Antediluvian Dread reawakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked shocker, launching October 2025 on top streamers

One terrifying ghostly nightmare movie from cinematographer / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an long-buried malevolence when strangers become vehicles in a devilish conflict. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish account of continuance and mythic evil that will resculpt the fear genre this autumn. Brought to life by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and moody feature follows five characters who come to confined in a unreachable wooden structure under the malignant command of Kyra, a cursed figure inhabited by a biblical-era scriptural evil. Ready yourself to be enthralled by a theatrical display that harmonizes raw fear with arcane tradition, streaming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a mainstay tradition in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is redefined when the entities no longer manifest from beyond, but rather through their own souls. This illustrates the most sinister facet of each of them. The result is a edge-of-seat inner struggle where the conflict becomes a ongoing conflict between righteousness and malevolence.


In a wilderness-stricken wild, five adults find themselves cornered under the ominous effect and grasp of a elusive being. As the team becomes unresisting to resist her grasp, detached and tracked by entities unimaginable, they are pushed to battle their greatest panics while the doomsday meter unceasingly winds toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension intensifies and bonds implode, compelling each individual to doubt their being and the concept of liberty itself. The tension accelerate with every fleeting time, delivering a chilling narrative that fuses supernatural terror with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to extract elemental fright, an evil rooted in antiquity, manipulating mental cracks, and exposing a darkness that erodes the self when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra asked for exploring something rooted in terror. She is unaware until the curse activates, and that evolution is gut-wrenching because it is so close.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be released for streaming beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—delivering users no matter where they are can enjoy this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its intro video, which has received over massive response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, taking the terror to lovers of terror across nations.


Tune in for this heart-stopping exploration of dread. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to witness these ghostly lessons about the psyche.


For director insights, production insights, and news from the cast and crew, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across entertainment pages and visit the movie’s homepage.





U.S. horror’s watershed moment: the 2025 cycle U.S. lineup blends Mythic Possession, microbudget gut-punches, together with franchise surges

Kicking off with life-or-death fear grounded in primordial scripture to IP renewals as well as incisive indie visions, 2025 appears poised to be horror’s most layered along with strategic year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. top-tier distributors are anchoring the year by way of signature titles, as platform operators front-load the fall with discovery plays together with legend-coded dread. In the indie lane, indie storytellers is drafting behind the uplift from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, and now, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are methodical, which means 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 set the base, 2025 presses the advantage.

the Universal camp begins the calendar with a headline swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Directed by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. Slated for mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Helmed by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

When summer tapers, Warner’s slate bows the concluding entry inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Though the formula is familiar, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re engages, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: old school creep, trauma in the foreground, with ghostly inner logic. The stakes escalate here, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, bridging teens and legacy players. It books December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Firsts: Modest spend, serious shock

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a sealed box body horror arc starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is a clever angle. No overinflated mythology. No continuity burden. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, 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.

Heritage Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

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

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror swings back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Laurels convert to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Season Ahead: Fall saturation and a winter joker

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

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The oncoming fright release year: entries, original films, and also A Crowded Calendar aimed at frights

Dek The upcoming scare year crams up front with a January wave, then carries through summer, and straight through the year-end corridor, mixing marquee clout, inventive spins, and smart release strategy. Studios and platforms are leaning into tight budgets, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that turn the slate’s entries into all-audience topics.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The field has emerged as the most reliable tool in distribution calendars, a lane that can expand when it clicks and still limit the drag when it does not. After the 2023 year demonstrated to leaders that modestly budgeted entries can galvanize audience talk, 2024 held pace with visionary-driven titles and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam carried into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and arthouse crossovers showed there is an opening for a spectrum, from legacy continuations to one-and-done originals that translate worldwide. The combined impact for 2026 is a roster that seems notably aligned across the field, with strategic blocks, a balance of household franchises and original hooks, and a refocused stance on release windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium video on demand and streaming.

Studio leaders note the space now functions as a swing piece on the programming map. Horror can bow on many corridors, create a quick sell for promo reels and TikTok spots, and over-index with demo groups that lean in on previews Thursday and stay strong through the week two if the film lands. Following a production delay era, the 2026 setup signals assurance in that setup. The slate rolls out with a weighty January schedule, then taps spring and early summer for audience offsets, while clearing room for a fall cadence that flows toward the Halloween corridor and into November. The gridline also features the continuing integration of indie arms and OTT outlets that can platform a title, grow buzz, and expand at the sweet spot.

