Age-old Evil Emerges within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled horror feature, premiering Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

A bone-chilling occult thriller from dramatist / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an age-old force when foreigners become tools in a satanic ritual. Going live October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving account of staying alive and forgotten curse that will alter scare flicks this autumn. Created by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and atmospheric screenplay follows five lost souls who come to imprisoned in a remote hideaway under the ominous will of Kyra, a troubled woman controlled by a 2,000-year-old ancient fiend. Be prepared to be hooked by a theatrical presentation that harmonizes bone-deep fear with arcane tradition, streaming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a historical element in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is twisted when the entities no longer come from a different plane, but rather internally. This depicts the grimmest dimension of the players. The result is a riveting inner struggle where the intensity becomes a ongoing battle between heaven and hell.


In a unforgiving landscape, five souls find themselves stuck under the unholy aura and grasp of a secretive spirit. As the victims becomes incapacitated to combat her grasp, disconnected and attacked by terrors ungraspable, they are confronted to stand before their inner horrors while the moments unceasingly winds toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension grows and relationships erode, pressuring each person to reflect on their existence and the nature of personal agency itself. The danger climb with every breath, delivering a nightmarish journey that blends otherworldly suspense with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to draw upon pure dread, an spirit born of forgotten ages, influencing soul-level flaws, and examining a evil that strips down our being when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra needed manifesting something beyond human emotion. She is uninformed until the possession kicks in, and that pivot is deeply unsettling because it is so private.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for streaming beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—so that customers across the world can watch this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its intro video, which has pulled in over 100K plays.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, spreading the horror to viewers around the world.


Make sure to see this unforgettable ride through nightmares. Explore *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to face these evil-rooted truths about inner darkness.


For behind-the-scenes access, set experiences, and press updates from those who lived it, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across online outlets and visit our spooky domain.





The horror genre’s decisive shift: the 2025 season U.S. Slate braids together ancient-possession motifs, microbudget gut-punches, and IP aftershocks

Across survivor-centric dread drawn from biblical myth all the way to canon extensions together with focused festival visions, 2025 is shaping up as the most textured along with intentionally scheduled year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. the big studios hold down the year with known properties, in tandem platform operators crowd the fall with new voices set against legend-coded dread. At the same time, independent banners is propelled by the tailwinds from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, notably this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are intentional, accordingly 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 deepens the push.

the Universal banner opens the year with a big gambit: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in an immediate now. Steered by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. landing in mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Led by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s schedule sets loose the finale from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson returns, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: retro dread, trauma explicitly handled, and a cold supernatural calculus. Here the stakes rise, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The next entry deepens the tale, thickens the animatronic pantheon, reaching teens and game grownups. It bows in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Firsts: Slim budgets, major punch

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a two hander body horror spiral fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall 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 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. That is a savvy move. No overweight mythology. No brand fatigue. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Franchise Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Key Trends

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

The Road Ahead: Autumn density and winter pivot

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The forthcoming 2026 fear release year: entries, original films, alongside A busy Calendar calibrated for shocks

Dek The emerging horror season loads early with a January pile-up, from there runs through midyear, and carrying into the holiday stretch, weaving marquee clout, new concepts, and calculated counter-scheduling. The major players are doubling down on mid-range economics, exclusive theatrical windows first, and shareable marketing that position these releases into all-audience topics.

How the genre looks for 2026

The horror marketplace has emerged as the surest release in distribution calendars, a corner that can expand when it lands and still mitigate the downside when it doesn’t. After 2023 reminded strategy teams that mid-range chillers can galvanize mainstream conversation, 2024 extended the rally with director-led heat and stealth successes. The head of steam flowed into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and filmmaker-prestige bets showed there is capacity for different modes, from series extensions to director-led originals that play globally. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a run that appears tightly organized across companies, with purposeful groupings, a balance of brand names and untested plays, and a renewed stance on exhibition windows that power the aftermarket on premium on-demand and SVOD.

Studio leaders note the horror lane now acts as a versatile piece on the release plan. The genre can roll out on most weekends, provide a quick sell for teasers and social clips, and over-index with crowds that come out on advance nights and keep coming through the second weekend if the release pays off. On the heels of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 plan telegraphs confidence in that equation. The year rolls out with a weighty January run, then turns to spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while making space for a late-year stretch that extends to the Halloween corridor and into post-Halloween. The program also illustrates the tightening integration of specialty distributors and digital platforms that can grow from platform, spark evangelism, and move wide at the timely point.

