Age-old Evil Emerges within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding thriller, landing October 2025 across leading streamers

A bone-chilling metaphysical fear-driven tale from cinematographer / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an archaic fear when foreigners become conduits in a devilish game. Dropping October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking tale of overcoming and prehistoric entity that will resculpt terror storytelling this October. Produced by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and cinematic story follows five people who arise stuck in a secluded cabin under the menacing sway of Kyra, a troubled woman inhabited by a antiquated biblical demon. Steel yourself to be shaken by a filmic event that fuses visceral dread with arcane tradition, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a mainstay theme in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is redefined when the entities no longer appear outside the characters, but rather from within. This portrays the deepest side of these individuals. The result is a enthralling mind game where the suspense becomes a unyielding battle between heaven and hell.


In a unforgiving landscape, five individuals find themselves sealed under the evil influence and spiritual invasion of a secretive being. As the team becomes unresisting to escape her grasp, detached and stalked by unknowns beyond comprehension, they are required to face their greatest panics while the timeline mercilessly edges forward toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion surges and teams splinter, demanding each person to evaluate their self and the notion of volition itself. The hazard escalate with every heartbeat, delivering a terror ride that fuses spiritual fright with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to evoke instinctual horror, an evil older than civilization itself, filtering through soul-level flaws, and examining a presence that erodes the self when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra involved tapping into something more primal than sorrow. She is unseeing until the possession kicks in, and that turn is deeply unsettling because it is so private.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for streaming beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing watchers no matter where they are can watch this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its intro video, which has been viewed over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, exporting the fear to fans of fear everywhere.


Witness this mind-warping fall into madness. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to see these fearful discoveries about mankind.


For behind-the-scenes access, filmmaker commentary, and reveals straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across online outlets and visit our film’s homepage.





Horror’s major pivot: 2025 for genre fans American release plan weaves ancient-possession motifs, festival-born jolts, plus franchise surges

Running from survival horror inspired by old testament echoes and including returning series together with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is emerging as the most complex plus blueprinted year in the past ten years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Major studios stabilize the year with franchise anchors, even as subscription platforms front-load the fall with emerging auteurs as well as ancestral chills. In the indie lane, independent banners is riding the tailwinds of a peak 2024 circuit. As Halloween stays the prime week, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and now, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are targeted, which means 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal fires the first shot with a statement play: a modernized Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a sharp contemporary setting. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. targeting mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Helmed by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer winds down, Warner’s slate rolls out the capstone from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Though the outline is tried, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

After that, The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re boards, and those signature textures resurface: nostalgic menace, trauma driven plotting, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This pass pushes higher, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, stretches the animatronic parade, courting teens and the thirty something base. It lands in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Platform Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a two hander body horror spiral fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. 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 legacy baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross 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. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, led by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Signals and Trends

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

Body horror reemerges
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Near Term Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

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

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The upcoming Horror lineup: brand plays, non-franchise titles, in tandem with A busy Calendar calibrated for goosebumps

Dek: The brand-new horror cycle builds up front with a January glut, before it runs through summer, and straight through the holiday stretch, blending name recognition, original angles, and savvy release strategy. The big buyers and platforms are relying on right-sized spends, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that pivot these releases into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This space has turned into the most reliable counterweight in annual schedules, a lane that can scale when it performs and still cushion the risk when it fails to connect. After 2023 reconfirmed for decision-makers that modestly budgeted chillers can own social chatter, 2024 carried the beat with director-led heat and sleeper breakouts. The carry pushed into the 2025 frame, where returns and filmmaker-prestige bets proved there is capacity for many shades, from franchise continuations to standalone ideas that perform internationally. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a grid that shows rare alignment across companies, with obvious clusters, a blend of familiar brands and new concepts, and a refocused emphasis on exclusive windows that fuel later windows on premium rental and home platforms.

Insiders argue the genre now behaves like a versatile piece on the grid. The genre can bow on almost any weekend, create a tight logline for promo reels and platform-native cuts, and overperform with ticket buyers that turn out on first-look nights and sustain through the sophomore frame if the picture satisfies. Emerging from a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 mapping indicates comfort in that dynamic. The year starts with a weighty January schedule, then plants flags in spring and early summer for audience offsets, while reserving space for a September to October window that pushes into the fright window and into November. The arrangement also illustrates the continuing integration of specialized labels and platforms that can platform and widen, build word of mouth, and go nationwide at the right moment.

