Mythic Evil awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising horror feature, landing Oct 2025 across major platforms

One spine-tingling unearthly nightmare movie from narrative craftsman / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an long-buried nightmare when guests become proxies in a dark ritual. Premiering October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful depiction of continuance and old world terror that will alter fear-driven cinema this October. Helmed by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and eerie film follows five teens who arise stuck in a cut-off lodge under the ominous dominion of Kyra, a tormented girl haunted by a time-worn biblical demon. Ready yourself to be ensnared by a theatrical event that harmonizes gut-punch terror with biblical origins, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a long-standing motif in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is subverted when the malevolences no longer originate outside their bodies, but rather inside them. This symbolizes the grimmest shade of all involved. The result is a enthralling spiritual tug-of-war where the tension becomes a constant battle between heaven and hell.


In a isolated wild, five campers find themselves marooned under the ominous force and grasp of a haunted spirit. As the ensemble becomes vulnerable to escape her will, detached and tracked by beings ungraspable, they are thrust to stand before their emotional phantoms while the final hour without pity pushes forward toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust rises and teams implode, driving each survivor to doubt their character and the idea of independent thought itself. The stakes rise with every heartbeat, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that fuses spiritual fright with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to dive into raw dread, an evil from ancient eras, embedding itself in fragile psyche, and dealing with a evil that peels away humanity when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra meant evoking something outside normal anguish. She is insensitive until the demon emerges, and that transition is gut-wrenching because it is so deep.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for public screening beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—allowing households everywhere can witness this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its first trailer, which has racked up over strong viewer count.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, extending the thrill to international horror buffs.


Experience this life-altering descent into hell. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to witness these terrifying truths about the human condition.


For film updates, special features, and reveals straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursed across platforms and visit the movie portal.





Horror’s sea change: 2025 for genre fans U.S. Slate interlaces biblical-possession ideas, underground frights, and series shake-ups

Across fight-to-live nightmare stories suffused with ancient scripture through to franchise returns paired with pointed art-house angles, 2025 is lining up as the richest along with carefully orchestrated year in ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. leading studios are anchoring the year with established lines, even as premium streamers flood the fall with first-wave breakthroughs and legend-coded dread. In parallel, indie storytellers is fueled by the tailwinds of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, distinctly in 2025, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are surgical, hence 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: The Return of Prestige Fear

The majors are assertive. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s slate starts the year with a statement play: a reimagined Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in an immediate now. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. landing in mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. From director Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

When summer tapers, Warner’s slate launches the swan song from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Granted the structure is classic, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson resumes command, and the memorable motifs return: old school creep, trauma as theme, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The ante is higher this round, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The new chapter enriches the lore, broadens the animatronic terror cast, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It hits in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Firsts: Low budgets, big teeth

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a close quarters body horror study starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn featuring Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a calculated bet. No overweight mythology. No series drag. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, under Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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.

Key Trends

Myth turns 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 is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

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

Platform originals gain bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival glow translates to leverage
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.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Outlook: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The forthcoming 2026 scare slate: next chapters, fresh concepts, plus A loaded Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek: The brand-new genre calendar crowds from the jump with a January logjam, thereafter extends through summer corridors, and far into the holiday stretch, marrying series momentum, original angles, and tactical counter-scheduling. Studios and streamers are embracing responsible budgets, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that frame horror entries into all-audience topics.

The landscape of horror in 2026

This space has solidified as the consistent option in annual schedules, a space that can spike when it performs and still mitigate the drag when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year demonstrated to leaders that cost-conscious shockers can lead the zeitgeist, the following year carried the beat with signature-voice projects and word-of-mouth wins. The head of steam fed into 2025, where reboots and awards-minded projects made clear there is room for several lanes, from franchise continuations to fresh IP that resonate abroad. The result for 2026 is a run that appears tightly organized across the market, with intentional bunching, a spread of brand names and new concepts, and a reinvigorated eye on release windows that boost PVOD and platform value on PVOD and home platforms.

Distribution heads claim the category now works like a wildcard on the release plan. Horror can launch on almost any weekend, yield a sharp concept for creative and reels, and outperform with ticket buyers that come out on Thursday nights and sustain through the second weekend if the film connects. Exiting a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 pattern signals assurance in that approach. The calendar opens with a front-loaded January run, then turns to spring and early summer for audience offsets, while saving space for a autumn push that connects to late October and into the next week. The program also underscores the continuing integration of indie arms and streaming partners that can launch in limited release, spark evangelism, and broaden at the strategic time.

