Age-old Dread Awakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled horror feature, streaming Oct 2025 on leading streamers

A bone-chilling mystic shockfest from storyteller / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an primordial horror when guests become tokens in a devilish experiment. Available this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing episode of continuance and timeless dread that will revolutionize horror this fall. Brought to life by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and cinematic cinema piece follows five teens who suddenly rise locked in a unreachable house under the sinister dominion of Kyra, a troubled woman inhabited by a biblical-era ancient fiend. Anticipate to be absorbed by a big screen journey that integrates bodily fright with mystical narratives, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a recurring element in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is flipped when the fiends no longer emerge beyond the self, but rather within themselves. This illustrates the most terrifying element of the cast. The result is a bone-chilling emotional conflict where the story becomes a perpetual fight between innocence and sin.


In a haunting natural abyss, five friends find themselves imprisoned under the malicious force and inhabitation of a elusive being. As the team becomes vulnerable to escape her will, marooned and tracked by forces unimaginable, they are cornered to encounter their worst nightmares while the countdown mercilessly draws closer toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease surges and bonds collapse, urging each person to reflect on their character and the structure of volition itself. The stakes intensify with every instant, delivering a cinematic nightmare that marries mystical fear with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to tap into pure dread, an evil beyond recorded history, feeding on psychological breaks, and exposing a force that threatens selfhood when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra required summoning something far beyond human desperation. She is in denial until the takeover begins, and that pivot is bone-chilling because it is so internal.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for public screening beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring customers no matter where they are can watch this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its first trailer, which has been viewed over 100K plays.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, making the film to horror fans worldwide.


Mark your calendar for this soul-jarring spiral into evil. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to witness these unholy truths about the soul.


For previews, filmmaker commentary, and announcements from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across media channels and visit our horror hub.





Today’s horror sea change: the 2025 cycle U.S. Slate integrates biblical-possession ideas, microbudget gut-punches, paired with tentpole growls

Ranging from pressure-cooker survival tales drawn from old testament echoes and onward to IP renewals as well as focused festival visions, 2025 stands to become the most dimensioned along with calculated campaign year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Major studios set cornerstones through proven series, in tandem digital services flood the fall with new perspectives paired with archetypal fear. Across the art-house lane, the independent cohort is fueled by the backdraft of 2024’s record festival wave. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the other windows are mapped with care. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, however this time, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are intentional, as a result 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: High-craft horror returns

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal camp lights the fuse with a bold swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, inside today’s landscape. Guided by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. timed for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Directed by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer winds down, the Warner lot rolls out the capstone of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson resumes command, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: retro dread, trauma as narrative engine, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The ante is higher this round, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The return delves further into myth, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It hits in December, buttoning the final window.

Digital Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a tight space body horror vignette anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable with Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

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 an astute call. No heavy handed lore. No franchise baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. 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. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, guided by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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.

Trend Lines

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror retakes ground
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Forward View: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The upcoming fear slate: next chapters, fresh concepts, And A hectic Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek: The new genre slate crams up front with a January wave, before it spreads through the warm months, and deep into the winter holidays, blending legacy muscle, fresh ideas, and strategic calendar placement. Studio marketers and platforms are leaning into tight budgets, theatrical leads, and social-driven marketing that elevate the slate’s entries into four-quadrant talking points.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the most reliable release in release strategies, a vertical that can surge when it resonates and still mitigate the losses when it misses. After 2023 signaled to strategy teams that lean-budget shockers can dominate mainstream conversation, 2024 sustained momentum with buzzy auteur projects and under-the-radar smashes. The carry carried into 2025, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers proved there is demand for a variety of tones, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that translate worldwide. The upshot for 2026 is a lineup that shows rare alignment across studios, with mapped-out bands, a combination of established brands and fresh ideas, and a revived emphasis on theater exclusivity that power the aftermarket on PVOD and home streaming.

Studio leaders note the category now behaves like a utility player on the programming map. The genre can arrive on virtually any date, generate a tight logline for creative and UGC-friendly snippets, and exceed norms with audiences that show up on opening previews and continue through the next pass if the movie hits. Emerging from a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 configuration underscores faith in that approach. The slate opens with a crowded January run, then taps spring and early summer for counterweight, while clearing room for a fall run that stretches into late October and into post-Halloween. The grid also includes the ongoing integration of indie distributors and OTT outlets that can stage a platform run, build word of mouth, and scale up at the sweet spot.