Another broad trend is IP stewardship across connected story worlds and legacy IP. Distribution groups are not just pushing another installment. They are looking to package continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a title design that telegraphs a new vibe or a ensemble decision that reconnects a next entry to a classic era. At the alongside this, the creative teams behind the headline-grabbing originals are embracing real-world builds, in-camera effects and site-specific worlds. That combination delivers 2026 a solid mix of known notes and unexpected turns, which is how the genre sells abroad.

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

Paramount fires first with two centerpiece pushes that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the front, positioning the film as both a passing of the torch and a return-to-roots character-forward chapter. Production is active in Atlanta, and the artistic posture telegraphs a nostalgia-forward bent without retreading the last two entries’ sibling arc. Watch for a push centered on recognizable motifs, character-first teases, and a promo sequence arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will feature. As a summer contrast play, this one will go after wide buzz through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick redirects to whatever drives pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three separate bets. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is efficient, somber, and concept-forward: a grieving man sets up an artificial companion that shifts into a harmful mate. The date positions it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s marketing likely to revisit off-kilter promo beats and short-form creative that melds companionship and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a final title to become an marketing beat closer to the teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele titles are presented as creative events, with a mystery-first teaser and a second wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The spooky-season slot lets the studio to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has shown that a gnarly, in-camera leaning mix can feel high-value on a middle budget. Expect a grime-caked summer horror blast that emphasizes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio lines up two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, maintaining a evergreen supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is framing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both diehards and fresh viewers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build promo materials around canon, and creature design, elements that can amplify premium screens and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror driven by historical precision and period language, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus’s team has already set the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is supportive.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform windowing in 2026 run on stable tracks. The studio’s horror films head to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a ladder that optimizes both first-week urgency and trial spikes in the back half. Prime Video pairs outside acquisitions with world buys and small theatrical windows when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in deep cuts, using editorial spots, seasonal hubs, and staff picks to lengthen the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about Netflix films and festival additions, dating horror entries toward the drop and staging as events drops with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a paired of limited theatrical footprints and quick platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a curated 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 generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation intensifies.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 track with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is simple: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, upgraded for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the September weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, guiding the film through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday frame to expand. That positioning has proved effective for prestige horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception encourages. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using precision theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their audience.

Known brands versus new stories

By share, the 2026 slate leans toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap brand equity. The watch-out, as ever, is overexposure. The go-to fix is to frame each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is elevating relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-inflected take from a hot helmer. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the configuration is assuring enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years make sense of the approach. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that preserved streaming windows did not prevent a day-date try from hitting when the brand was potent. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror hit big in premium formats. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they angle differently and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances 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 produced back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to cross-link entries through character and theme and to keep materials circulating without extended gaps.

Production craft signals

The production chatter behind these films forecast a continued shift toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that elevates unease and texture rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in long-lead features and technical spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and earns shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta pivot that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature design and production design, which fit with fan conventions and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel must-have. Look for trailers that center pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that shine in top rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is heavy. 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 foggy reset amid larger brand plays. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the range of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth carries.

Winter into spring load in summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s 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 divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

August and September into October leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil follows September 18, a bridge slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event occupies October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a opaque tease strategy and limited information drops that elevate concept over story.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can play the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and card redemption.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s algorithmic partner shifts into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse 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 run into a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. 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 abrasive boss fight to survive on a remote island as the power dynamic upends and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

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 renewed take that returns the monster to dread, rooted in Cronin’s hands-on craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting story that teases the panic of a child’s uncertain interpretations. Rating: TBD. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed and star-led supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A parody return that teases modern genre fads and true-crime buzz. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a fresh family linked to ancient dread. Rating: to be announced. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A fresh restart designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward true survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: pending. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

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

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and ancient menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three execution-level forces drive this lineup. First, production that eased or shifted in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more strict 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 launches. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, precision scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will compete across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for see here 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 modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Expect a healthy 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.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, sound field, 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.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand heft where it matters, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing 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 sharp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the screams sell the seats.