Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases antediluvian malevolence, a nightmare fueled horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on major streaming services

An frightening paranormal suspense story from scriptwriter / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an age-old terror when unfamiliar people become instruments in a dark ordeal. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping depiction of struggle and timeless dread that will reimagine genre cinema this season. Brought to life by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and emotionally thick screenplay follows five young adults who find themselves stranded in a isolated wooden structure under the sinister influence of Kyra, a possessed female consumed by a 2,000-year-old Old Testament spirit. Get ready to be seized by a narrative display that melds instinctive fear with mythic lore, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a well-established foundation in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is reversed when the demons no longer arise from a different plane, but rather from their psyche. This depicts the darkest version of the victims. The result is a relentless inner struggle where the drama becomes a unyielding struggle between divinity and wickedness.


In a abandoned wild, five characters find themselves isolated under the malevolent effect and domination of a unknown spirit. As the team becomes powerless to escape her command, exiled and tracked by terrors unfathomable, they are confronted to wrestle with their darkest emotions while the countdown without pause ticks toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear builds and alliances fracture, requiring each participant to question their essence and the idea of self-determination itself. The risk grow with every second, delivering a horror experience that weaves together ghostly evil with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to channel primal fear, an darkness beyond time, filtering through our fears, and examining a spirit that forces self-examination when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra involved tapping into something beneath mortal despair. She is clueless until the demon emerges, and that evolution is deeply unsettling because it is so personal.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be available for audiences beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring subscribers everywhere can dive into this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its intro video, which has earned over notable views.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, exporting the fear to global fright lovers.


Do not miss this heart-stopping exploration of dread. Face *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to see these evil-rooted truths about inner darkness.


For behind-the-scenes access, director cuts, and news straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursed across your socials and visit youngandcursed.com.





Current horror’s decisive shift: 2025 U.S. Slate blends biblical-possession ideas, underground frights, paired with legacy-brand quakes

Across grit-forward survival fare infused with primordial scripture and including canon extensions plus surgical indie voices, 2025 is shaping up as the most textured paired with calculated campaign year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. major banners bookend the months with established lines, in parallel streamers stack the fall with emerging auteurs set against archetypal fear. On the independent axis, indie storytellers is catching the tailwinds of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, but this year, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are exacting, therefore 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige fear returns

The top end is active. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s schedule leads off the quarter with a confident swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, inside today’s landscape. Led by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. landing in mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Helmed by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Initial heat flags it as potent.

When summer tapers, the WB camp releases the last chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson resumes command, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: old school creep, trauma foregrounded, plus otherworld rules that chill. This time the stakes climb, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The new chapter enriches the lore, stretches the animatronic parade, courting teens and the thirty something base. It posts in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Digital Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

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

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a body horror chamber piece featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, 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.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It reads as sharp positioning. No puffed out backstory. No series drag. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong 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.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Lines: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, with Francis Lawrence directing, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Trends Worth Watching

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror retakes ground
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

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.

Season Ahead: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

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 scrap for air. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The upcoming genre season: entries, filmmaker-first projects, And A hectic Calendar calibrated for goosebumps

Dek: The incoming terror cycle crowds up front with a January bottleneck, and then carries through the mid-year, and straight through the holiday stretch, marrying brand heft, inventive spins, and data-minded counterplay. Major distributors and platforms are betting on right-sized spends, cinema-first plans, and social-fueled campaigns that position the slate’s entries into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror marketplace has shown itself to be the most reliable lever in distribution calendars, a lane that can accelerate when it breaks through and still buffer the floor when it misses. After 2023 showed executives that low-to-mid budget horror vehicles can galvanize social chatter, 2024 maintained heat with director-led heat and quiet over-performers. The momentum pushed into 2025, where legacy revivals and premium-leaning entries demonstrated there is a market for diverse approaches, from brand follow-ups to one-and-done originals that perform internationally. The upshot for 2026 is a roster that seems notably aligned across the field, with purposeful groupings, a equilibrium of familiar brands and untested plays, and a renewed emphasis on box-office windows that power the aftermarket on premium digital and digital services.

Planners observe the space now operates like a schedule utility on the calendar. The genre can bow on nearly any frame, yield a easy sell for promo reels and vertical videos, and over-index with demo groups that arrive on preview nights and maintain momentum through the next weekend if the movie lands. Emerging from a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 configuration telegraphs faith in that setup. The calendar kicks off with a stacked January corridor, then plants flags in spring and early summer for contrast, while leaving room for a fall cadence that runs into late October and into post-Halloween. The schedule also illustrates the expanded integration of specialized labels and SVOD players that can stage a platform run, spark evangelism, and expand at the proper time.

