Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes ancient dread, a bone chilling horror feature, rolling out October 2025 across major platforms

One hair-raising spectral suspense film from narrative craftsman / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an archaic evil when guests become vehicles in a malevolent ceremony. Going live on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish journey of staying alive and age-old darkness that will redefine scare flicks this scare season. Realized by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and moody cinema piece follows five strangers who suddenly rise sealed in a unreachable cabin under the dark command of Kyra, a haunted figure inhabited by a 2,000-year-old ancient fiend. Be prepared to be immersed by a immersive ride that melds instinctive fear with ancestral stories, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a enduring theme in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is reimagined when the beings no longer originate from a different plane, but rather internally. This embodies the most primal facet of the cast. The result is a edge-of-seat spiritual tug-of-war where the events becomes a constant battle between innocence and sin.


In a unforgiving landscape, five characters find themselves imprisoned under the malevolent influence and spiritual invasion of a secretive figure. As the protagonists becomes helpless to break her dominion, isolated and preyed upon by beings beyond comprehension, they are confronted to battle their inner demons while the final hour unceasingly runs out toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia escalates and links break, pressuring each character to examine their self and the nature of volition itself. The intensity magnify with every minute, delivering a cinematic nightmare that combines spiritual fright with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to dig into instinctual horror, an entity beyond time, manipulating inner turmoil, and highlighting a spirit that dismantles free will when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra involved tapping into something beneath mortal despair. She is unseeing until the control shifts, and that evolution is bone-chilling because it is so intimate.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for horror fans beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—offering watchers no matter where they are can engage with this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its intro video, which has seen over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, giving access to the movie to scare fans abroad.


Avoid skipping this soul-jarring descent into darkness. Join *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to explore these spiritual awakenings about the mind.


For bonus footage, behind-the-scenes content, and press updates from those who lived it, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across your favorite networks and visit the official digital haunt.





American horror’s tipping point: the 2025 season U.S. lineup integrates old-world possession, microbudget gut-punches, alongside tentpole growls

Spanning pressure-cooker survival tales rooted in ancient scripture and including series comebacks alongside surgical indie voices, 2025 is coalescing into the richest along with tactically planned year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio powerhouses set cornerstones through proven series, in tandem digital services front-load the fall with new voices paired with mythic dread. At the same time, horror’s indie wing is carried on the uplift of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, and now, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are methodical, hence 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Premium genre swings back

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 set the base, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s schedule leads off the quarter with a risk-forward move: a refreshed Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a sharp contemporary setting. From director Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. timed for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Under Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer wanes, Warner’s schedule delivers the closing chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and those signature textures resurface: vintage toned fear, trauma foregrounded, along with eerie supernatural rules. This run ups the stakes, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The follow up digs further into canon, builds out the animatronic fear crew, bridging teens and legacy players. It books December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Offerings: Tight funds, wide impact

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a tight space body horror vignette starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

On the docket is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by 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 threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No heavy handed lore. No franchise baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Series Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, led by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Emerging Currents

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror retakes ground
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Badges become bargaining chips
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.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

What’s Next: Fall pileup, winter curveball

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The forthcoming 2026 fright cycle: returning titles, non-franchise titles, paired with A Crowded Calendar Built For Scares

Dek The brand-new scare cycle loads early with a January pile-up, then spreads through summer corridors, and continuing into the festive period, marrying franchise firepower, creative pitches, and well-timed counter-scheduling. Major distributors and platforms are focusing on smart costs, theater-first strategies, and social-fueled campaigns that transform these films into water-cooler talk.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror sector has solidified as the sturdy swing in distribution calendars, a corner that can grow when it connects and still hedge the losses when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year signaled to studio brass that mid-range fright engines can drive audience talk, 2024 held pace with visionary-driven titles and under-the-radar smashes. The energy flowed into the 2025 frame, where reboots and awards-minded projects highlighted there is appetite for a variety of tones, from continued chapters to original one-offs that travel well. The sum for the 2026 slate is a programming that reads highly synchronized across the major shops, with clear date clusters, a equilibrium of established brands and new pitches, and a recommitted focus on big-screen windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium digital and subscription services.

