Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a hair raising chiller, streaming Oct 2025 on major streaming services

One terrifying supernatural terror film from screenwriter / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an age-old nightmare when foreigners become vehicles in a supernatural ordeal. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping chronicle of continuance and old world terror that will reconstruct horror this Halloween season. Crafted by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and shadowy fearfest follows five individuals who snap to isolated in a off-grid lodge under the unfriendly will of Kyra, a female lead possessed by a ancient sacrosanct terror. Anticipate to be shaken by a theatrical outing that integrates visceral dread with legendary tales, releasing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a classic fixture in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is redefined when the entities no longer form beyond the self, but rather from their psyche. This embodies the shadowy element of the victims. The result is a intense identity crisis where the suspense becomes a relentless fight between righteousness and malevolence.


In a unforgiving woodland, five individuals find themselves isolated under the possessive aura and infestation of a shadowy person. As the survivors becomes unable to withstand her grasp, isolated and tormented by forces beyond comprehension, they are compelled to acknowledge their soulful dreads while the timeline ruthlessly winds toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust builds and relationships erode, requiring each survivor to scrutinize their self and the idea of freedom of choice itself. The intensity grow with every heartbeat, delivering a terror ride that intertwines unearthly horror with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to explore elemental fright, an entity before modern man, influencing emotional fractures, and challenging a being that strips down our being when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra called for internalizing something beneath mortal despair. She is uninformed until the spirit seizes her, and that transition is terrifying because it is so deep.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for viewing beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—allowing streamers from coast to coast can survive this unholy film.


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 second look to its initial teaser, which has gathered over notable views.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, exporting the fear to fans of fear everywhere.


Make sure to see this soul-jarring path of possession. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to explore these unholy truths about the soul.


For cast commentary, behind-the-scenes content, and announcements from the story's source, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across online outlets and visit our horror hub.





Contemporary horror’s tipping point: 2025 across markets U.S. Slate weaves old-world possession, signature indie scares, and Franchise Rumbles

From pressure-cooker survival tales rooted in primordial scripture and stretching into canon extensions alongside cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is shaping up as the genre’s most multifaceted combined with intentionally scheduled year in ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. major banners are anchoring the year by way of signature titles, while SVOD players prime the fall with emerging auteurs together with ancestral chills. At the same time, festival-forward creators is buoyed by the momentum from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, though in this cycle, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are intentional, accordingly 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: High-craft horror returns

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the base, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s pipeline starts the year with a risk-forward move: a refashioned Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, but a sharp contemporary setting. Led by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. targeting mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

At summer’s close, Warner’s slate bows the concluding entry from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Though the formula is familiar, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson is back, and those signature textures resurface: 70s style chill, trauma in the foreground, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The ante is higher this round, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The follow up digs further into canon, stretches the animatronic parade, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It posts in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streamer Exclusives: Modest spend, serious shock

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a room scale body horror descent featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Then there is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable starring Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

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 is canny scheduling. No overweight mythology. No continuity burden. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Trend Lines

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

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

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Forward View: Autumn density and winter pivot

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The upcoming chiller slate: next chapters, fresh concepts, plus A Crowded Calendar aimed at chills

Dek: The current genre slate crams up front with a January glut, subsequently stretches through peak season, and far into the late-year period, marrying series momentum, inventive spins, and tactical counter-scheduling. Studios and streamers are betting on efficient budgets, cinema-first plans, and social-driven marketing that position these pictures into culture-wide discussion.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This category has proven to be the sturdy counterweight in studio lineups, a genre that can scale when it lands and still hedge the downside when it does not. After the 2023 year demonstrated to decision-makers that low-to-mid budget horror vehicles can galvanize mainstream conversation, 2024 held pace with director-led heat and stealth successes. The momentum extended into the 2025 frame, where reboots and awards-minded projects made clear there is space for a spectrum, from ongoing IP entries to one-and-done originals that play globally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a lineup that shows rare alignment across distributors, with mapped-out bands, a equilibrium of marquee IP and novel angles, and a sharpened priority on big-screen windows that increase tail monetization on premium video on demand and SVOD.

Distribution heads claim the category now behaves like a schedule utility on the distribution slate. The genre can launch on nearly any frame, supply a tight logline for teasers and social clips, and outperform with demo groups that lean in on opening previews and hold through the sophomore frame if the title works. Post a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 rhythm telegraphs confidence in that logic. The slate kicks off with a heavy January band, then taps spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while keeping space for a October build that pushes into Halloween and into the next week. The calendar also includes the greater integration of specialized imprints and streamers that can stage a platform run, fuel WOM, and roll out at the sweet spot.

