Mythic Dread Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding thriller, landing October 2025 on leading streamers

This chilling otherworldly suspense film from author / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an primordial curse when unrelated individuals become conduits in a devilish struggle. Available October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking portrayal of resistance and old world terror that will reconstruct the fear genre this fall. Brought to life by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and atmospheric feature follows five individuals who snap to isolated in a off-grid structure under the malevolent power of Kyra, a haunted figure haunted by a antiquated Old Testament spirit. Get ready to be enthralled by a big screen journey that intertwines gut-punch terror with ancient myths, streaming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a legendary motif in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is challenged when the fiends no longer manifest from an outside force, but rather inside their minds. This represents the most terrifying facet of the victims. The result is a relentless internal warfare where the drama becomes a unforgiving struggle between purity and corruption.


In a wilderness-stricken backcountry, five youths find themselves confined under the possessive sway and curse of a obscure character. As the ensemble becomes powerless to break her dominion, disconnected and pursued by evils unimaginable, they are cornered to reckon with their worst nightmares while the timeline unceasingly edges forward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread surges and teams erode, driving each protagonist to doubt their character and the structure of conscious will itself. The risk surge with every fleeting time, delivering a nightmarish journey that harmonizes occult fear with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to tap into primitive panic, an threat rooted in antiquity, manifesting in inner turmoil, and testing a evil that peels away humanity when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra demanded embodying something unfamiliar to reason. She is clueless until the evil takes hold, and that shift is soul-crushing because it is so internal.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—so that streamers no matter where they are can enjoy this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its first preview, which has seen over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, exporting the fear to a worldwide audience.


Do not miss this soul-jarring spiral into evil. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to dive into these chilling revelations about mankind.


For sneak peeks, director cuts, and announcements from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across entertainment pages and visit youngandcursed.com.





U.S. horror’s Turning Point: 2025 in focus U.S. lineup interlaces primeval-possession lore, microbudget gut-punches, set against tentpole growls

Across grit-forward survival fare drawn from primordial scripture as well as series comebacks in concert with surgical indie voices, 2025 is shaping up as the most variegated along with carefully orchestrated year in a decade.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. Top studios lock in tentpoles with familiar IP, at the same time premium streamers flood the fall with discovery plays paired with ancestral chills. Meanwhile, the art-house flank is propelled by the tailwinds of a peak 2024 circuit. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A fat September–October lane is customary now, however this time, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are methodical, as a result 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: High-craft horror returns

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 accelerates.

the Universal camp sets the tone with an audacious swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. Directed by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Booked into mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Under Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

Toward summer’s end, the Warner Bros. banner delivers the closing chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Granted the structure is classic, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson returns, and the tone that worked before is intact: retrograde shiver, trauma foregrounded, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This run ups the stakes, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The next entry deepens the tale, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, bridging teens and legacy players. It posts in December, pinning the winter close.

Platform Plays: Economy, maximum dread

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a forensic chill anthology splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a body horror chamber piece starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

In the mix sits Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative led by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

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 looks like sharp programming. No overweight mythology. No franchise baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

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

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Franchise Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

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

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Dials to Watch

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror ascends again
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theaters are a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Outlook: Autumn density and winter pivot

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 must fight for oxygen. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The forthcoming 2026 scare calendar year ahead: installments, Originals, And A hectic Calendar designed for nightmares

Dek The arriving scare calendar packs at the outset with a January bottleneck, before it unfolds through peak season, and deep into the holidays, fusing brand heft, new voices, and tactical release strategy. Distributors with platforms are betting on tight budgets, theater-first strategies, and viral-minded pushes that transform genre releases into four-quadrant talking points.

How the genre looks for 2026

Horror has established itself as the steady counterweight in studio calendars, a category that can spike when it connects and still limit the drag when it under-delivers. After 2023 showed decision-makers that responsibly budgeted horror vehicles can galvanize audience talk, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with filmmaker-forward plays and unexpected risers. The carry carried into 2025, where returns and festival-grade titles confirmed there is a market for diverse approaches, from series extensions to original features that export nicely. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a slate that reads highly synchronized across studios, with intentional bunching, a spread of marquee IP and novel angles, and a sharpened strategy on big-screen windows that drive downstream revenue on premium video on demand and streaming.

