Primordial Terror reawakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding horror feature, debuting Oct 2025 across top streamers

An eerie occult fright fest from scriptwriter / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an primordial terror when unknowns become subjects in a devilish ceremony. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing portrayal of perseverance and forgotten curse that will reshape genre cinema this fall. Guided by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and moody cinema piece follows five lost souls who come to trapped in a hidden structure under the ominous influence of Kyra, a central character dominated by a millennia-old religious nightmare. Anticipate to be shaken by a theatrical venture that combines deep-seated panic with legendary tales, arriving on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a iconic trope in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is redefined when the fiends no longer descend from a different plane, but rather internally. This marks the malevolent layer of the cast. The result is a psychologically brutal mental war where the plotline becomes a relentless confrontation between divinity and wickedness.


In a remote terrain, five campers find themselves caught under the ghastly presence and control of a enigmatic being. As the victims becomes powerless to withstand her curse, severed and tormented by presences mind-shattering, they are obligated to acknowledge their soulful dreads while the final hour unforgivingly draws closer toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety swells and associations disintegrate, pushing each participant to challenge their values and the idea of freedom of choice itself. The stakes climb with every instant, delivering a paranormal ride that marries occult fear with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to tap into ancestral fear, an power rooted in antiquity, manipulating mental cracks, and navigating a being that dismantles free will when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra was about accessing something beyond human emotion. She is unseeing until the possession kicks in, and that pivot is eerie because it is so intimate.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for worldwide release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—giving fans anywhere can engage with this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original clip, which has gathered over massive response.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, extending the thrill to viewers around the world.


Mark your calendar for this heart-stopping exploration of dread. Confront *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to explore these nightmarish insights about the soul.


For sneak peeks, production insights, and alerts straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACFilm across entertainment pages and visit the movie’s homepage.





Current horror’s decisive shift: calendar year 2025 stateside slate interlaces biblical-possession ideas, microbudget gut-punches, stacked beside Franchise Rumbles

From life-or-death fear drawn from old testament echoes to IP renewals as well as acutely observed indies, 2025 appears poised to be horror’s most layered and deliberate year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. studio majors set cornerstones using marquee IP, concurrently SVOD players stack the fall with new voices in concert with old-world menace. On another front, the art-house flank is fueled by the afterglow of 2024’s record festival wave. With Halloween holding the peak, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, but this year, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are exacting, therefore 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: High-craft horror returns

The top end is active. If 2024 set the base, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal camp sets the tone with a risk-forward move: a modernized Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, instead in a current-day frame. From director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. landing in mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer wanes, Warner Bros. Pictures sets loose the finale from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Though the formula 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 slots behind. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson resumes command, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: old school creep, trauma in the foreground, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The bar is raised this go, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The return delves further into myth, stretches the animatronic parade, speaking to teens and older millennials. It drops in December, pinning the winter close.

Streaming Offerings: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold case horror anthology stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a close quarters body horror study fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also rising is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative featuring Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: 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 Underneath: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, 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.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It reads as sharp positioning. No overstuffed canon. No IP hangover. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Franchise Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, steered by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Signals and Trends

Mythic currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror swings back
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

The Road Ahead: Fall saturation and a winter joker

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. 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. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The approaching chiller season: returning titles, filmmaker-first projects, in tandem with A stacked Calendar geared toward shocks

Dek: The fresh genre calendar clusters from the jump with a January crush, subsequently rolls through summer corridors, and running into the winter holidays, marrying marquee clout, original angles, and savvy counterprogramming. The major players are betting on smart costs, big-screen-first runs, and shareable marketing that convert these offerings into all-audience topics.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

This space has solidified as the most reliable play in release strategies, a space that can scale when it catches and still cushion the drag when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year reassured strategy teams that disciplined-budget fright engines can drive the zeitgeist, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with high-profile filmmaker pieces and stealth successes. The tailwind fed into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and prestige plays highlighted there is a lane for many shades, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that resonate abroad. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a run that presents tight coordination across the industry, with purposeful groupings, a balance of known properties and untested plays, and a re-energized emphasis on exhibition windows that power the aftermarket on PVOD and platforms.

Insiders argue the genre now serves as a swing piece on the slate. The genre can roll out on many corridors, yield a simple premise for trailers and shorts, and lead with patrons that lean in on previews Thursday and sustain through the week two if the release works. After a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 configuration indicates certainty in that logic. The year gets underway with a stacked January lineup, then taps spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while keeping space for a October build that extends to spooky season and into post-Halloween. The grid also reflects the expanded integration of specialty arms and SVOD players that can build gradually, grow buzz, and roll out at the proper time.