A further high-level trend is IP cultivation across ongoing universes and classic IP. The companies are not just turning out another continuation. They are aiming to frame ongoing narrative with a heightened moment, whether that is a art treatment that suggests a re-angled tone or a star attachment that links a latest entry to a early run. At the same time, the auteurs behind the eagerly awaited originals are leaning into real-world builds, makeup and prosthetics and vivid settings. That blend offers the 2026 slate a smart balance of assurance and novelty, which is how the genre sells abroad.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount establishes early momentum with two front-of-slate entries 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 center, marketing it as both a cross-generational handoff and a classic-mode character-first story. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach points to a classic-referencing bent without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected fueled by signature symbols, intro reveals, and a promo sequence landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will play up. As a summer relief option, this one will hunt mainstream recognition through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format inviting quick turns to whatever rules the social talk that spring.

Universal has three discrete pushes. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is tight, melancholic, and high-concept: a grieving man onboards an digital partner that mutates into a dangerous lover. The date puts it at the front of a stacked January, with the marketing arm likely to revisit uncanny live moments and quick hits that hybridizes love and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a proper title to become an fan moment closer to the early tease. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s pictures are presented as auteur 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 the studio room to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has consistently shown that a blood-soaked, in-camera leaning execution can feel high-value on a mid-range budget. Frame it as a gore-forward summer horror surge that emphasizes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio rolls out two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, sustaining a consistent supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is describing as a new foundation 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 well-defined brief to serve both devotees and general audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign creative around world-building, and creature builds, elements that can boost premium screens 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 sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by textural authenticity and linguistic texture, this time steeped in lycan lore. The imprint has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is glowing.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform tactics for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s slate land on copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a stair-step that elevates both opening-weekend urgency and sub growth in the post-theatrical. Prime Video blends licensed films with global originals and targeted theatrical runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library pulls, using well-timed internal promotions, Halloween hubs, and programmed rows to lengthen the tail on the horror cume. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix originals and festival snaps, securing horror entries with shorter lead times and positioning as event drops launches with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a tiered of targeted cinema placements and swift platform pivots that drives paid trials from buzz. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a curated basis. The platform has shown appetite to invest in select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-led packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation builds.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 runway with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is clean: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, recalibrated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn stretch.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, managing the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas corridor to broaden. That positioning has helped for prestige horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception drives. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using targeted theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Legacy titles versus originals

By skew, 2026 skews toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit fan equity. The risk, as ever, is fatigue. The workable fix is to frame each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is centering relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a European tilt from a hot helmer. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the assembly is grounded enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the strategy. In 2023, a theater-first model that preserved streaming windows did not hamper a hybrid test from thriving when the brand was compelling. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror exceeded expectations in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they angle differently and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters shot consecutively, enables marketing to link the films through character spine and themes and to sustain campaign assets without long breaks.

Behind-the-camera trends

The craft conversations behind these films point to a continued preference for in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that emphasizes grain and menace rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in craft journalism and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and sparks shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta recalibration that centers its original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature and environment design, which play well in expo activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel necessary. Look for trailers that elevate fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that sing on PLF.

Annual flow

January is crowded. 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 marquee brands. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the menu of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth stays strong.

February through May stage summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with nostalgia heat. 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 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

End of summer through fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited asset reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can play the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card burn.

Project-by-project my company snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s intelligent companion becomes something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: aura-driven 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 unyielding boss struggle to survive on a remote island as the power balance inverts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to fright, grounded in Cronin’s practical craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting setup that mediates the fear via a youth’s uncertain inner lens. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-built and star-led haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that skewers today’s horror trends and true crime fascinations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 flares, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further extends again, with a unlucky family lashed to old terrors. Rating: TBA. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A reboot designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on classic survival-horror tone over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in progress. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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-precise speech and elemental fear. Rating: TBD. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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 fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three execution-level click site forces frame this lineup. First, production that eased or rearranged in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, creating valuable space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will compete across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation Young & Cursed when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, right-sized allotments, 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 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.

2026, Ready To Roar

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is IP strength where it matters, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of 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, keep the secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.