Antediluvian Terror returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising feature, bowing October 2025 on top streamers

This bone-chilling metaphysical thriller from writer / director Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an timeless nightmare when strangers become vehicles in a cursed game. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving chronicle of overcoming and timeless dread that will reconstruct horror this October. Guided by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and shadowy cinema piece follows five teens who awaken trapped in a remote cabin under the hostile sway of Kyra, a young woman possessed by a timeless biblical force. Arm yourself to be ensnared by a screen-based experience that integrates soul-chilling terror with arcane tradition, streaming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a iconic trope in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is challenged when the monsters no longer develop outside their bodies, but rather from their psyche. This illustrates the most terrifying aspect of the victims. The result is a harrowing psychological battle where the narrative becomes a constant battle between right and wrong.


In a haunting outland, five figures find themselves contained under the sinister sway and spiritual invasion of a obscure female figure. As the victims becomes incapable to break her command, left alone and attacked by forces mind-shattering, they are made to confront their worst nightmares while the moments without pause ticks toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion grows and friendships dissolve, pressuring each participant to reconsider their core and the philosophy of self-determination itself. The pressure accelerate with every minute, delivering a nightmarish journey that weaves together paranormal dread with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to explore primitive panic, an force older than civilization itself, operating within soul-level flaws, and navigating a curse that dismantles free will when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra meant channeling something rooted in terror. She is innocent until the demon emerges, and that shift is eerie because it is so deep.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for digital release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—so that customers worldwide can get immersed in this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its original clip, which has attracted over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, bringing the film to thrill-seekers globally.


Be sure to catch this mind-warping descent into hell. Watch *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to explore these terrifying truths about our species.


For cast commentary, production news, and announcements from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across entertainment pages and visit our horror hub.





Today’s horror sea change: 2025 for genre fans U.S. calendar Mixes old-world possession, independent shockers, in parallel with tentpole growls

Spanning last-stand terror suffused with scriptural legend and stretching into franchise returns paired with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 looks like the most variegated in tandem with tactically planned year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. Top studios lay down anchors through proven series, at the same time streaming platforms front-load the fall with debut heat plus ancient terrors. At the same time, the art-house flank is carried on the uplift from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The fall stretch is the proving field, distinctly in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are surgical, so 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige terror resurfaces

The majors are assertive. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s distribution arm sets the tone with a marquee bet: a refreshed Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in a clear present-tense world. Guided by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. Slated for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Under Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

When summer tapers, the Warner Bros. banner delivers the closing chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Although the framework is familiar, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Scott Derrickson again directs, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: period tinged dread, trauma foregrounded, along with eerie supernatural rules. This time, the stakes are raised, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, broadens the animatronic terror cast, reaching teens and game grownups. It books December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Originals: No Budget, No Problem

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, 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. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, 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 threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. 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 reads as sharp positioning. No bloated mythology. No sequel clutter. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

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, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. 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, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

What to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror returns
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Big screen is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Outlook: Fall crush plus winter X factor

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

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 fright release year: continuations, new stories, in tandem with A Crowded Calendar Built For Scares

Dek The brand-new genre cycle stacks early with a January wave, thereafter rolls through midyear, and well into the late-year period, balancing franchise firepower, novel approaches, and smart counterplay. Major distributors and platforms are betting on efficient budgets, cinema-first plans, and social-fueled campaigns that position the slate’s entries into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror sector has become the most reliable swing in studio slates, a category that can scale when it resonates and still limit the drag when it fails to connect. After 2023 showed executives that modestly budgeted entries can drive audience talk, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with filmmaker-forward plays and under-the-radar smashes. The carry fed into 2025, where revived properties and critical darlings proved there is demand for multiple flavors, from legacy continuations to standalone ideas that carry overseas. The net effect for 2026 is a grid that looks unusually coordinated across distributors, with strategic blocks, a balance of familiar brands and untested plays, and a sharpened focus on big-screen windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium on-demand and home streaming.

Executives say the space now performs as a fill-in ace on the rollout map. Horror can bow on many corridors, generate a grabby hook for marketing and vertical videos, and over-index with demo groups that lean in on previews Thursday and hold through the second weekend if the entry lands. Coming out of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 configuration signals comfort in that approach. The calendar starts with a heavy January band, then primes spring and early summer for balance, while reserving space for a autumn push that carries into the Halloween corridor and into post-Halloween. The arrangement also features the expanded integration of arthouse labels and digital platforms that can grow from platform, spark evangelism, and go nationwide at the sweet spot.