A companion trend is IP stewardship across shared universes and veteran brands. Major shops are not just rolling another installment. They are setting up lineage with a headline quality, whether that is a graphic identity that conveys a refreshed voice or a casting pivot that links a new entry to a heyday. At the parallel to that, the visionaries behind the high-profile originals are prioritizing tactile craft, real effects and place-driven backdrops. That combination hands 2026 a vital pairing of comfort and discovery, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount defines the early cadence with two high-profile releases that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a succession moment and a rootsy character-first story. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the artistic posture hints at a classic-referencing treatment without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push stacked with iconic art, early character teases, and a promo sequence hitting late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will lean on. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will build wide buzz through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick shifts to whatever leads pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three discrete pushes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is clean, grief-rooted, and premise-first: a grieving man adopts an algorithmic mate that shifts into a deadly partner. The date positions it at the front of a thick month, with the studio’s marketing likely to bring back creepy live activations and quick hits that interlaces companionship and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a proper title to become an headline beat closer to the first trailer. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. His entries are marketed as filmmaker events, with a hinting teaser and a follow-up trailer set that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot gives the studio room 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, aligns with copyright internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has made clear that a raw, prosthetic-heavy aesthetic can feel elevated on a moderate cost. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror shock that embraces foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and copyright taking most offshore territories.

copyright’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio lines up two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, continuing a proven supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what copyright is framing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both devotees and casuals. The fall slot allows copyright to build promo materials around narrative world, and creature builds, elements that can accelerate deluxe auditorium demand and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on immersive craft and period language, this time set against lycan legends. The specialty arm has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is glowing.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Windowing plans in 2026 run on predictable routes. The Universal horror run move to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a structure that enhances both premiere heat and subscriber lifts in the downstream. Prime Video blends licensed films with global acquisitions and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library curation, using prominent placements, genre hubs, and staff picks to prolong the run on the horror cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about own-slate titles and festival grabs, confirming horror entries with shorter lead times and turning into events premieres with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a two-step of limited theatrical footprints and speedy platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has proven amenable to invest in select projects with established auteurs or star-driven packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation ramps.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 slate with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is straightforward: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, upgraded for modern audio and picture. Later click to read more in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has positioned a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the autumn weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the year-end corridor to widen. That positioning has worked well for filmmaker-first horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception encourages. Plan on 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 together, using limited theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their community.

IP versus fresh ideas

By skew, 2026 bends toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate cultural cachet. The risk, as ever, is fatigue. The pragmatic answer is to position each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is foregrounding character and legacy in Scream 7, copyright is hinting at a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French sensibility from a ascendant talent. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a survival shocker premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the package is steady enough to build pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years frame the template. In 2023, a cinema-first model that observed windows did not prevent a day-and-date experiment from succeeding when the brand was compelling. In 2024, auteur craft horror exceeded expectations in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they pivot perspective and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to copyright’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 double feature plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, allows marketing to interlace chapters through relationships and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without long gaps.

Craft and creative trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind 2026 horror forecast a continued bias toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that leans on atmosphere and fear rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in long-lead features and technical spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that withholds plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and generates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta reframe that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature execution and sets, which play well in fan-con activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel compelling. Look for trailers that highlight disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that sing on PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is loaded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then copyright returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid big-brand pushes. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the range of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth endures.

Q1 into Q2 build the summer base. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

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

Late summer into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives copyright a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a late-September window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited asset reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

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

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

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

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (copyright, 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 ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

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 unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: aura-driven 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 struggle to survive on a far-flung island as the hierarchy tilts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to nightmare, grounded in Cronin’s practical effects and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting story that toys with the dread of a child’s uncertain POV. Rating: to be announced. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A genre lampoon that satirizes hot-button genre motifs and true-crime obsessions. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 bursts, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (copyright, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new family anchored to residual nightmares. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (copyright, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survivalist horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and elemental dread. Rating: TBD. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three execution-level forces drive this lineup. First, production that eased or recalendared in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become 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 out-earned straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage shareable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. Source It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can seize a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will stack across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

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 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where midrange-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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner of the year, and August into September gives copyright 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.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing 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 keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, 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 grain, sonics, 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.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand gravity where needed, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for 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, cut sharp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the frights sell the seats.