Antediluvian Horror emerges: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding chiller, rolling out October 2025 on major streaming services

This eerie metaphysical scare-fest from narrative craftsman / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an timeless dread when drifters become subjects in a satanic trial. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking chronicle of staying alive and primeval wickedness that will revamp terror storytelling this spooky time. Realized by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and cinematic fearfest follows five lost souls who awaken imprisoned in a far-off cabin under the hostile sway of Kyra, a female presence dominated by a time-worn sacred-era entity. Anticipate to be absorbed by a filmic ride that harmonizes deep-seated panic with arcane tradition, premiering on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a enduring motif in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is subverted when the monsters no longer appear externally, but rather within themselves. This illustrates the grimmest shade of the players. The result is a gripping psychological battle where the drama becomes a perpetual confrontation between divinity and wickedness.


In a bleak landscape, five campers find themselves stuck under the evil grip and control of a elusive person. As the ensemble becomes incapacitated to escape her control, disconnected and tormented by forces beyond comprehension, they are thrust to battle their inner horrors while the final hour ruthlessly counts down toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust swells and bonds erode, compelling each survivor to examine their core and the foundation of self-determination itself. The stakes magnify with every beat, delivering a nightmarish journey that integrates otherworldly panic with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to tap into instinctual horror, an threat older than civilization itself, influencing fragile psyche, and wrestling with a spirit that challenges autonomy when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra needed manifesting something beyond human emotion. She is insensitive until the possession kicks in, and that shift is emotionally raw because it is so internal.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for worldwide release beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—delivering viewers globally can watch this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its original promo, which has pulled in over six-figure audience.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, giving access to the movie to fans of fear everywhere.


Don’t miss this visceral descent into hell. Confront *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to see these evil-rooted truths about our species.


For teasers, making-of footage, and promotions from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across online outlets and visit our film’s homepage.





Today’s horror sea change: 2025 stateside slate integrates biblical-possession ideas, indie terrors, stacked beside Franchise Rumbles

From pressure-cooker survival tales steeped in biblical myth as well as IP renewals together with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 stands to become the genre’s most multifaceted along with deliberate year of the last decade.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. top-tier distributors are anchoring the year with established lines, even as premium streamers stack the fall with new voices paired with ancient terrors. Across the art-house lane, festival-forward creators is drafting behind the tailwinds from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. With Halloween holding the peak, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, and now, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are intentional, accordingly 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige terror resurfaces

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

Universal begins the calendar with a marquee bet: a refreshed Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in a clear present-tense world. Led by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. targeting mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. From director Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer eases, the WB camp unveils the final movement inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: 70s style chill, trauma as theme, plus otherworld rules that chill. This time, the stakes are raised, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The return delves further into myth, thickens the animatronic pantheon, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It books December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Offerings: Small budgets, sharp fangs

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a two hander body horror spiral with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Penned and steered 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 the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a clever angle. No heavy handed lore. No continuity burden. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Dials to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror returns
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

The big screen is a trust exercise
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Forecast: Fall pileup, winter curveball

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 must fight for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

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



The 2026 Horror lineup: follow-ups, standalone ideas, as well as A brimming Calendar optimized for shocks

Dek The fresh scare cycle loads immediately with a January traffic jam, thereafter carries through midyear, and straight through the December corridor, marrying marquee clout, untold stories, and strategic counter-scheduling. Studios and platforms are doubling down on smart costs, theatrical exclusivity first, and buzz-forward plans that transform these releases into mainstream chatter.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror has turned into the predictable counterweight in annual schedules, a genre that can surge when it clicks and still safeguard the losses when it underperforms. After 2023 showed leaders that low-to-mid budget pictures can galvanize mainstream conversation, the following year held pace with festival-darling auteurs and under-the-radar smashes. The carry extended into 2025, where re-entries and awards-minded projects signaled there is demand for diverse approaches, from ongoing IP entries to fresh IP that resonate abroad. The end result for 2026 is a run that seems notably aligned across the field, with intentional bunching, a balance of household franchises and new concepts, and a revived priority on theatrical windows that increase tail monetization on paid VOD and digital services.

Distribution heads claim the space now operates like a schedule utility on the schedule. The genre can open on most weekends, generate a sharp concept for ad units and short-form placements, and exceed norms with ticket buyers that turn out on Thursday previews and continue through the next pass if the offering delivers. Coming out of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 plan shows certainty in that model. The calendar launches with a heavy January window, then plants flags in spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while making space for a autumn stretch that reaches into late October and into the next week. The program also spotlights the deeper integration of specialized imprints and subscription services that can launch in limited release, spark evangelism, and broaden at the right moment.

