Antediluvian Horror Surfaces within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled horror feature, streaming Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

This spine-tingling metaphysical suspense film from creator / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an primeval malevolence when strangers become puppets in a satanic trial. Going live October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish depiction of endurance and prehistoric entity that will reimagine the horror genre this spooky time. Directed by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and atmospheric thriller follows five unacquainted souls who emerge trapped in a far-off cabin under the unfriendly rule of Kyra, a central character controlled by a biblical-era religious nightmare. Prepare to be captivated by a screen-based adventure that blends primitive horror with biblical origins, streaming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a historical theme in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is reversed when the beings no longer come outside their bodies, but rather through their own souls. This portrays the most terrifying dimension of each of them. The result is a bone-chilling identity crisis where the drama becomes a brutal tug-of-war between righteousness and malevolence.


In a wilderness-stricken wilderness, five adults find themselves imprisoned under the fiendish presence and possession of a obscure apparition. As the characters becomes defenseless to evade her will, disconnected and attacked by powers beyond comprehension, they are compelled to face their raw vulnerabilities while the doomsday meter relentlessly ticks toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion rises and bonds implode, requiring each character to scrutinize their self and the idea of decision-making itself. The cost surge with every minute, delivering a terror ride that combines otherworldly panic with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to uncover instinctual horror, an darkness older than civilization itself, channeling itself through inner turmoil, and confronting a being that challenges autonomy when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra called for internalizing something rooted in terror. She is blind until the possession kicks in, and that change is bone-chilling because it is so raw.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for audiences beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring households across the world can watch this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its original promo, which has received over massive response.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, extending the thrill to viewers around the world.


Experience this soul-jarring fall into madness. Watch *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to survive these chilling revelations about the psyche.


For sneak peeks, extra content, and alerts straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit our horror hub.





Modern horror’s pivotal crossroads: the 2025 cycle U.S. calendar blends primeval-possession lore, festival-born jolts, alongside series shake-ups

Ranging from survivor-centric dread suffused with biblical myth as well as installment follow-ups plus pointed art-house angles, 2025 is tracking to be the most variegated in tandem with calculated campaign year in the past ten years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. studio powerhouses hold down the year by way of signature titles, at the same time subscription platforms pack the fall with unboxed visions paired with primordial unease. At the same time, horror’s indie wing is surfing the carry from a record 2024 festival run. Since Halloween is the prized date, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A fat September–October lane is customary now, though in this cycle, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are targeted, so 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige fear returns

The top end is active. If 2024 set the base, 2025 scales the plan.

the Universal banner sets the tone with a bold swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, inside today’s landscape. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. landing in mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Helmed by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

By late summer, Warner’s pipeline releases the last chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re teams, and those signature textures resurface: nostalgic menace, trauma as theme, paired with unsettling supernatural order. Here the stakes rise, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The new chapter enriches the lore, broadens the animatronic terror cast, speaking to teens and older millennials. It lands in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

With cinemas leaning into known IP, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a close quarters body horror study pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is destined for a fall landing.

Also notable is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It looks like sharp programming. No bloated canon. No legacy baggage. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. 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. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Franchise Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, with Francis Lawrence directing, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Trend Lines

Old myth goes broad
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror ascends again
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

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. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

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



The new scare release year: brand plays, filmmaker-first projects, alongside A loaded Calendar designed for jolts

Dek: The upcoming horror year builds in short order with a January wave, following that spreads through the mid-year, and pushing into the holiday stretch, combining brand equity, inventive spins, and shrewd offsets. The big buyers and platforms are doubling down on mid-range economics, exclusive theatrical windows first, and social-fueled campaigns that shape horror entries into culture-wide discussion.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror sector has become the steady swing in studio lineups, a genre that can scale when it connects and still insulate the drawdown when it under-delivers. After 2023 reminded greenlighters that lean-budget entries can drive mainstream conversation, 2024 continued the surge with director-led heat and stealth successes. The tailwind carried into the 2025 frame, where reboots and critical darlings underscored there is space for multiple flavors, from franchise continuations to original one-offs that export nicely. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a programming that looks unusually coordinated across the field, with planned clusters, a balance of marquee IP and new packages, and a refocused attention on theater exclusivity that power the aftermarket on premium rental and streaming.

Schedulers say the category now slots in as a wildcard on the programming map. Horror can roll out on open real estate, create a grabby hook for trailers and short-form placements, and overperform with moviegoers that respond on first-look nights and maintain momentum through the sophomore frame if the title works. Coming out of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 pattern demonstrates belief in that dynamic. The year opens with a busy January lineup, then exploits spring through early summer for contrast, while leaving room for a October build that connects to late October and past the holiday. The layout also illustrates the deeper integration of specialty arms and home platforms that can grow from platform, grow buzz, and widen at the optimal moment.

