Mythic Evil emerges: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked chiller, launching October 2025 on major streaming services

A haunting spectral terror film from screenwriter / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an ancient terror when passersby become proxies in a supernatural experiment. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving portrayal of continuance and prehistoric entity that will reimagine genre cinema this Halloween season. Realized by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and tone-heavy motion picture follows five figures who come to imprisoned in a secluded house under the malignant grip of Kyra, a mysterious girl inhabited by a millennia-old biblical demon. Ready yourself to be captivated by a theatrical spectacle that combines deep-seated panic with spiritual backstory, arriving on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a time-honored tradition in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is twisted when the demons no longer appear beyond the self, but rather from their psyche. This embodies the shadowy version of the group. The result is a enthralling mental war where the plotline becomes a ongoing conflict between moral forces.


In a unforgiving wild, five adults find themselves imprisoned under the evil force and spiritual invasion of a unknown person. As the group becomes defenseless to break her dominion, isolated and tormented by terrors impossible to understand, they are obligated to deal with their inner horrors while the countdown without pause draws closer toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion amplifies and bonds dissolve, urging each individual to reconsider their personhood and the structure of independent thought itself. The pressure intensify with every heartbeat, delivering a fear-soaked story that weaves together paranormal dread with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to dig into instinctual horror, an entity older than civilization itself, working through emotional vulnerability, and wrestling with a entity that strips down our being when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra meant channeling something darker than pain. She is ignorant until the demon emerges, and that change is haunting because it is so private.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for horror fans beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—offering viewers in all regions can face this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its initial teaser, which has attracted over strong viewer count.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, taking the terror to scare fans abroad.


Do not miss this life-altering exploration of dread. Enter *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to survive these fearful discoveries about mankind.


For exclusive trailers, on-set glimpses, and social posts directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across social media and visit our film’s homepage.





U.S. horror’s decisive shift: calendar year 2025 stateside slate interlaces archetypal-possession themes, festival-born jolts, set against legacy-brand quakes

Kicking off with survival horror drawn from biblical myth all the way to returning series paired with focused festival visions, 2025 is coalescing into the most variegated plus intentionally scheduled year in ten years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. studio majors set cornerstones with franchise anchors, concurrently digital services stack the fall with new voices as well as ancestral chills. In the indie lane, the artisan tier is surfing the afterglow of a peak 2024 circuit. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, though in this cycle, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are targeted, thus 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: The Return of Prestige Fear

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s distribution arm sets the tone with a statement play: a modernized Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, within a sleek contemporary canvas. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and starring 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. landing in mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Helmed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer wanes, Warner Bros. Pictures delivers the closing chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Next is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the memorable motifs return: retro dread, trauma as text, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The stakes escalate here, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, courting teens and the thirty something base. It books December, pinning the winter close.

SVOD Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn with Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with 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. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. That is a savvy move. No heavy handed lore. No canon weight. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festivals as Springboards

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.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Long Running Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

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

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Season Ahead: Fall pileup, winter curveball

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear 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 hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The coming 2026 terror calendar year ahead: returning titles, fresh concepts, plus A loaded Calendar calibrated for nightmares

Dek The fresh horror cycle crowds from the jump with a January pile-up, before it flows through summer, and far into the winter holidays, combining IP strength, creative pitches, and smart alternatives. The big buyers and platforms are betting on right-sized spends, theatrical-first rollouts, and social-driven marketing that turn genre titles into four-quadrant talking points.

Where horror stands going into 2026

Horror has proven to be the consistent lever in studio slates, a vertical that can break out when it resonates and still cushion the downside when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year re-taught executives that lean-budget shockers can steer the discourse, 2024 kept energy high with festival-darling auteurs and sleeper breakouts. The head of steam translated to the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and elevated films made clear there is a market for a variety of tones, from ongoing IP entries to original features that scale internationally. The end result for the 2026 slate is a run that shows rare alignment across the field, with purposeful groupings, a pairing of legacy names and novel angles, and a refocused attention on big-screen windows that drive downstream revenue on PVOD and home streaming.

Marketers add the genre now operates like a flex slot on the calendar. The genre can debut on many corridors, deliver a clear pitch for previews and TikTok spots, and lead with ticket buyers that lean in on Thursday previews and return through the sophomore frame if the picture lands. Post a work stoppage lag, the 2026 pattern telegraphs assurance in that engine. The calendar rolls out with a thick January stretch, then taps spring and early summer for contrast, while leaving room for a autumn stretch that extends to spooky season and afterwards. The grid also highlights the increasing integration of specialty arms and subscription services that can nurture a platform play, stoke social talk, and scale up at the precise moment.