A parallel macro theme is franchise tending across unified worlds and long-running brands. The studios are not just pushing another follow-up. They are working to present lineage with a premium feel, whether that is a title treatment that signals a tonal shift or a casting pivot that links a fresh chapter to a classic era. At the simultaneously, the filmmakers behind the most buzzed-about originals are leaning into hands-on technique, practical effects and location-forward worlds. That interplay provides the 2026 slate a vital pairing of brand comfort and newness, which is the formula for international play.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount establishes early momentum with two prominent titles that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the center, marketing it as both a legacy handover and a origin-leaning character-forward chapter. Production is active in Atlanta, and the story approach signals a nostalgia-forward approach without recycling the last two entries’ sibling arc. Look for a marketing run driven by classic imagery, initial cast looks, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm hitting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will double down on. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will hunt mainstream recognition through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format enabling quick adjustments to whatever rules pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three clear pushes. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is simple, sorrow-tinged, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man implements an virtual partner that escalates into a killer companion. The date places it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to replay uncanny-valley stunts and short-form creative that interlaces intimacy and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions 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 dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a public title to become an headline beat closer to the initial promo. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s pictures are set up as filmmaker events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a subsequent trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The prime October weekend gives Universal room to own 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has established that a gritty, in-camera leaning approach can feel big on a moderate cost. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror shot that leans into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio books two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, preserving a dependable 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 sets it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is billing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both core fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot gives Sony time to build campaign creative around environmental design, and monster aesthetics, elements that can amplify premium format interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in historical precision and linguistic texture, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is robust.

Digital platform strategies

Platform windowing in 2026 run on known playbooks. The studio’s horror films shift to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ordering that maximizes both week-one demand and trial spikes in the tail. Prime Video balances third-party pickups with global pickups and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data backs it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library curation, using curated hubs, fright rows, and curated strips to sustain interest on aggregate take. Netflix plays opportunist about original films and festival wins, scheduling horror entries toward the drop and elevating as drops debuts with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a tiered of tailored theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that converts WOM to subscribers. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to secure select projects with award winners or name-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for platform stickiness when the genre conversation builds.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 runway with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is tight: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, retooled for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the October weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, curating the rollout through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday slot to scale. That positioning has shown results for director-led genre 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 commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception merits. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using select theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Franchises versus originals

By share, 2026 is weighted toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use name recognition. The concern, as ever, is diminishing returns. The near-term solution is to position each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is spotlighting character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-tinted vision from a ascendant talent. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and visionary-led titles add 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, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the cast-creatives package is known enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Three-year comps outline the logic. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that held distribution windows did not hamper a dual release from thriving when the brand was sticky. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror outperformed in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they reorient and elevate scope. 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 paired-chapter approach, with chapters filmed consecutively, creates space for marketing to tie installments through character web and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without pause points.

How the look and feel evolve

The production chatter behind the year’s horror suggest a continued emphasis on tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that leans on texture and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and era-true language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in feature stories and craft coverage before rolling out a atmospheric tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at rubbery nastiness, a signature of this contact form the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and produces shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta pivot that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature execution and sets, which favor fan conventions and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel must-have. Look for trailers that underscore fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that land in big rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is loaded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid heftier brand moves. The month finishes 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 legit, but the tonal variety creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Post-January through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Shoulder season into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a bridge slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited pre-release reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and card redemption.

Film-by-film briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s virtual companion unfolds into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively 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 returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: fog-and-fear adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss battle to survive on a isolated island as the control dynamic reverses and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. 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 kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to dread, shaped by Cronin’s practical effects and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. 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 residential haunting premise that toys with the fear of a child’s inconsistent interpretations. Rating: forthcoming. Production: fully shot. Positioning: major-studio 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 returning creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that teases today’s horror trends and true crime fixations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a unlucky family tethered to lingering terrors. Rating: pending. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A restart designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: forthcoming. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: forthcoming. Production: continuing. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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 ancient menace. Rating: TBA. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three practical forces define this lineup. First, production that paused or re-slotted in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming drops. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify turnkey scare beats from test screenings, curated scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can command a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will line up across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can use 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 come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where 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 banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient placements, 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 detail, audio design, and visuals 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 Shapes Up Strong

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is IP strength where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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, shape lean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.