Antediluvian Evil awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding feature, rolling out October 2025 on major streaming services

One blood-curdling metaphysical suspense story from creator / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an age-old nightmare when foreigners become puppets in a diabolical struggle. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching saga of perseverance and old world terror that will alter fear-driven cinema this harvest season. Helmed by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and claustrophobic tale follows five lost souls who awaken sealed in a far-off lodge under the unfriendly influence of Kyra, a young woman haunted by a antiquated religious nightmare. Prepare to be absorbed by a narrative ride that unites primitive horror with arcane tradition, arriving on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a mainstay element in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is redefined when the forces no longer originate from elsewhere, but rather from their psyche. This echoes the grimmest corner of the victims. The result is a bone-chilling moral showdown where the drama becomes a intense face-off between right and wrong.


In a forsaken backcountry, five souls find themselves trapped under the unholy presence and infestation of a uncanny being. As the companions becomes unable to escape her will, left alone and tracked by evils inconceivable, they are pushed to acknowledge their darkest emotions while the countdown harrowingly ticks onward toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease escalates and bonds implode, urging each member to evaluate their essence and the nature of autonomy itself. The threat amplify with every beat, delivering a frightening tale that combines paranormal dread with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to extract elemental fright, an darkness that predates humanity, embedding itself in inner turmoil, and examining a curse that questions who we are when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra meant channeling something far beyond human desperation. She is unaware until the possession kicks in, and that flip is haunting because it is so personal.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for worldwide release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—so that subscribers anywhere can be part of this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its initial teaser, which has received over six-figure audience.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, delivering the story to horror fans worldwide.


Experience this bone-rattling journey into fear. Join *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to witness these unholy truths about inner darkness.


For behind-the-scenes access, set experiences, and reveals via the production team, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Facebook and TikTok and visit the official digital haunt.





Horror’s major pivot: 2025 in focus U.S. release slate blends legend-infused possession, art-house nightmares, and franchise surges

Across life-or-death fear grounded in near-Eastern lore and onward to legacy revivals as well as pointed art-house angles, 2025 is tracking to be horror’s most layered plus intentionally scheduled year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio majors are anchoring the year by way of signature titles, as streamers flood the fall with new voices and legend-coded dread. On another front, independent banners is fueled by the momentum of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The fall stretch is the proving field, and in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are targeted, so 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: The Return of Prestige Fear

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal Pictures lights the fuse with an audacious swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a sharp contemporary setting. From director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. dated for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. launches the swan song from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Though the outline is tried, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re engages, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: retro dread, trauma driven plotting, and a cold supernatural calculus. The bar is raised this go, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The next entry deepens the tale, builds out the animatronic fear crew, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It bows in December, holding the cold season’s end.

SVOD Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a room scale body horror descent pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via 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 From Within: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, 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. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one burrows toward 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. That is a savvy move. No overstuffed canon. No brand fatigue. 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.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

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

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Series Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Emerging Currents

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror reemerges
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. 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.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The next chiller lineup: returning titles, new stories, plus A Crowded Calendar Built For Scares

Dek The fresh terror calendar loads right away with a January glut, following that extends through midyear, and straight through the festive period, braiding legacy muscle, original angles, and smart calendar placement. Major distributors and platforms are embracing right-sized spends, exclusive theatrical windows first, and short-form initiatives that shape these offerings into water-cooler talk.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The horror sector has turned into the consistent counterweight in programming grids, a segment that can spike when it connects and still insulate the drawdown when it stumbles. After 2023 showed studio brass that modestly budgeted fright engines can dominate mainstream conversation, the following year continued the surge with festival-darling auteurs and surprise hits. The carry extended into 2025, where re-entries and awards-minded projects underscored there is an opening for several lanes, from returning installments to original one-offs that resonate abroad. The aggregate for 2026 is a lineup that shows rare alignment across the market, with planned clusters, a mix of legacy names and new pitches, and a renewed attention on exhibition windows that feed downstream value on premium rental and OTT platforms.

Planners observe the space now serves as a utility player on the rollout map. Horror can debut on numerous frames, yield a easy sell for trailers and shorts, and punch above weight with viewers that turn out on opening previews and return through the second weekend if the feature satisfies. Following a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 cadence underscores comfort in that model. The slate kicks off with a heavy January band, then uses spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while keeping space for a September to October window that reaches into holiday-adjacent weekends and past the holiday. The schedule also highlights the deeper integration of specialty arms and SVOD players that can platform and widen, ignite recommendations, and widen at the strategic time.

