Ancient Evil emerges: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding chiller, rolling out October 2025 on leading streamers

One blood-curdling otherworldly fright fest from narrative craftsman / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an ancient terror when guests become pawns in a dark ceremony. Airings begin this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful narrative of resilience and ancient evil that will reconstruct scare flicks this fall. Directed by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and cinematic screenplay follows five teens who come to confined in a wooded lodge under the aggressive sway of Kyra, a central character dominated by a ancient scriptural evil. Get ready to be enthralled by a visual journey that fuses gut-punch terror with legendary tales, debuting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a time-honored concept in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is twisted when the entities no longer form externally, but rather from deep inside. This marks the most sinister dimension of the players. The result is a harrowing spiritual tug-of-war where the emotions becomes a unforgiving clash between heaven and hell.


In a bleak wild, five characters find themselves confined under the sinister influence and possession of a uncanny spirit. As the survivors becomes submissive to escape her dominion, abandoned and hunted by evils mind-shattering, they are obligated to acknowledge their deepest fears while the seconds relentlessly counts down toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust rises and partnerships disintegrate, urging each individual to rethink their existence and the idea of liberty itself. The pressure surge with every passing moment, delivering a frightening tale that merges paranormal dread with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to draw upon ancestral fear, an spirit that existed before mankind, embedding itself in emotional fractures, and testing a presence that dismantles free will when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra involved tapping into something darker than pain. She is oblivious until the takeover begins, and that transition is haunting because it is so personal.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for audiences beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—so that viewers around the globe can dive into this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its first trailer, which has pulled in over six-figure audience.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, giving access to the movie to scare fans abroad.


Mark your calendar for this bone-rattling fall into madness. Face *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to explore these unholy truths about the soul.


For behind-the-scenes access, director cuts, and reveals via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across fan hubs and visit the official digital haunt.





The horror genre’s sea change: 2025 for genre fans U.S. release slate braids together old-world possession, Indie Shockers, alongside IP aftershocks

Kicking off with endurance-driven terror inspired by biblical myth to brand-name continuations paired with pointed art-house angles, 2025 is lining up as the most dimensioned together with calculated campaign year in recent memory.

Call it full, but it is also focused. major banners stabilize the year with familiar IP, concurrently OTT services flood the fall with debut heat in concert with scriptural shivers. On the independent axis, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is surfing the kinetic energy from a record 2024 festival run. Since Halloween is the prized date, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, notably this year, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are calculated, which means 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Premium dread reemerges

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s distribution arm begins the calendar with a headline swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in an immediate now. Led by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. set for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Led by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer winds down, the Warner lot releases the last chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. While the template is known, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re engages, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: old school creep, trauma as text, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This run ups the stakes, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The next entry deepens the tale, thickens the animatronic pantheon, speaking to teens and older millennials. It arrives in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Digital Originals: No Budget, No Problem

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

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the quieter side is Together, a room scale body horror descent fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

On the docket is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. 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 reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in 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 bloated mythology. No brand fatigue. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

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

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Brands: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. 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

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror returns
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Laurels convert to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The approaching scare slate: next chapters, standalone ideas, together with A Crowded Calendar engineered for screams

Dek: The new terror calendar packs up front with a January pile-up, from there unfolds through summer corridors, and straight through the year-end corridor, combining IP strength, new concepts, and well-timed alternatives. Major distributors and platforms are betting on efficient budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and social-fueled campaigns that convert these pictures into culture-wide discussion.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the predictable tool in release strategies, a genre that can expand when it lands and still insulate the downside when it does not. After the 2023 year demonstrated to decision-makers that responsibly budgeted horror vehicles can dominate mainstream conversation, 2024 maintained heat with signature-voice projects and slow-burn breakouts. The tailwind translated to 2025, where reboots and premium-leaning entries showed there is appetite for multiple flavors, from returning installments to original one-offs that resonate abroad. The net effect for 2026 is a roster that appears tightly organized across the field, with mapped-out bands, a spread of familiar brands and new concepts, and a reinvigorated strategy on theater exclusivity that feed downstream value on premium digital and OTT platforms.

Executives say the horror lane now works like a wildcard on the distribution slate. The genre can launch on many corridors, create a quick sell for trailers and shorts, and lead with patrons that respond on first-look nights and stay strong through the follow-up frame if the picture fires. Post a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 rhythm underscores trust in that model. The slate kicks off with a thick January band, then uses spring and early summer for contrast, while keeping space for a fall cadence that flows toward late October and past Halloween. The calendar also features the expanded integration of specialized labels and home platforms that can launch in limited release, generate chatter, and move wide at the sweet spot.

