a unyielding tug-of-war between divinity and wickedness.


In a abandoned wilderness, five souls find themselves trapped under the unholy sway and overtake of a haunted woman. As the cast becomes unresisting to resist her influence, marooned and followed by unknowns unfathomable, they are obligated to stand before their deepest fears while the time brutally moves toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear surges and partnerships disintegrate, pushing each person to reconsider their identity and the integrity of decision-making itself. The threat rise with every tick, delivering a frightening tale that merges demonic fright with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to uncover elemental fright, an threat beyond time, operating within mental cracks, and confronting a power that dismantles free will when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra demanded embodying something outside normal anguish. She is insensitive until the takeover begins, and that evolution is haunting because it is so deep.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for streaming beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—so that households around the globe can face this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its release of trailer #1, which has been viewed over 100,000 views.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, presenting the nightmare to a worldwide audience.


Join this heart-stopping trip into the unknown. Explore *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to dive into these nightmarish insights about the human condition.


For cast commentary, special features, and press updates from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across fan hubs and visit our film’s homepage.





American horror’s major pivot: 2025 in focus stateside slate blends legend-infused possession, festival-born jolts, paired with returning-series thunder

Ranging from life-or-death fear saturated with biblical myth and including installment follow-ups paired with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is tracking to be the genre’s most multifaceted in tandem with intentionally scheduled year in ten years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. Top studios set cornerstones with established lines, while SVOD players front-load the fall with debut heat and primordial unease. In the indie lane, indie storytellers is buoyed by the afterglow of 2024’s record festival wave. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are exacting, hence 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: High-craft horror returns

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s schedule fires the first shot with a confident swing: a modernized Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, instead in a current-day frame. Guided by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. set for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Helmed by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

When summer tapers, the Warner Bros. banner drops the final chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Despite a known recipe, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Scott Derrickson returns, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: period tinged dread, trauma foregrounded, and eerie supernatural logic. This run ups the stakes, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The next entry deepens the tale, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It opens in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Plays: No Budget, No Problem

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a tight space body horror vignette with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. 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.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It looks like sharp programming. No overstuffed canon. No sequel clutter. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Brands: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, under Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trend Lines

Myth turns mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror comes roaring back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theaters are 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 stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Near Term Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The next genre lineup: returning titles, filmmaker-first projects, plus A brimming Calendar optimized for shocks

Dek: The current genre slate packs immediately with a January traffic jam, from there unfolds through peak season, and well into the winter holidays, fusing name recognition, untold stories, and data-minded counter-scheduling. Studio marketers and platforms are focusing on cost discipline, cinema-first plans, and influencer-ready assets that frame genre titles into mainstream chatter.

The genre’s posture for 2026

This category has grown into the consistent tool in programming grids, a corner that can accelerate when it connects and still protect the drag when it under-delivers. After 2023 signaled to top brass that cost-conscious fright engines can own mainstream conversation, 2024 kept energy high with filmmaker-forward plays and word-of-mouth wins. The tailwind extended into the 2025 frame, where returns and festival-grade titles demonstrated there is an opening for a variety of tones, from legacy continuations to director-led originals that perform internationally. The end result for the 2026 slate is a calendar that reads highly synchronized across the market, with defined corridors, a blend of legacy names and untested plays, and a sharpened strategy on theatrical windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium rental and home platforms.

Schedulers say the genre now serves as a plug-and-play option on the schedule. The genre can debut on virtually any date, deliver a quick sell for promo reels and platform-native cuts, and overperform with demo groups that line up on first-look nights and return through the sophomore frame if the picture satisfies. Emerging from a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 setup telegraphs comfort in that playbook. The year launches with a crowded January window, then targets spring into early summer for contrast, while holding room for a fall run that flows toward the Halloween frame and past Halloween. The layout also underscores the expanded integration of specialized imprints and OTT outlets that can develop over weeks, fuel WOM, and go nationwide at the sweet spot.

