Ancient Evil emerges: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding feature, bowing Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

This unnerving paranormal horror tale from screenwriter / director Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an long-buried curse when passersby become proxies in a dark maze. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing depiction of overcoming and forgotten curse that will transform the horror genre this fall. Crafted by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and shadowy tale follows five figures who come to isolated in a secluded hideaway under the dark will of Kyra, a troubled woman claimed by a millennia-old Old Testament spirit. Anticipate to be hooked by a big screen outing that melds bodily fright with biblical origins, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demonic control has been a well-established motif in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is inverted when the fiends no longer appear from elsewhere, but rather inside their minds. This symbolizes the most terrifying facet of the cast. The result is a relentless cognitive warzone where the suspense becomes a ongoing face-off between right and wrong.


In a barren backcountry, five teens find themselves trapped under the ominous grip and control of a elusive character. As the group becomes submissive to deny her command, stranded and tracked by evils beyond reason, they are cornered to wrestle with their raw vulnerabilities while the seconds mercilessly draws closer toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease deepens and friendships implode, driving each individual to contemplate their self and the philosophy of personal agency itself. The cost surge with every minute, delivering a frightening tale that blends supernatural terror with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to awaken primitive panic, an threat beyond time, channeling itself through soul-level flaws, and wrestling with a being that redefines identity when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra needed manifesting something more primal than sorrow. She is unaware until the entity awakens, and that shift is eerie because it is so intimate.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for streaming beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—making sure subscribers in all regions can watch this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its original promo, which has seen over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, delivering the story to global fright lovers.


Tune in for this soul-jarring fall into madness. Confront *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to dive into these fearful discoveries about human nature.


For previews, director cuts, and news from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your favorite networks and visit youngandcursed.com.





Contemporary horror’s pivotal crossroads: the 2025 season U.S. lineup weaves archetypal-possession themes, indie terrors, in parallel with IP aftershocks

Spanning life-or-death fear steeped in primordial scripture as well as returning series plus keen independent perspectives, 2025 is coalescing into the most variegated together with calculated campaign year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. the big studios hold down the year with familiar IP, in parallel OTT services front-load the fall with new voices and old-world menace. On the festival side, horror’s indie wing is buoyed by the afterglow from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, and now, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are methodical, hence 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The majors are assertive. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal Pictures fires the first shot with a statement play: a refreshed Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, inside today’s landscape. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. targeting mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Helmed by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s slate unveils the final movement from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson resumes command, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: nostalgic menace, trauma as narrative engine, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The ante is higher this round, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The return delves further into myth, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It drops in December, pinning the winter close.

Streaming Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a sealed box body horror arc fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend with Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within 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 a calculated bet. No overweight mythology. No series drag. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy Brands: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

What to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

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

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

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 stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Outlook: Fall stack and winter swing card

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

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The forthcoming 2026 fear release year: installments, universe starters, as well as A hectic Calendar optimized for nightmares

Dek: The new scare year lines up from day one with a January bottleneck, subsequently unfolds through summer, and pushing into the winter holidays, marrying franchise firepower, new voices, and well-timed counter-scheduling. Major distributors and platforms are relying on responsible budgets, theatrical leads, and viral-minded pushes that frame genre releases into culture-wide discussion.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror sector has turned into the dependable option in programming grids, a vertical that can grow when it hits and still protect the downside when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year signaled to buyers that modestly budgeted scare machines can galvanize mainstream conversation, the following year continued the surge with signature-voice projects and word-of-mouth wins. The carry rolled into the 2025 frame, where reboots and elevated films highlighted there is a lane for several lanes, from series extensions to one-and-done originals that perform internationally. The upshot for 2026 is a programming that reads highly synchronized across studios, with intentional bunching, a mix of recognizable IP and fresh ideas, and a reinvigorated strategy on big-screen windows that feed downstream value on premium home window and SVOD.

Distribution heads claim the genre now works like a utility player on the programming map. The genre can open on a wide range of weekends, yield a tight logline for creative and social clips, and overperform with patrons that appear on preview nights and sustain through the subsequent weekend if the feature delivers. Following a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 rhythm underscores confidence in that dynamic. The slate rolls out with a loaded January corridor, then turns to spring and early summer for contrast, while making space for a September to October window that carries into late October and afterwards. The calendar also underscores the increasing integration of boutique distributors and digital platforms that can launch in limited release, ignite recommendations, and go nationwide at the timely point.