A reinforcing pattern is brand curation across linked properties and long-running brands. Distribution groups are not just turning out another continuation. They are moving to present brand continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a title design that broadcasts a refreshed voice or a casting move that ties a latest entry to a vintage era. At the meanwhile, the creative teams behind the most watched originals are prioritizing in-camera technique, special makeup and vivid settings. That interplay provides 2026 a vital pairing of recognition and novelty, which is how the genre sells abroad.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount marks the early tempo with two centerpiece bets that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the center, signaling it as both a passing of the torch and a foundation-forward character piece. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance telegraphs a heritage-honoring approach without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign anchored in brand visuals, character-first teases, and a two-beat trailer plan timed to 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 back together, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will spotlight. As a summer contrast play, this one will hunt general-audience talk through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format supporting quick updates to whatever defines the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three separate plays. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is clean, tragic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man installs an algorithmic mate that grows into a harmful mate. The date slots it at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s campaign likely to echo creepy live activations and micro spots that blurs attachment and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a proper title to become an marketing beat closer to the early tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele titles are treated as filmmaker events, with a minimalist tease and a follow-up trailer set that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The prime October weekend opens a lane to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has consistently shown that a gnarly, on-set effects led style can feel elevated on a controlled budget. Frame it as a gore-forward summer horror surge that spotlights international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio sets two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, keeping a consistent supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is calling a ground-zero restart 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 focus to serve both longtime followers and newcomers. The fall slot lets Sony to build artifacts around setting detail, and creature builds, elements that can amplify premium format interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on careful craft and language, this time orbiting lycan myth. Focus has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is positive.

Digital platform strategies

Platform tactics for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s horror titles window into copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a structure that expands both initial urgency and trial spikes in the late-window. Prime Video interleaves licensed content with global acquisitions and limited cinema engagements when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library engagement, using featured rows, spooky hubs, and featured rows to increase tail value on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix stays opportunistic about first-party entries and festival wins, slotting horror entries tight to release and framing as events launches with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a hybrid of selective theatrical runs and speedy platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a situational basis. The platform has shown a willingness to invest in select projects with acclaimed directors or A-list packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation ramps.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 sequence with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is clean: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, modernized for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late-season weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday frame to move out. That positioning has helped for craft-driven horror with wider appeal. 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 selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception encourages. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using boutique theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their community.

Legacy titles versus originals

By skew, the 2026 slate skews toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on name recognition. The trade-off, as ever, is overexposure. The pragmatic answer is to package each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is emphasizing core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a Francophone tone from a rising filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. 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 simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the configuration is familiar enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and first-night audiences.

Recent comps contextualize the logic. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that respected streaming windows did not deter a parallel release from delivering when the brand was potent. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror over-performed in premium screens. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel new when they angle differently and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to bridge entries through character web and themes and to keep assets alive without long gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The production chatter behind this slate forecast a continued preference for material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that leans on creep and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft coverage before rolling out a atmospheric tease that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and spurs shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a self-referential reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature craft and set design, which favor con floor moments and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel irresistible. Look for trailers that emphasize razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in premium houses.

Annual flow

January is heavy. 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 heavier IP. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the spread of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth carries.

February through May set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

August and September into October leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited advance reveals that put concept first.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card redemption.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads 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, More about the author Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s algorithmic partner evolves into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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

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 stumble upon a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her hard-edged boss push to survive on a lonely island as the power balance flips and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

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 terror, anchored by Cronin’s physical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting setup that explores the panic of a child’s tricky interpretations. Rating: rating pending. Production: wrapped. Positioning: major-studio and celebrity-led occult chiller.

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 satirical comeback that teases present-day genre chatter and true crime fascinations. Rating: undetermined. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 detonates, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further opens again, with a young family bound to residual nightmares. Rating: not yet rated. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A fresh restart designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-first horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: pending. Production: active. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 elemental menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three operational forces frame this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or rearranged in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined 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 dumps. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine clippable moments from test screenings, metered scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, providing runway for genre entries that can control a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will coexist across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of 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 fit below the $40–$50 million line, 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 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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first shock 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens 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 sustain heat and footfall 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 endorse the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, sound field, and visual design 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 Shapes Up Strong

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand gravity where needed, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the shocks sell the seats.