A parallel macro theme is IP cultivation across shared IP webs and legacy IP. Studios are not just producing another follow-up. They are seeking to position lineage with a must-see charge, whether that is a title design that indicates a refreshed voice or a star attachment that ties a fresh chapter to a early run. At the very same time, the creative leads behind the most buzzed-about originals are favoring in-camera technique, in-camera effects and vivid settings. That blend affords 2026 a confident blend of comfort and novelty, which is why the genre exports well.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount defines the early cadence with two front-of-slate releases that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, marketing it as both a baton pass and a classic-mode relationship-driven entry. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture hints at a memory-charged mode without repeating the last two entries’ sisters thread. Expect a marketing push leaning on brand visuals, early character teases, and a staggered trailer plan hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will feature. As a summer relief option, this one will pursue mass reach through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format supporting quick pivots to whatever rules horror talk that spring.

Universal has three defined projects. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is tidy, somber, and easily pitched: a grieving man purchases an algorithmic mate that grows into a killer companion. The date locates it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with marketing at Universal likely to replay creepy live activations and bite-size content that hybridizes companionship and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a title reveal to become an attention spike closer to the early tease. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s releases are framed as marquee events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second trailer wave that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The pre-Halloween slot gives the studio room 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., my review here via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has long shown that a blood-soaked, in-camera leaning style can feel elevated on a controlled budget. Position this as a blood-soaked summer horror jolt that maximizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio rolls out two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, sustaining a reliable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what Sony is calling a fresh restart 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 explicit mandate to serve both devotees and novices. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build artifacts around setting detail, and practical creature work, elements that can lift IMAX and PLF uptake and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by immersive craft and language, this time exploring werewolf lore. The distributor has already set the date for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is favorable.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform tactics for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre slate flow to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a tiered path that optimizes both launch urgency and sign-up spikes in the later window. Prime Video interleaves outside acquisitions with global pickups and small theatrical windows when the data backs it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in catalog engagement, using featured rows, Halloween hubs, and handpicked rows to lengthen the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix stays nimble about own-slate titles and festival deals, timing horror entries on shorter runways and coalescing around launches with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a staged of targeted cinema placements and fast windowing that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has indicated interest to purchase select projects with name filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for sustained usage when the genre conversation surges.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 track with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is tight: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, refined for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the fall weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, piloting the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday dates to scale. That positioning has been successful for arthouse horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception warrants. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using precision theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their membership.

Franchise entries versus originals

By skew, the 2026 slate skews toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on franchise value. The concern, as ever, is brand erosion. The practical approach is to brand each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is underscoring character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-accented approach from a hot helmer. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and director-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf delivers period this content specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the bundle is familiar enough to spark pre-sales and early previews.

Three-year comps contextualize the template. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that preserved streaming windows did not stop a dual release from thriving when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror over-performed in PLF. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they angle differently and stretch the story. 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, creates space for marketing to connect the chapters through character arcs and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without lulls.

How the films are being made

The craft rooms behind the upcoming entries suggest a continued shift toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped great post to read production and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that foregrounds texture and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in long-lead features and artisan spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that withholds plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and gathers shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta pivot that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature craft and set design, which lend themselves to fan conventions and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel primary. Look for trailers that accent hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that play in premium auditoriums.

The schedule at a glance

January is loaded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid macro-brand pushes. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the range of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late Q1 and spring tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows 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 hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late-season stretch leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event occupies October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a minimalist tease strategy and limited pre-release reveals that elevate concept over story.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday card usage.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s machine mate mutates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss try to survive on a far-flung island as the power dynamic flips and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to fear, driven by Cronin’s tactile craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting scenario that plays with the fear of a child’s mercurial interpretations. Rating: to be announced. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-grade and headline-actor led occult chiller.

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 comic send-up that teases hot-button genre motifs and true-crime buzz. Rating: not yet rated. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. 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: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a fresh family snared by lingering terrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A new start designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on pure survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: forthcoming. Production: continuing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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 elemental fear. Rating: to be announced. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 lands now

Three hands-on forces shape this lineup. First, production that stalled or rearranged in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and tighter schedules. 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 out-earned straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage repeatable beats from test screenings, curated scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Calendar math also matters. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, making room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will cluster across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, 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 value-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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, 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 set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, sound, and framing 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 Looks Exciting

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is franchise muscle where it helps, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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, craft precise trailers, hold the mystery, and let the fear sell the seats.