A further high-level trend is brand curation across linked properties and established properties. Major shops are not just greenlighting another follow-up. They are trying to present ongoing narrative with a headline quality, whether that is a typeface approach that conveys a refreshed voice or a lead change that anchors a upcoming film to a initial period. At the alongside this, the creative teams behind the marquee originals are prioritizing physical effects work, practical gags and location-forward worlds. That combination delivers the 2026 slate a healthy mix of recognition and newness, which is what works overseas.

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

Paramount defines the early cadence with two centerpiece plays that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the spine, marketing it as both a legacy handover and a origin-leaning character-first story. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach points to a memory-charged mode without rehashing the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Anticipate a campaign rooted in recognizable motifs, initial cast looks, and a trailer cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also resurrects 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 creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will play up. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will pursue wide appeal through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format making room for quick redirects to whatever shapes the social talk that spring.

Universal has three clear projects. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is elegant, heartbroken, and big-hook: a grieving man onboards an machine companion that shifts into a deadly partner. The date slots it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to renew off-kilter promo beats and micro spots that hybridizes companionship and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a proper title to become an teaser payoff closer to the initial tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. The filmmaker’s films are set up as director events, with a opaque teaser and a second trailer wave that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween runway gives the studio room to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use 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 guides, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has made clear that a raw, practical-first execution can feel elevated on a mid-range budget. Look for a blood-soaked summer horror blast that leans into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio sets two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, continuing a proven supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is presenting as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both devotees and curious audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build campaign creative around environmental design, and creature design, elements that can increase IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the useful reference film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror driven by immersive craft and textual fidelity, this time set against lycan legends. Focus Features has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is favorable.

Streaming windows and tactics

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s horror titles feed copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a tiered path that fortifies both first-week urgency and sign-up spikes in the late-window. Prime Video continues to mix outside acquisitions with worldwide entries and targeted theatrical runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library pulls, using well-timed internal promotions, October hubs, and programmed rows to sustain interest on aggregate take. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix films and festival wins, securing horror entries near launch and turning into events debuts with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a laddered of tailored theatrical exposure and prompt platform moves that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to take on select projects with award winners or celebrity-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for retention when the genre conversation builds.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 arc with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is uncomplicated: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, refined for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a cinema-first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the October weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the December frame to increase reach. That positioning has paid off for craft-driven horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception justifies. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using targeted theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their membership.

Brands and originals

By number, the 2026 slate favors the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit marquee value. The concern, as ever, is overexposure. The practical approach is to package each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is emphasizing relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a European tilt from a new voice. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the assembly is comforting enough to generate pre-sales and early previews.

Comparable trends from recent years illuminate the plan. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that preserved streaming windows did not hamper a parallel release from delivering when the brand was potent. In 2024, art-forward horror outperformed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they change perspective and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, provides the means for marketing to relate entries through personae and themes and to keep assets in-market without extended gaps.

How the look and feel evolve

The craft conversations behind this slate hint at a continued move toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that highlights atmosphere and fear rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and era-correct language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead features and technical spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil click to read more Dead Burn is designed for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and drives shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta inflection that centers an original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on monster aesthetics and world-building, which work nicely for fan conventions and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel essential. Look for trailers that emphasize pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that explode in larger rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is packed. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid larger brand plays. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the spread of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth endures.

Pre-summer months prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s 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 divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late summer into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a bridge slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a tease-and-hold strategy and limited pre-release reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks 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 loss-struck man’s virtual companion turns into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 prickly boss work to survive on a rugged island as the control balance upends and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to chill, founded on Cronin’s practical effects and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. 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 tale that explores the unease of a child’s uncertain perspective. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A parody return that lampoons current genre trends and true-crime manias. Rating: TBD. Production: principal photography set for 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 breaks out, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new clan snared by residual nightmares. Rating: to be announced. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A fresh restart designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-first horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: pending. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: active. 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 antique diction and elemental menace. Rating: TBA. Production: gearing up with December 25 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: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the moment is 2026

Three workable forces define this lineup. First, production that slowed or migrated in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical 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 placements. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine clippable moments from test screenings, precision scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can capture a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will line up across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to work those windows. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, soundscape, and picture that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Promising 2026

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is IP strength where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, hold the mystery, and let the gasps sell the seats.