Mythic Horror Returns within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding thriller, landing October 2025 across major streaming services

This hair-raising metaphysical shockfest from writer / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an mythic terror when drifters become proxies in a devilish conflict. Launching this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing account of resistance and primeval wickedness that will redefine the horror genre this October. Produced by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and claustrophobic feature follows five unacquainted souls who wake up trapped in a isolated dwelling under the unfriendly command of Kyra, a haunted figure inhabited by a millennia-old holy text monster. Get ready to be shaken by a theatrical outing that intertwines primitive horror with legendary tales, hitting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a recurring narrative in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is redefined when the entities no longer manifest from elsewhere, but rather internally. This marks the most primal shade of the cast. The result is a enthralling inner struggle where the drama becomes a ongoing fight between light and darkness.


In a barren wild, five adults find themselves imprisoned under the unholy grip and haunting of a enigmatic character. As the cast becomes defenseless to deny her curse, exiled and followed by beings unfathomable, they are pushed to battle their emotional phantoms while the final hour coldly runs out toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear intensifies and links splinter, requiring each character to scrutinize their identity and the principle of self-determination itself. The pressure climb with every short lapse, delivering a chilling narrative that connects mystical fear with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to draw upon pure dread, an malevolence that existed before mankind, filtering through soul-level flaws, and dealing with a being that peels away humanity when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra asked for exploring something past sanity. She is innocent until the curse activates, and that evolution is harrowing because it is so deep.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for home viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing horror lovers in all regions can experience this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its release of trailer #1, which has attracted over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, giving access to the movie to horror fans worldwide.


Don’t miss this gripping trip into the unknown. Face *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to explore these chilling revelations about human nature.


For cast commentary, director cuts, and reveals from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across online outlets and visit the movie portal.





Today’s horror major pivot: the year 2025 U.S. calendar interlaces Mythic Possession, art-house nightmares, in parallel with franchise surges

Spanning fight-to-live nightmare stories saturated with old testament echoes and extending to canon extensions set beside sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is coalescing into the most dimensioned combined with calculated campaign year of the last decade.

Call it full, but it is also focused. major banners bookend the months with known properties, in parallel subscription platforms flood the fall with discovery plays and scriptural shivers. At the same time, the artisan tier is drafting behind the kinetic energy from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, but this year, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are intentional, and 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Premium dread reemerges

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal Pictures opens the year with a marquee bet: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in a modern-day environment. Steered by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. dated for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Helmed by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s pipeline launches the swan song within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. While the template is known, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson returns, and those signature textures resurface: retrograde shiver, trauma as text, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The ante is higher this round, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, builds out the animatronic fear crew, speaking to teens and older millennials. It lands in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Offerings: Small budgets, sharp fangs

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a body horror chamber piece anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

On the docket is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative with Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No overinflated mythology. No legacy baggage. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

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

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, with Francis Lawrence directing, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. 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.

Signals and Trends

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror ascends again
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
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
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

What’s Next: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The 2026 terror slate: follow-ups, non-franchise titles, alongside A Crowded Calendar optimized for shocks

Dek The upcoming genre slate packs immediately with a January cluster, from there unfolds through the warm months, and carrying into the December corridor, blending name recognition, novel approaches, and tactical alternatives. The major players are relying on right-sized spends, theater-first strategies, and platform-native promos that shape these releases into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The field has emerged as the steady release in programming grids, a corner that can accelerate when it connects and still insulate the drawdown when it under-delivers. After 2023 reassured leaders that responsibly budgeted entries can shape the zeitgeist, 2024 held pace with auteur-driven buzzy films and under-the-radar smashes. The carry extended into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and prestige plays demonstrated there is appetite for many shades, from franchise continuations to filmmaker-driven originals that scale internationally. The aggregate for 2026 is a schedule that shows rare alignment across the industry, with obvious clusters, a mix of recognizable IP and new concepts, and a re-energized attention on release windows that increase tail monetization on PVOD and home platforms.

Buyers contend the genre now performs as a swing piece on the calendar. The genre can premiere on almost any weekend, yield a easy sell for marketing and UGC-friendly snippets, and outpace with audiences that line up on Thursday previews and stick through the next weekend if the movie lands. Coming out of a production delay era, the 2026 pattern telegraphs belief in that dynamic. The calendar gets underway with a thick January schedule, then primes spring and early summer for balance, while leaving room for a autumn stretch that pushes into the Halloween corridor and past the holiday. The program also shows the ongoing integration of specialty arms and subscription services that can develop over weeks, build word of mouth, and widen at the right moment.