An added macro current is brand management across ongoing universes and veteran brands. Distribution groups are not just mounting another return. They are working to present story carry-over with a heightened moment, whether that is a title treatment that flags a tonal shift or a casting choice that bridges a next film to a foundational era. At the simultaneously, the visionaries behind the high-profile originals are returning to tactile craft, special makeup and vivid settings. That mix gives 2026 a healthy mix of known notes and discovery, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount sets the tone early with two centerpiece projects that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the lead, steering it as both a lineage transfer and a rootsy character-first story. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the artistic posture signals a nostalgia-forward bent without replaying the last two entries’ family thread. The studio is likely to mount a drive stacked with recognizable motifs, intro reveals, and a tiered teaser plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

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 set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will foreground. As a summer counter-slot, this one will seek mass reach through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format allowing quick shifts to whatever rules the discourse that spring.

Universal has three discrete lanes. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is crisp, loss-driven, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man activates an algorithmic mate that evolves into a harmful mate. The date puts it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s promo team likely to revisit uncanny-valley stunts and micro spots that threads companionship and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a name unveil to become an marketing beat closer to the first look. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. His entries are branded as must-see filmmaker statements, with a hinting teaser and a subsequent trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date affords Universal to fill 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, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has long shown that a blood-soaked, prosthetic-heavy approach can feel high-value on a disciplined budget. Expect a red-band summer horror rush that leans into worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio launches two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, preserving a reliable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is selling as a reset 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 well-defined brief to serve both players and novices. The fall slot offers Sony space to build assets around mythos, and creature effects, elements that can lift large-format demand and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in meticulous craft and period speech, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus Features has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is robust.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform tactics for 2026 run on familiar rails. The Universal horror run move to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a ladder that optimizes both launch urgency and sign-up spikes in the post-theatrical. Prime Video interleaves catalogue additions with worldwide entries and limited runs in theaters when the data signals it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog discovery, using featured rows, horror hubs, and editorial rows to keep attention on overall cume. Netflix retains agility about in-house releases and festival wins, finalizing horror entries closer to launch and making event-like debuts with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a paired of precision theatrical plays and accelerated platforming that drives paid trials from Get More Info buzz. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has signaled readiness to take on select projects with prestige directors or star-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly engagement when the genre conversation builds.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 sequence with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is uncomplicated: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, refined for modern audio and picture. 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 indicated a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the back half.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the Christmas window to increase reach. That positioning has been successful for arthouse horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception warrants. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using boutique theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Balance of brands and originals

By skew, the 2026 slate skews toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit cultural cachet. The question, as ever, is overexposure. The operating solution is to brand each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is spotlighting character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a European tilt from a rising filmmaker. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and talent-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the bundle is steady enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Rolling three-year comps make sense of the plan. In 2023, a exclusive window model that kept clean windows did not block a day-date move from delivering when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror surged in large-format rooms. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they alter lens and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds 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 filmed in sequence, provides the means for marketing to tie installments through cast and motif and to keep assets in-market without hiatuses.

Technique and craft my review here currents

The director conversations behind this year’s genre hint at a continued bias toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that centers unease and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft features before rolling out a tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and earns shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-aware reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature design and production design, which favor fan-con activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel key. Look for trailers that elevate hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that play in premium auditoriums.

Annual flow

January is busy. 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 atmospheric change-up amid bigger brand plays. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the mix of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth spreads.

February through May stage summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

August and September into October leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited plot reveals that put concept first.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card spend.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genes. 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 bereaved man’s algorithmic partner unfolds into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. 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 severe boss claw to survive on a cut-off island as the hierarchy turns and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to fright, built on Cronin’s on-set craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. 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 residential haunting chiller that refracts terror through a child’s unsteady personal vantage. Rating: pending. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A parody return that riffs on of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBA. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 surges, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a different family caught in returning horrors. Rating: TBD. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: closely held. Rating: forthcoming. Production: active. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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 primal menace. Rating: pending. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three pragmatic forces structure this lineup. First, production that slowed or re-slotted in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly 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 debuts. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate meme-ready beats from test screenings, metered scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

The slot calculus is real. 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 capitalize on 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 live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where lean-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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, 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 preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, acoustics, and visuals 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

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand power where it counts, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, hold the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.