A second macro trend is series management across unified worlds and legacy franchises. Major shops are not just releasing another chapter. They are setting up story carry-over with a heightened moment, whether that is a title design that conveys a re-angled tone or a casting pivot that threads a latest entry to a foundational era. At the in tandem, the auteurs behind the most anticipated originals are doubling down on physical effects work, practical gags and concrete locations. That interplay produces the 2026 slate a vital pairing of known notes and unexpected turns, which is why the genre exports well.

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

Paramount marks the early tempo with two spotlight entries that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the lead, marketing it as both a relay and a rootsy character-focused installment. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach points to a heritage-honoring mode without repeating the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Anticipate a campaign stacked with classic imagery, first images of characters, and a trailer cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will stress. As a summer counter-slot, this one will drive mass reach through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format making room for quick updates to whatever owns the conversation that spring.

Universal has three differentiated bets. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is crisp, loss-driven, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man activates an algorithmic mate that evolves into a murderous partner. The date puts it at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s marketing likely to bring back strange in-person beats and short-cut promos that fuses affection and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a branding reveal to become an teaser payoff closer to the teaser. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele projects are presented as director events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor gives Universal room to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub at click to read more the center. The franchise has consistently shown that a raw, in-camera leaning mix can feel deluxe on a disciplined budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror shock that pushes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio sets two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, carrying a dependable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is framing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both fans and new audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build artifacts around environmental design, and creature builds, elements that can stoke format premiums and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror centered on immersive craft and period speech, this time set against lycan legends. The imprint has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as imp source a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is supportive.

Digital platform strategies

Platform tactics for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s horror titles head to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ordering that fortifies both first-week urgency and viewer acquisition in the late-window. Prime Video pairs licensed content with global pickups and limited cinema engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in deep cuts, using prominent placements, Halloween hubs, and editorial rows to extend momentum on the annual genre haul. Netflix remains opportunistic about originals and festival wins, timing horror entries toward the drop and making event-like go-lives with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a one-two of precision theatrical plays and quick platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a per-project basis. The platform has indicated interest to pick up select projects with prestige directors or marquee packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for retention when the genre conversation swells.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

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 promise is clean: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, reimagined for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an promising marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the late stretch.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then using the December frame to open out. That positioning has served the company well for director-led genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception justifies. Expect 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 together, using small theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Brands and originals

By volume, 2026 skews toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap legacy awareness. The caveat, as ever, is diminishing returns. The operating solution is to sell each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is centering character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French sensibility from a fresh helmer. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the packaging is assuring enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Three-year comps contextualize the method. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that preserved streaming windows did not stop a hybrid test from winning when the brand was compelling. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror over-performed in PLF. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they shift POV and expand the canvas. 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 shot in tandem, lets marketing to connect the chapters through character and theme and to continue assets in field without lulls.

Behind-the-camera trends

The creative meetings behind the year’s horror signal a continued shift toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that leans on texture and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and era-true language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft spotlights before rolling out a preview that withholds plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and earns shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a self-aware reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on monster realization and design, which are ideal for expo activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel key. Look for trailers that highlight hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that play in premium auditoriums.

From winter to holidays

January is busy. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid macro-brand pushes. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the spread of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth sustains.

February through May set up the summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late summer into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited previews that lean on concept not plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card spend.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s AI companion turns into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: atmospheric 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 hard-edged boss battle to survive on a isolated island as the power balance upends and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to menace, built on Cronin’s physical craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting story that refracts terror through a preteen’s unreliable perspective. Rating: rating pending. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-grade and celebrity-led supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that lampoons hot-button genre motifs and true crime preoccupations. Rating: undetermined. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 breaks out, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new family snared by ancient dread. Rating: undetermined. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A restart designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: not yet rated. Production: continuing. 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 fear. Rating: undetermined. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026, why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces drive this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shuffled in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and condensed timelines. 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 outperformed straight-to-streaming launches. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate clippable moments from test screenings, precision scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can capture a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January horror is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will jostle across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where lean-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play 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 austere, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, disciplined footprints, 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 surface detail, acoustics, 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, Lined Up To Scare

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand gravity where needed, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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, guard the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.