An added macro current is brand strategy across connected story worlds and heritage properties. Studios are not just releasing another continuation. They are setting up lore continuity with a occasion, whether that is a graphic identity that telegraphs a new vibe or a lead change that links a latest entry to a first wave. At the very same time, the auteurs behind the headline-grabbing originals are doubling down on on-set craft, practical gags and grounded locations. That blend gives 2026 a healthy mix of brand comfort and novelty, which is what works overseas.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount defines the early cadence with two marquee moves that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the core, positioning the film as both a legacy handover and a get redirected here DNA-forward character-first story. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach telegraphs a memory-charged bent without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Watch for a push centered on brand visuals, character previews, and a promo sequence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will feature. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will pursue wide buzz through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format permitting quick redirects to whatever defines horror talk that spring.

Universal has three separate entries. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is straightforward, grief-rooted, and concept-forward: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that mutates into a harmful mate. The date lines it up at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s marketing likely to reprise strange in-person beats and short reels that melds companionship and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a branding reveal to become an attention spike closer to the teaser. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele projects are sold as event films, with a minimalist tease and a second trailer wave that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween-adjacent have a peek at these guys date allows Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has shown that a gritty, practical-first approach can feel cinematic on a middle budget. Frame it as a grime-caked summer horror jolt that maximizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio launches two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, extending a reliable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is calling a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both longtime followers and fresh viewers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build promo materials around narrative world, and creature design, elements that can boost deluxe auditorium demand and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by minute detail and historical speech, this time engaging werewolf myth. The imprint has already locked the day for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is robust.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s genre entries land on copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a stair-step that elevates both launch urgency and viewer acquisition in the back half. Prime Video will mix licensed content with international acquisitions and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog engagement, using featured rows, spooky hubs, and curated strips to sustain interest on aggregate take. Netflix keeps optionality about originals and festival buys, locking in horror entries near launch and framing as events launches with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a two-step of precision theatrical plays and quick platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a discrete basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to secure select projects with accomplished filmmakers or A-list packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation ramps.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 pipeline 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 clear: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, updated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the late-season weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday frame to increase reach. That positioning has delivered for filmmaker-driven genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and have a peek here Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception prompts. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using precision theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subs.

Balance of brands and originals

By number, 2026 is weighted toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage franchise value. The potential drawback, as ever, is viewer burnout. The near-term solution is to market each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is elevating core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a Francophone tone from a ascendant talent. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and auteur plays provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the team and cast is familiar enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Three-year comps contextualize the template. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that kept clean windows did not hamper a day-and-date experiment from winning when the brand was trusted. In 2024, auteur craft horror exceeded expectations in large-format rooms. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they alter lens and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters filmed consecutively, builds a path for marketing to cross-link entries through personae and themes and to keep materials circulating without dead zones.

How the look and feel evolve

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind this slate telegraph a continued lean toward material, place-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 in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that leans on aura and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in craft profiles and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a teaser that withholds plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and gathers shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta inflection that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature execution and sets, which lend themselves to convention floor stunts and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that spotlight pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in big rooms.

Month-by-month map

January is jammed. 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 brooding contrast amid headline IP. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the variety of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth persists.

Post-January through spring prime the summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Back half into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil follows September 18, a transitional slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited previews that lean on concept not plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s machine mate turns into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: gothic-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 difficult boss claw to survive on a cut-off island as the hierarchy swivels and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to chill, founded on Cronin’s in-camera craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting setup that mediates the fear via a kid’s unreliable point of view. Rating: to be announced. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A parody reboot that riffs on modern genre fads and true-crime obsessions. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 spreads, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further reopens, with a young family anchored to old terrors. Rating: pending. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A reboot designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on pure survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: closely held. Rating: not yet rated. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and elemental dread. Rating: undetermined. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 lands now

Three execution-level forces organize this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or recalendared in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming releases. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on bite-size scare clips from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will jostle across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. 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.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where lower and mid-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 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, efficient screen counts, 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 materiality, aural design, 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.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is franchise muscle where it helps, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, protect the mystery, and let the shudders sell the seats.