Antediluvian Dread stirs: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling thriller, streaming October 2025 across global platforms

A eerie unearthly fright fest from author / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an age-old curse when foreigners become victims in a supernatural maze. Dropping on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing portrayal of continuance and timeless dread that will resculpt horror this October. Created by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and tone-heavy cinema piece follows five people who find themselves trapped in a isolated shack under the dark sway of Kyra, a haunted figure overtaken by a antiquated ancient fiend. Anticipate to be absorbed by a narrative outing that blends raw fear with ancestral stories, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a legendary motif in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is challenged when the fiends no longer form beyond the self, but rather inside their minds. This marks the most terrifying corner of the victims. The result is a relentless emotional conflict where the suspense becomes a soul-crushing confrontation between heaven and hell.


In a barren landscape, five individuals find themselves caught under the malevolent grip and possession of a unknown being. As the team becomes powerless to escape her command, detached and pursued by beings impossible to understand, they are required to confront their raw vulnerabilities while the seconds coldly edges forward toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion swells and relationships collapse, prompting each participant to doubt their character and the structure of personal agency itself. The hazard intensify with every heartbeat, delivering a horror experience that fuses otherworldly panic with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to draw upon core terror, an force from prehistory, working through soul-level flaws, and questioning a entity that erodes the self when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra called for internalizing something beneath mortal despair. She is innocent until the evil takes hold, and that change is gut-wrenching because it is so close.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for streaming beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing users everywhere can dive into this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its intro video, which has received over six-figure audience.


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


Make sure to see this soul-jarring descent into hell. Confront *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to experience these spiritual awakenings about the human condition.


For teasers, on-set glimpses, and reveals from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across your socials and visit the movie portal.





Today’s horror pivotal crossroads: 2025 domestic schedule melds archetypal-possession themes, microbudget gut-punches, set against brand-name tremors

Kicking off with endurance-driven terror suffused with ancient scripture all the way to returning series set beside surgical indie voices, 2025 appears poised to be the most textured together with intentionally scheduled year in ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. leading studios hold down the year by way of signature titles, even as premium streamers stack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs set against ancient terrors. On the festival side, the independent cohort is propelled by the echoes from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the other windows are mapped with care. The fall stretch is the proving field, distinctly in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are precise, hence 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal banner starts the year with a bold swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, instead in a current-day frame. Under director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully 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.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Guided by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer wanes, the Warner Bros. banner rolls out the capstone from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re teams, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: period tinged dread, trauma centered writing, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This pass pushes higher, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The new chapter enriches the lore, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It arrives in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streamer Exclusives: Economy, maximum dread

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled 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. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. 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 clever angle. No overweight mythology. No legacy baggage. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

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. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

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

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, under Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

What to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror retakes ground
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Projection: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The new scare season: continuations, non-franchise titles, together with A loaded Calendar calibrated for nightmares

Dek: The incoming terror year packs from day one with a January pile-up, subsequently flows through summer, and straight through the holidays, marrying marquee clout, creative pitches, and shrewd counterprogramming. Studios with streamers are leaning into lean spends, big-screen-first runs, and platform-native promos that shape these films into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror momentum into 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the surest move in release strategies, a segment that can surge when it clicks and still cushion the downside when it stumbles. After 2023 signaled to leaders that responsibly budgeted pictures can shape the national conversation, 2024 carried the beat with director-led heat and sleeper breakouts. The upswing carried into 2025, where re-entries and festival-grade titles demonstrated there is a market for a variety of tones, from legacy continuations to one-and-done originals that resonate abroad. The sum for 2026 is a lineup that presents tight coordination across companies, with clear date clusters, a mix of known properties and new packages, and a revived priority on theater exclusivity that enhance post-theatrical value on PVOD and platforms.

Buyers contend the genre now acts as a utility player on the rollout map. Horror can kick off on almost any weekend, offer a simple premise for ad units and reels, and over-index with patrons that respond on early shows and hold through the second weekend if the release fires. After a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration demonstrates trust in that playbook. The calendar launches with a weighty January corridor, then leans on spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while making space for a fall run that carries into late October and past Halloween. The map also highlights the tightening integration of specialty distributors and streamers that can launch in limited release, ignite recommendations, and broaden at the proper time.