A notable top-line trend is brand strategy across shared universes and heritage properties. The companies are not just producing another continuation. They are moving to present lineage with a headline quality, whether that is a graphic identity that indicates a recalibrated tone or a casting choice that reconnects a next entry to a original cycle. At the simultaneously, the helmers behind the headline-grabbing originals are leaning into real-world builds, physical gags and specific settings. That fusion produces 2026 a solid mix of trust and discovery, which is why the genre exports well.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount plants an early flag with two centerpiece 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 position and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a succession moment and a DNA-forward character piece. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the tonal posture telegraphs a legacy-leaning mode without recycling the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Count on a promo wave centered on brand visuals, intro reveals, and a staggered trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will feature. As a summer relief option, this one will hunt four-quadrant chatter through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format inviting quick shifts to whatever defines horror talk that spring.

Universal has three unique pushes. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is efficient, tragic, and easily pitched: a grieving man sets up an synthetic partner that unfolds into a murderous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a thick month, with Universal’s team likely to iterate on strange in-person beats and snackable content that threads love and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a name unveil to become an teaser payoff closer to the debut look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. His entries are branded as director events, with a concept-forward tease and a follow-up trailer set that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot affords Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has shown that a gritty, in-camera leaning style can feel elevated on a controlled budget. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror surge that pushes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio lines up two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, holding a evergreen supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is framing as a new foundation 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 charge to serve both loyalists and novices. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign pieces around world-building, and creature effects, elements that can stoke PLF interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in historical precision and historical speech, this time circling werewolf lore. The label has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is glowing.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform plans for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s horror titles transition to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a ordering that optimizes both premiere heat and sub growth in the late-window. Prime Video stitches together library titles with global pickups and brief theater runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in back-catalog play, using editorial spots, fright rows, and handpicked rows to extend momentum on the 2026 genre total. Netflix retains agility about first-party entries and festival pickups, slotting horror entries near launch and eventizing releases with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a laddered of selective theatrical runs and fast windowing that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a situational basis. The platform has signaled readiness to acquire select projects with top-tier auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly engagement when the genre conversation ramps.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 slate with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is no-nonsense: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, recalibrated 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 theatrical rollout for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the October weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, stewarding the film through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday frame to increase reach. That positioning has shown results for prestige horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception encourages. Be ready for 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 in tandem, using boutique theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their membership.

IP versus fresh ideas

By proportion, the 2026 slate leans toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap marquee value. The challenge, as ever, is fatigue. The practical approach is to present each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is bringing forward character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-flavored turn from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the deal build is grounded enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday-night crowds.

Recent comps help explain the plan. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that preserved streaming windows did not preclude a parallel release from thriving when the brand was powerful. In 2024, auteur craft horror popped in premium screens. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they angle differently and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances 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 lensed back-to-back, creates space for marketing to interlace chapters through relationships and themes and to hold creative in the market without lulls.

Creative tendencies and craft

The craft conversations behind this year’s genre telegraph a continued turn toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that centers aura and dread rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and medieval diction, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in feature stories and craft coverage before rolling out a atmospheric tease that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and gathers shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta pivot that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster aesthetics and world-building, which favor expo activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel irresistible. Look for trailers that center hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that benefit on big speakers.

Annual flow

January is loaded. 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 brooding contrast amid big-brand pushes. The month winds down 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 stiff, but the mix of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Late winter and spring seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late-season stretch leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a slow-reveal plan and limited disclosures that elevate concept over story.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can win the holiday when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card redemption.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s digital partner turns into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 demanding boss struggle to survive on a uninhabited island as the control balance inverts and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to fright, shaped by Cronin’s physical craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 closed-door haunting narrative that explores the unease of a child’s fragile POV. Rating: TBA. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-scale and star-led supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that needles of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBD. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 global twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: have a peek here hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a different family entangled with older hauntings. Rating: TBD. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A reboot designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on true survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBA. Production: moving forward. 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-precise speech and primordial menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026 lands now

Three hands-on forces shape this lineup. First, production that paused or re-slotted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more structured 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, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage repeatable beats from test screenings, curated scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can seize a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will coexist across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where disciplined-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, soundscape, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is name recognition where it counts, creative ambition where it counts, 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, protect the mystery, and let the shocks sell the seats.