An added macro current is legacy care across brand ecosystems and legacy franchises. Big banners are not just greenlighting another installment. They are trying to present lineage with a marquee sheen, whether that is a art treatment that announces a tonal shift or a talent selection that ties a new entry to a early run. At the meanwhile, the creative teams behind the most watched originals are favoring on-set craft, on-set effects and specific settings. That fusion provides the 2026 slate a healthy mix of assurance and discovery, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount fires first with two centerpiece entries that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the core, framing it as both a handoff and a back-to-basics character study. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the directional approach signals a fan-service aware approach without rehashing the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Count on a promo wave rooted in recognizable motifs, initial cast looks, and a rollout cadence aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will double down on. As a summer contrast play, this one will seek general-audience talk through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format making room for quick reframes to whatever leads pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three specific projects. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is straightforward, loss-driven, and premise-first: a grieving man purchases an AI companion that becomes a fatal companion. The date slots it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to echo off-kilter promo beats and micro spots that mixes romance and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a proper title to become an earned moment closer to the first look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. His projects are positioned as director events, with a opaque teaser and a next wave of trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The pre-Halloween slot allows Universal to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press 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 leads, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has demonstrated that a blood-soaked, on-set effects led method can feel top-tier on a mid-range budget. Look for a hard-R summer horror blast that centers worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio deploys two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, maintaining a trusty supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is positioning as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key 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 campaign pieces around narrative world, and creature design, elements that can amplify deluxe auditorium demand and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in meticulous craft and linguistic texture, this time focused on werewolf legend. The imprint has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is positive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform plans for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s genre entries land on copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ladder that expands both first-week urgency and sign-up momentum in the later window. Prime Video pairs acquired titles with global pickups and targeted theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in library pulls, using seasonal hubs, seasonal hubs, and curated strips to sustain interest on overall cume. Netflix stays nimble about Netflix films and festival wins, timing horror entries toward the drop and positioning as event drops rollouts with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a hybrid of limited theatrical footprints and short jumps to platform that converts WOM to subscribers. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has signaled readiness to acquire select projects with top-tier auteurs or marquee packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is curating a 2026 runway with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is no-nonsense: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, upgraded for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the fall weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, escorting the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then using the holiday frame to expand. That positioning has worked well for filmmaker-driven genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception allows. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using mini theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By proportion, 2026 leans toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit marquee value. The caveat, as ever, is audience fatigue. The near-term solution is to brand each entry as a new angle. Paramount is foregrounding character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a European tilt from a hot helmer. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the configuration is familiar enough to drive advance ticketing and first-night audiences.

Rolling three-year comps make sense of the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that kept streaming intact did not prevent a hybrid test from working when the brand was sticky. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror exceeded expectations in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they alter lens and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters shot in tandem, enables marketing to connect the chapters through personae and themes and to continue assets in field without lulls.

How the films are being made

The director conversations behind the upcoming entries suggest a continued tilt toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that foregrounds creep and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and sparks shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta inflection that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature work and production design, which favor con floor moments and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel irresistible. Look for trailers that accent pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that benefit on big speakers.

Calendar cadence

January is packed. 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 marquee brands. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the mix of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Early-year through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into 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 lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

August and Get More Info September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a early fall window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited teasers that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card burn.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s intelligent companion grows into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete 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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-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 returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: aura-driven adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her demanding boss battle to survive on a lonely island as the power balance shifts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. 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 not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to fear, shaped by Cronin’s practical craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. 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 family-home haunting chiller that refracts terror through a young child’s uncertain internal vantage. Rating: not yet rated. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that targets present-day genre chatter and true-crime crazes. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further reopens, with a different family anchored to older hauntings. Rating: TBA. 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 restart designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-driven horror over action spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: TBD. Production: continuing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on antique diction and primordial menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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

Why 2026 and why now

Three practical forces structure this lineup. First, production that stalled or recalendared in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and tighter 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 beaten straight-to-streaming releases. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on bite-size scare clips from test screenings, precision scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Calendar math also matters. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, clearing runway for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will share space across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on 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 come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where value-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first 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. 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, 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 preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, acoustics, 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.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand gravity where needed, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep the secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.