A notable top-line trend is IP cultivation across unified worlds and storied titles. Studio teams are not just greenlighting another chapter. They are looking to package lineage with a must-see charge, whether that is a brandmark that flags a recalibrated tone or a talent selection that ties a fresh chapter to a classic era. At the very same time, the helmers behind the top original plays are doubling down on tactile craft, makeup and prosthetics and location-forward worlds. That blend gives the 2026 slate a strong blend of assurance and newness, which is how the films export.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount fires first with two marquee projects that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the spine, presenting it as both a relay and a DNA-forward character-driven entry. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture hints at a throwback-friendly mode without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected driven by iconic art, character previews, and a tease cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will double down on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will chase wide appeal through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format allowing quick adjustments to whatever drives the discourse that spring.

Universal has three defined entries. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is tidy, loss-driven, and premise-first: a grieving man sets up an machine companion that evolves into a deadly partner. The date nudges it to the front of a thick month, with the marketing arm likely to recreate viral uncanny stunts and quick hits that interlaces companionship and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under internal 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 official title to become an teaser payoff closer to the initial tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s pictures are framed as filmmaker events, with a opaque teaser and a second wave of trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The late-October frame creates space for Universal to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has made clear that a gnarly, practical-effects forward treatment can feel big on a middle budget. Look for a grime-caked summer horror rush that leans into worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio rolls out two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, carrying a consistent supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is presenting as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both franchise faithful and new audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build campaign pieces around narrative world, and monster aesthetics, elements that can increase IMAX and PLF uptake and fan events.

Focus Features, working with great post to read Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by meticulous craft and period language, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is strong.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform strategies for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s releases head to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ordering that optimizes both initial urgency and subscription bumps in the late-window. Prime Video stitches together third-party pickups with global originals and small theatrical windows when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in library curation, using featured rows, Halloween hubs, and handpicked rows to maximize the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix films and festival wins, dating horror entries with shorter lead times and coalescing around drops with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a staged of targeted cinema placements and rapid platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a situational basis. The platform has shown appetite to buy select projects with accomplished filmmakers or star packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for retention when the genre conversation heats up.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 lane with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is straightforward: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, reimagined for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a theatrical rollout for the title, an positive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the fall weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the year-end corridor to broaden. That positioning has served the company well for craft-driven horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception justifies. Expect 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 jointly, using limited theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their user base.

Known brands versus new stories

By skew, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on name recognition. The caveat, as ever, is viewer burnout. The near-term solution is to position each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is foregrounding relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a continental coloration from a new voice. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the bundle is recognizable enough to generate pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Rolling three-year comps clarify the plan. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that held distribution windows did not deter a day-and-date experiment from thriving when the brand was sticky. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror surged in premium large format. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they alter lens and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters filmed consecutively, enables marketing to cross-link entries through character web and themes and to hold creative in the market without long breaks.

Behind-the-camera trends

The production chatter behind this slate telegraph a continued lean toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that centers unease and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft spotlights before rolling out a preview that keeps plot minimal, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and gathers shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta reframe that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature work and production design, which align with fan-con activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel compelling. Look for trailers that center surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that work in PLF.

The schedule at a glance

January is jammed. SOULM8TE opens January More about the author 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 tonal palate cleanser amid heftier brand moves. 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 thick, but the range of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth carries.

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

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late summer into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a minimalist tease strategy and limited plot reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and holiday card usage.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s machine mate turns into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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 hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 struggle to survive on a cut-off island as the power balance of power flips and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to horror, anchored by Cronin’s tactile craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 residential haunting tale that leverages the panic of a child’s uncertain senses. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-scale and star-led supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A spoof revival that needles of-the-moment horror beats and true crime preoccupations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 international twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new clan lashed to residual nightmares. Rating: undetermined. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A fresh restart designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survivalist horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: pending. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: closely held. Rating: pending. Production: continuing. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and primal menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 and why now

Three execution-level forces shape this lineup. First, production that paused or re-sequenced in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate bite-size scare clips from test screenings, controlled scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will line up across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 stealth overachiever 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two 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 shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, soundscape, 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 Strong 2026 Horizon

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand power where it counts, new vision where it lands, 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, lock the reveals, and let the scares sell the seats.