Another broad trend is IP cultivation across shared universes and legacy IP. The studios are not just greenlighting another installment. They are working to present story carry-over with a specialness, whether that is a title design that suggests a recalibrated tone or a casting pivot that links a new entry to a classic era. At the simultaneously, the auteurs behind the headline-grabbing originals are doubling down on physical effects work, in-camera effects and concrete locations. That pairing produces 2026 a vital pairing of comfort and shock, which is how the genre sells abroad.

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

Paramount marks the early tempo with two high-profile bets that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the core, setting it up as both a cross-generational handoff and a foundation-forward character-first story. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach hints at a roots-evoking framework without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign built on recognizable motifs, first images of characters, and a tease cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will play up. As a summer relief option, this one will seek mainstream recognition through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format fitting quick turns to whatever drives trend lines that spring.

Universal has three defined plays. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is elegant, somber, and easily pitched: a grieving man brings home an machine companion that turns into a murderous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s marketing likely to reprise uncanny live moments and short reels that threads love and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a title drop to become an marketing beat closer to the initial tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s releases are presented as marquee events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a later creative that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween runway gives Universal room to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has demonstrated that a gritty, practical-effects forward mix can feel high-value on a moderate cost. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror hit that leans into global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio launches two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, carrying a steady supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is framing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both loyalists and curious audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build assets around lore, and creature effects, elements that can increase premium booking interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books 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 characterized by obsessive craft and period speech, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Platform lanes and windowing

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s genre entries shift to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a stair-step that elevates both FOMO and trial spikes in the later phase. Prime Video continues to mix third-party pickups with world buys and limited runs in theaters when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in catalog engagement, using seasonal hubs, October hubs, and curated strips to sustain interest on overall cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about original films and festival buys, securing horror entries toward the drop and making event-like go-lives with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a tiered of targeted cinema placements and short jumps to platform that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a per-project basis. The platform has shown appetite to board select projects with established auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for monthly activity when the genre conversation intensifies.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is curating a 2026 arc with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is tight: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, upgraded for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the back half.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through festival season if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday corridor to move out. That positioning has shown results for director-led genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception prompts. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using select theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their user base.

Known brands versus new stories

By tilt, the 2026 slate bends toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap legacy awareness. The caveat, as ever, is overexposure. The operating solution is to package each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is spotlighting character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a Francophone tone from a hot helmer. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the package is grounded enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Recent comps contextualize the model. In 2023, a cinema-first model that preserved streaming windows did not prevent a dual release from delivering when the brand was powerful. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror surged in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they alter lens and elevate 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 linked-chapter plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, allows marketing to interlace chapters through personae and themes and to keep materials circulating without pause points.

How the films are being made

The production chatter behind 2026 horror point to a continued turn toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that elevates aura and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft coverage before rolling out a teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and generates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta inflection that centers an original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on monster work and world-building, which are ideal for fan-con activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel primary. Look for trailers that underscore pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that work in PLF.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is stacked. Universal’s 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 somber counterpoint amid bigger brand plays. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the tone spread ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Q1 into Q2 prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Late summer into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a transitional slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a peekaboo tease plan and limited previews that prioritize concept over plot.

Awards-adjacent 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, measured platforming, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with horror casting continuing to be revealed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genome. 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 man’s AI companion escalates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 forms 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 comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss push to survive on a isolated island as the hierarchy tilts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. 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 disclosed in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to menace, grounded in Cronin’s practical craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting story that leverages the unease of a child’s unreliable perspective. Rating: TBD. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A comic send-up that targets contemporary horror memes and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBA. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites detonates, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further widens again, with a fresh family caught in returning horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A new start designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on pure survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and elemental menace. Rating: TBA. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 in flux, fall expected.

Why this year, why now

Three workable forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that downshifted or recalendared in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and leaner 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 outpaced straight-to-streaming placements. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on meme-ready beats from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can capture a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will stack across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 search for sleepers 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever this contact form 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, 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 scale over time, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, lean footprints, and strong PLF useful reference 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 imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand equity where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shudders sell the seats.