Planners observe the space now works like a swing piece on the schedule. Horror can debut on most weekends, supply a clear pitch for previews and TikTok spots, and lead with audiences that respond on Thursday previews and stick through the next weekend if the movie pays off. After a production delay era, the 2026 pattern exhibits assurance in that dynamic. The calendar rolls out with a weighty January run, then uses spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while making space for a late-year stretch that carries into the fright window and afterwards. The layout also shows the greater integration of specialized imprints and platforms that can build gradually, fuel WOM, and grow at the right moment.

A parallel macro theme is brand curation across ongoing universes and heritage properties. Studio teams are not just pushing another next film. They are aiming to frame story carry-over with a occasion, whether that is a typeface approach that flags a recalibrated tone or a casting choice that binds a fresh chapter to a initial period. At the in tandem, the directors behind the most watched originals are leaning into hands-on technique, in-camera effects and place-driven backdrops. That combination offers the 2026 slate a confident blend of known notes and unexpected turns, which is the formula for international play.

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

Paramount opens strong with two centerpiece bets that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the front, framing it as both a relay and a heritage-centered character piece. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture telegraphs a memory-charged mode without rehashing the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. A campaign is expected driven by signature symbols, first-look character reveals, and a promo sequence timed to late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will emphasize. As a summer alternative, this one will build mainstream recognition through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format fitting quick pivots to whatever rules genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three differentiated plays. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is tight, soulful, and logline-clear: a grieving man onboards an machine companion that grows into a fatal companion. The date nudges it to the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to bring back uncanny live moments and snackable content that interlaces attachment and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a title reveal to become an teaser payoff closer to the early tease. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele titles are marketed as creative events, with a mystery-first teaser and a second beat that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date lets the studio to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has demonstrated that a visceral, on-set effects led execution can feel elevated on a efficient spend. Frame it as a red-band summer horror shot that leans into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio deploys two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, continuing a proven supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is selling as a ground-zero restart 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 explicit mandate to serve both franchise faithful and first-timers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build artifacts around setting detail, and creature work, elements that can amplify premium format interest and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions 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 centered on meticulous craft and textual fidelity, this time orbiting lycan myth. The label has already set the date for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is positive.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s releases transition to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a structure that boosts both premiere heat and subscriber lifts in the back half. Prime Video blends licensed films with international acquisitions and select theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu work their edges in archive usage, using featured rows, fright rows, and programmed rows to maximize the tail on lifetime take. Netflix plays opportunist about internal projects and festival pickups, scheduling horror entries with shorter lead times and elevating as drops debuts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a laddered of focused cinema runs and rapid platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has indicated interest to acquire select projects with name filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for sustained usage when the genre conversation ramps.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 runway with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s horror classic title. The offer is straightforward: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, recalibrated for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the late stretch.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday slot to scale. That positioning has delivered for prestige horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception drives. Expect 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 in concert, using targeted theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their membership.

Brands and originals

By tilt, the 2026 slate skews toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit brand equity. The caveat, as ever, is viewer burnout. The go-to fix is to pitch each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is centering relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a continental coloration from a fresh helmer. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the package is comforting enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and early previews.

Past-three-year patterns help explain the strategy. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that maintained windows did not prevent a hybrid test from paying off when the brand was strong. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror surged in premium large format. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they pivot perspective and widen scale. 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot consecutively, permits marketing to bridge entries through protagonists and motifs and to leave creative active without lulls.

How the look and feel evolve

The director conversations behind the 2026 entries suggest a continued turn toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that elevates tone and tension rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and era-true language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft spotlights before rolling out a tease that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and spurs shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta refresh that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature work and production design, which play well in con floor moments and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that underscore fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that work in PLF.

How the year maps out

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 tonal palate cleanser amid marquee brands. The month wraps 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 serious, but the spread of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Late Q1 and spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can connect 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 series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a early fall window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited advance reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card spend.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved this page man’s intelligent companion grows into something fatal and romantic. 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot 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 unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. 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 abrasive boss push to survive on a remote island as the control balance swivels and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to menace, driven by Cronin’s practical effects and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting narrative that mediates the fear via a youngster’s uncertain internal vantage. Rating: TBD. 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 re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that lampoons present-day genre chatter and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBA. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 bursts, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new household tethered to lingering terrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: pending. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival-first horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBD. Production: moving forward. 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 time-true diction and ancient menace. Rating: TBA. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three hands-on forces organize this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shifted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and condensed timelines. 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 outpaced straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine clippable moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, providing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will compete across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, 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 sleeper 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 stealth overachiever 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.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a 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 stack through the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value 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 credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, soundscape, 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 Promising 2026

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is IP strength where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.