Insiders argue the category now performs as a versatile piece on the release plan. Horror can open on almost any weekend, yield a sharp concept for creative and reels, and outperform with demo groups that come out on advance nights and continue through the follow-up frame if the movie pays off. After a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 rhythm reflects conviction in that approach. The year gets underway with a stacked January band, then uses spring and early summer for audience offsets, while holding room for a late-year stretch that carries into the fright window and afterwards. The calendar also features the stronger partnership of arthouse labels and streaming partners that can stage a platform run, ignite recommendations, and broaden at the optimal moment.

A further high-level trend is series management across connected story worlds and classic IP. Major shops are not just greenlighting another installment. They are setting up continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a title treatment that signals a recalibrated tone or a ensemble decision that connects a upcoming film to a early run. At the parallel to that, the filmmakers behind the most anticipated originals are leaning into material texture, makeup and prosthetics and grounded locations. That pairing produces the 2026 slate a solid mix of familiarity and surprise, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount establishes early momentum with two centerpiece releases that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, signaling it as both a passing of the torch and a heritage-centered character-first story. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach telegraphs a heritage-honoring bent without replaying the last two entries’ sisters thread. Watch for a push built on heritage visuals, first images of characters, and a trailer cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will emphasize. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will go after wide appeal through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format permitting quick adjustments to whatever leads genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three separate strategies. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is efficient, melancholic, and concept-forward: a grieving man purchases an AI companion that turns into a harmful mate. The date puts it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the marketing arm likely to revisit uncanny live moments and micro spots that mixes attachment and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a name unveil to become an marketing beat closer to the opening teaser. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His projects are marketed as marquee events, with a teaser that reveals little and a later trailer push that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The late-October frame gives Universal room to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has shown that a flesh-and-blood, physical-effects centered style can feel cinematic on a lean spend. Look for a hard-R summer horror blast that maximizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio places two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, holding a bankable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is positioning as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both diehards and novices. The fall slot hands Sony window to build promo materials around setting detail, and creature work, elements that can accelerate premium booking interest and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on minute detail and period language, this time driven by werewolf stories. The imprint has already set the date for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is positive.

Streaming windows and tactics

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on familiar rails. The Universal horror run move to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a ladder that maximizes both debut momentum and sign-up momentum in the tail. Prime Video will mix library titles with world buys and select theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in back-catalog play, using curated hubs, October hubs, and featured rows to keep attention on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps flexible about first-party entries and festival grabs, confirming horror entries tight to release and staging as events debuts with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a one-two of selective theatrical runs and speedy platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to purchase select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-driven packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation builds.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 corridor with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is direct: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, reimagined for modern mix and grade. 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 rollout for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then deploying the year-end corridor to go wider. That positioning has paid off for filmmaker-first horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception allows. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using mini theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Series vs standalone

By share, the 2026 slate leans toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use brand equity. The watch-out, as ever, is brand erosion. The near-term solution is to position each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is elevating character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a continental coloration from a new voice. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a island-set survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the packaging is steady enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Recent-year comps frame the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept clean windows did not hamper a day-and-date experiment from working when the brand was potent. In 2024, art-forward horror hit big in premium screens. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they change perspective and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters shot in tandem, gives leeway to marketing to tie installments through cast and motif and to keep assets in-market without pause points.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 slate click site point to a continued emphasis on real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that emphasizes aura and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft journalism and artisan spotlights before rolling out a preview that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-aware reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature design and production design, which favor convention floor stunts and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel compelling. Look for trailers that highlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that work in PLF.

From winter to holidays

January is packed. 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 somber counterpoint amid heavier IP. The month ends 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 meaningful, but the palette of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Post-January through spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Back half into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a late-September window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a minimalist tease strategy and limited plot reveals that elevate concept over story.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can play the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card redemption.

Title snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s intelligent companion shifts into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss fight to survive on a rugged island as the chain of command flips and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to nightmare, founded on Cronin’s in-camera craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting piece that pipes the unease through a preteen’s uncertain point of view. Rating: pending. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A spoof revival that satirizes current genre trends and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBA. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 erupts, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new clan bound to long-buried horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A fresh restart designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward pure survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: not yet rated. 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: awaiting confirmation. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: pending. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and elemental dread. Rating: undetermined. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. 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 execution-level forces organize this lineup. First, production that slowed or shuffled in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become imp source more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work clippable moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will cluster across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 cost-efficient 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 capitalize on those pockets. 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. 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 flow and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, 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 keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, aural design, and image-making 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, Lined Up To Scare

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand equity where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of 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-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, protect the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.