A second macro trend is brand management across shared universes and legacy franchises. Distribution groups are not just rolling another entry. They are seeking to position lineage with a premium feel, whether that is a brandmark that indicates a fresh attitude or a star attachment that anchors a next film to a classic era. At the alongside this, the directors behind the most anticipated originals are championing practical craft, real effects and place-driven backdrops. That alloy gives 2026 a vital pairing of comfort and shock, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount establishes early momentum with two headline moves that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the center, positioning the film as both a relay and a heritage-centered character-forward chapter. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the narrative stance conveys a memory-charged approach without going over the last two entries’ family thread. Count on a promo wave centered on recognizable motifs, character spotlights, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will emphasize. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will chase four-quadrant chatter through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format enabling quick switches to whatever shapes horror talk that spring.

Universal has three separate plays. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is tight, soulful, and high-concept: a grieving man installs an AI companion that evolves into a lethal partner. The date puts it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to revisit strange in-person beats and snackable content that threads longing and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a title reveal to become an teaser payoff closer to the debut look. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s releases are set up as must-see filmmaker statements, with a concept-forward tease and a follow-up trailer set that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The spooky-season slot affords Universal to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has consistently shown that a raw, physical-effects centered style can feel cinematic on a efficient spend. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror charge that emphasizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio deploys two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, maintaining a trusty supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is positioning as a reset 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 directive to serve both core fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot allows Sony to build materials around setting detail, and creature builds, elements that can stoke premium screens and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror defined by textural authenticity and linguistic texture, this time orbiting lycan myth. The distributor has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is glowing.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s horror titles land on copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a cadence that optimizes both week-one demand and subscription bumps in the downstream. Prime Video pairs acquired titles with global pickups and short theatrical plays when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, spooky hubs, and handpicked rows to extend momentum on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps optionality about own-slate titles and festival additions, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and elevating as drops debuts with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a one-two of selective theatrical runs and quick platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on genre pipelines 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 buy select projects with recognized filmmakers click to read more or star-driven packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation spikes.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is curating a 2026 runway with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is straightforward: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, upgraded for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback useful reference slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the September weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas corridor to expand. That positioning has delivered for filmmaker-driven genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception warrants. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using limited theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subs.

IP versus fresh ideas

By share, the 2026 slate favors the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use marquee value. The caveat, as ever, is audience fatigue. The near-term solution is to brand each entry as a new angle. Paramount is bringing forward core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a continental coloration from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the cast-creatives package is anchored enough to generate pre-sales and early previews.

Comps from the last three years announce the template. In 2023, a theater-first model that held distribution windows did not hamper a parallel release from performing when the brand was robust. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror popped in PLF. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reframe POV and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries 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-step approach, with chapters shot consecutively, builds a path for marketing to tie installments through character and theme and to continue assets in field without lulls.

Craft and creative trends

The shop talk behind the 2026 entries point to a continued shift toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that underscores texture and dread rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft features before rolling out a tease that withholds plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at gross-out texture, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and earns shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta inflection that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster realization and design, which favor booth activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that underscore razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that shine in top rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is jammed. 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 winds down 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 real, but the tone spread creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

February through May build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

August into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a shoulder season window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a opaque tease strategy and limited advance reveals that favor idea over plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card spend.

Film-by-film briefs

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 challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s virtual companion turns into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete 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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced 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 journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. 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 difficult boss claw to survive on a desolate island as the power balance of power swivels and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to terror, built on Cronin’s on-set craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting story that leverages the unease of a child’s unreliable perspective. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A satirical comeback that lampoons current genre trends and true-crime manias. Rating: undetermined. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a different family lashed to lingering terrors. Rating: TBD. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: pending. Logline: A new start designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for classic survival-horror tone over action fireworks. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: to be announced. Production: moving forward. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 era-accurate language and primal menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. 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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 lands now

Three operational forces organize this lineup. First, production that paused or migrated in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming launches. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work social-ready stingers from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can control a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will coexist across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the strike zone. 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where midrange-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 use those gaps. 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. Anticipate a robust 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.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, 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 hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, smart allocations, 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 tactility, audio design, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand equity where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, 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 chills sell the seats.