A further high-level trend is franchise tending across unified worlds and storied titles. Studios are not just releasing another continuation. They are trying to present ongoing narrative with a sense of event, whether that is a graphic identity that announces a tonal shift or a cast configuration that links a latest entry to a initial period. At the concurrently, the helmers behind the headline-grabbing originals are prioritizing practical craft, special makeup and grounded locations. That interplay yields the 2026 slate a robust balance of brand comfort and freshness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

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

Paramount leads early with two centerpiece moves that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, angling it as both a passing of the torch and a return-to-roots character-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance announces a classic-referencing mode without looping the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Plan for a rollout anchored in classic imagery, character previews, and a tiered teaser plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will foreground. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will seek general-audience talk through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick redirects to whatever dominates the discourse that spring.

Universal has three separate plays. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is elegant, loss-driven, and easily pitched: a grieving man brings home an machine companion that unfolds into a perilous partner. The date locates it at the front of a stacked January, with marketing at Universal likely to mirror uncanny-valley stunts and short-cut promos that melds affection and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a final title to become an marketing beat closer to the first trailer. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s work are treated as must-see filmmaker statements, with a minimalist tease and a second wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot creates space for Universal to saturate 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, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has established that a gnarly, in-camera leaning style can feel elevated on a mid-range budget. Expect a grime-caked summer horror charge that emphasizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio places two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, holding a consistent supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is billing as a from-the-ground-up reboot 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 loyalists and casuals. The fall slot gives Sony time to build materials around setting detail, and creature builds, elements that can drive PLF interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in rigorous craft and archaic language, this time exploring werewolf lore. The label has already set the date for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Digital platform strategies

Platform strategies for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s genre slate shift to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a stair-step that boosts both opening-weekend urgency and viewer acquisition in the tail. Prime Video blends licensed content with cross-border buys and limited cinema engagements when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library curation, using curated hubs, holiday hubs, and curated strips to extend momentum on lifetime take. Netflix keeps optionality about originals and festival snaps, confirming horror entries closer to launch and staging as events go-lives with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a dual-phase of limited theatrical footprints and accelerated platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a discrete basis. The platform has signaled readiness to purchase select projects with accomplished filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for platform stickiness when the genre conversation builds.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 corridor 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 pitch is clear: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, modernized for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the back half.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, marshalling the project through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday corridor to increase reach. That positioning has delivered for arthouse horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a run 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 bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using select theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their membership.

Series vs standalone

By count, the 2026 slate bends toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use marquee value. The potential drawback, as ever, is staleness. The workable fix is to brand each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is leading with character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a European tilt from a rising filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and director-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the bundle is recognizable enough to build pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Rolling three-year comps announce the approach. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that honored streaming windows did not stop a parallel release from paying off when the brand was powerful. In 2024, art-forward horror over-performed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they change perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to bridge entries through character arcs and themes and to keep assets in-market without hiatuses.

Technique and craft currents

The craft conversations behind the 2026 entries hint at a continued turn toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that elevates mood and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for textured sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft features before rolling out a tone piece that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and spurs shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta pivot that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster aesthetics and world-building, which are ideal for fan conventions and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel necessary. Look for trailers that emphasize precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that explode in larger rooms.

From winter to holidays

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. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a foggy reset amid big-brand pushes. The month closes 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 serious, but the menu of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth sustains.

Post-January through spring load in summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now can handle 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 divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late-season stretch leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a early fall window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a peekaboo tease plan and limited disclosures that prioritize concept over plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday card usage.

Film-by-film briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s AI companion becomes something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, his comment is here 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 tough boss struggle to survive on a far-flung island as the pecking order tilts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to menace, based on Cronin’s on-set craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 mediates the fear via a child’s uncertain personal vantage. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that satirizes present-day genre chatter and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBA. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites flares, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further reopens, with a another family entangled with returning horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: undetermined. 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: unrevealed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: undetermined. Production: in progress. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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 antique diction and elemental fear. Rating: to be announced. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three practical forces shape this lineup. First, production that slowed or reshuffled in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify meme-ready beats from test screenings, curated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will stack across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, acoustics, and framing 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 horror conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand heft where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.