A parallel macro theme is brand management across ongoing universes and storied titles. Studio teams are not just mounting another next film. They are trying to present brand continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a title treatment that flags a refreshed voice or a casting move that ties a upcoming film to a early run. At the alongside this, the filmmakers behind the most buzzed-about originals are leaning into in-camera technique, on-set effects and grounded locations. That interplay provides the 2026 slate a lively combination of home base and novelty, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount opens strong with two big-ticket plays that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the core, steering it as both a baton pass and a foundation-forward character-centered film. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the narrative stance suggests a legacy-leaning mode without repeating the last two entries’ sibling arc. Look for a marketing run centered on iconic art, first-look character reveals, and a tiered teaser plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will play up. As a counterweight in summer, this one will generate wide appeal through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format fitting quick shifts to whatever drives the social talk that spring.

Universal has three discrete plays. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is elegant, heartbroken, and premise-first: a grieving man onboards an machine companion that mutates into a harmful mate. The date places it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s promo team likely to replay viral uncanny stunts and snackable content that melds romance and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read 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 permits a title reveal to become an attention spike closer to the initial promo. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s work are positioned as must-see filmmaker statements, with a mystery-first teaser and a subsequent trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The late-October frame allows Universal to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has proven that a tactile, prosthetic-heavy approach can feel premium on a lean spend. Position this as a viscera-heavy summer horror blast that emphasizes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio mounts two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, sustaining a bankable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is describing as a from-the-ground-up reboot 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 well-defined brief to serve both fans and first-timers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build marketing units around world-building, and creature work, elements that can fuel PLF interest and cosplayer momentum.

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 film carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on rigorous craft and archaic language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The company has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is supportive.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s horror titles shift to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a stair-step that expands both premiere heat and sign-up momentum in the after-window. Prime Video combines third-party pickups with global acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library curation, using prominent placements, horror hubs, and curated strips to sustain interest on the annual genre haul. Netflix retains agility about originals and festival wins, finalizing horror entries toward the drop and framing as events rollouts with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a dual-phase of targeted theatrical exposure and speedy platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a discrete basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to take on select projects with name filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for platform stickiness when the genre conversation builds.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 pipeline with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is clear: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, upgraded for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a cinema-first plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday corridor to expand. That positioning has shown results for auteur horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception encourages. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using precision theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subs.

IP versus fresh ideas

By share, 2026 leans toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap fan equity. The potential drawback, as ever, is diminishing returns. The practical approach is to position each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is foregrounding character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French sensibility from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the deal build is comforting enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and early previews.

Comps from the last three years frame the strategy. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that maintained windows did not obstruct a dual release from delivering when the brand was potent. In 2024, art-forward horror over-performed in premium large format. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga broadcast 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 unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, allows marketing to bridge entries through cast and motif and to keep materials circulating without hiatuses.

Creative tendencies and craft

The craft conversations behind the year’s horror telegraph a continued preference for practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that highlights tone and tension rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in trade spotlights and artisan spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that leans on mood over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and gathers shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a self-referential reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature execution and sets, which lend themselves to booth activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel compelling. Look for trailers that spotlight fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that play in premium auditoriums.

How the year maps out

January is jammed. 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 heftier brand moves. 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 serious, but the range of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Winter into spring tee up summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges 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 comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. 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 rolled through premiums.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a shoulder season window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited asset reveals that center concept over reveals.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card use.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s digital partner shifts into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively 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 journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss scramble to survive on a remote island as the hierarchy turns and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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, shaped by Cronin’s practical craft and slow-bloom 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 domestic haunting story that channels the fear through a child’s uncertain subjective view. Rating: not yet rated. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-scale and celebrity-led spirit-world 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 needles contemporary horror memes and true-crime obsessions. Rating: not yet rated. Production: shoot planned 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 surges, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a fresh family lashed to long-buried horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-core horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: pending. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: pending. Production: ongoing. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and primordial menace. Rating: to be announced. 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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three workable forces frame this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or reshuffled in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work repeatable beats from test screenings, metered scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will cluster across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first surprise 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.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a banquet, 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 leans brutal, August and great post to read September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, soundcraft, 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.

A Promising 2026

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is name recognition where it counts, inventive vision where it helps, 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, protect the mystery, and let the gasps sell the seats.