An added macro current is brand curation across shared universes and veteran brands. The studios are not just releasing another follow-up. They are moving to present connection with a specialness, whether that is a art treatment that broadcasts a new vibe or a cast configuration that reconnects a fresh chapter to a foundational era. At the alongside this, the writer-directors behind the most anticipated originals are embracing practical craft, in-camera effects and location-forward worlds. That blend gives the 2026 slate a lively combination of comfort and freshness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount marks the early tempo with two high-profile releases that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the spine, positioning the film as both a relay and a heritage-centered character-focused installment. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the narrative stance indicates a throwback-friendly bent without recycling the last two entries’ sisters thread. Count on a promo wave leaning on recognizable motifs, early character teases, and a tease cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will play up. As a counterweight in summer, this one will go after general-audience talk through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format inviting quick switches to whatever rules trend lines that spring.

Universal has three differentiated projects. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is tight, loss-driven, and premise-first: a grieving man purchases an AI companion that becomes a lethal partner. The date puts it at the front of a stacked January, with marketing at Universal likely to recreate eerie street stunts and quick hits that interweaves love and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a public title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first trailer. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan movies Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele projects are branded as filmmaker events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second wave of trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor lets the studio to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has made clear that a visceral, hands-on effects style can feel high-value on a controlled budget. Frame it as a splatter summer horror hit that emphasizes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio mounts two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, holding a dependable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is presenting as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both franchise faithful and casuals. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign pieces around setting detail, and creature effects, elements that can drive premium screens and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by obsessive craft and period speech, this time exploring werewolf lore. The label has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is warm.

Digital platform strategies

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s slate land on copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a ladder that elevates both FOMO and platform bumps in the later window. Prime Video combines catalogue additions with international acquisitions and small theatrical windows when the data supports it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in library engagement, using prominent placements, fright rows, and curated strips to extend momentum on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps options open about Netflix originals and festival acquisitions, confirming horror entries with shorter lead times and eventizing go-lives with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a dual-phase of tailored theatrical exposure and fast windowing that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a situational basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to acquire select projects with award winners or A-list packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to gather buzz 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 surges.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 slate with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is no-nonsense: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, modernized for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has positioned a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the October weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through select festivals if the cut is ready, then working the holiday corridor to widen. That positioning has worked well for filmmaker-first horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception prompts. Look for 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 in parallel, using limited theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their user base.

Franchises versus originals

By tilt, 2026 leans toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on franchise value. The trade-off, as ever, is diminishing returns. The pragmatic answer is to sell each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is underscoring character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a Francophone tone from a buzzed-about director. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and talent-first projects keep the lungs full. 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 stranded survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the bundle is anchored enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday previews.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the plan. In 2023, a cinema-first model that held distribution windows did not stop a day-date move from succeeding when the brand was robust. In 2024, auteur craft horror hit big in PLF. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they shift POV and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters shot consecutively, lets marketing to thread films through character spine and themes and to leave creative active without dead zones.

Behind-the-camera trends

The craft conversations behind the 2026 slate signal a continued bias toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that centers atmosphere and fear rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and spurs shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta recalibration that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature craft and set design, which are ideal for fan-con activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel key. Look for trailers that elevate pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that shine in top rooms.

Release calendar overview

January is loaded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid heftier brand moves. The month winds down 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 real, but the palette of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Winter into spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for 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 heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Back half into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited disclosures that center concept over reveals.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday gift-card burn.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s machine mate evolves into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 unyielding boss try to survive on a uninhabited island as the pecking order swivels and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to terror, built on Cronin’s in-camera craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting setup that mediates the fear via a kid’s wavering point of view. Rating: TBD. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-crafted and A-list fronted spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that targets today’s horror trends and true crime fascinations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming slated 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 erupts, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further extends again, with a different family anchored to ancient dread. Rating: undetermined. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-core horror over action fireworks. Rating: TBD. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: closely held. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: continuing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and elemental dread. Rating: forthcoming. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three execution-level forces shape this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-slotted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic 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 premieres. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate bite-size scare clips from test screenings, metered scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Calendar math also matters. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, providing runway for genre entries that can seize a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will line up across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where low-to-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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates 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 bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, aural design, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand heft where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the chills sell the seats.