Antediluvian Dread reawakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked shocker, launching October 2025 on major streaming services

This hair-raising otherworldly shockfest from dramatist / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an primeval malevolence when strangers become subjects in a hellish trial. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving tale of survival and prehistoric entity that will redefine scare flicks this season. Visualized by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and claustrophobic film follows five characters who arise isolated in a secluded dwelling under the oppressive command of Kyra, a cursed figure controlled by a millennia-old scriptural evil. Ready yourself to be shaken by a filmic presentation that weaves together soul-chilling terror with ancestral stories, landing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a legendary fixture in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is reversed when the demons no longer form beyond the self, but rather inside their minds. This suggests the most primal corner of the players. The result is a bone-chilling inner struggle where the narrative becomes a intense push-pull between purity and corruption.


In a forsaken forest, five characters find themselves trapped under the unholy presence and curse of a secretive person. As the protagonists becomes incapable to oppose her will, stranded and tormented by presences beyond reason, they are obligated to wrestle with their inner horrors while the timeline relentlessly counts down toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease builds and bonds splinter, demanding each individual to question their existence and the concept of freedom of choice itself. The intensity magnify with every instant, delivering a scare-fueled ride that marries otherworldly panic with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to dive into elemental fright, an spirit from ancient eras, manipulating mental cracks, and exposing a curse that tests the soul when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra called for internalizing something beneath mortal despair. She is innocent until the invasion happens, and that transition is bone-chilling because it is so unshielded.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for digital release beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that streamers no matter where they are can face this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its original clip, which has racked up over 100,000 views.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, delivering the story to viewers around the world.


Be sure to catch this heart-stopping descent into darkness. Experience *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to confront these dark realities about mankind.


For behind-the-scenes access, behind-the-scenes content, and promotions from those who lived it, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across platforms and visit our film’s homepage.





U.S. horror’s pivotal crossroads: 2025 across markets U.S. lineup fuses Mythic Possession, indie terrors, stacked beside Franchise Rumbles

Ranging from fight-to-live nightmare stories saturated with legendary theology through to returning series alongside keen independent perspectives, 2025 is coalescing into the richest paired with calculated campaign year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. the big studios are anchoring the year with franchise anchors, concurrently digital services flood the fall with new perspectives together with archetypal fear. On the independent axis, indie storytellers is carried on the uplift of a banner 2024 fest year. Since Halloween is the prized date, the other windows are mapped with care. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, though in this cycle, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are precise, hence 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal banner kicks off the frame with an audacious swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, instead in a current-day frame. Steered by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. arriving mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s slate launches the swan song from its bankable horror series: 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. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and the memorable motifs return: old school creep, trauma as theme, plus otherworld rules that chill. This time the stakes climb, 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 follow up digs further into canon, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It arrives in December, pinning the winter close.

Platform Plays: Economy, maximum dread

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. 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.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: 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, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

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. That is a savvy move. No puffed out backstory. No franchise baggage. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

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.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Brands: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, with Francis Lawrence directing, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Trends to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forecast: Fall pileup, winter curveball

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. 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. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The 2026 genre Year Ahead: brand plays, universe starters, alongside A busy Calendar designed for screams

Dek The incoming terror cycle lines up from the jump with a January pile-up, subsequently spreads through the warm months, and deep into the winter holidays, blending legacy muscle, new voices, and shrewd counterweight. Major distributors and platforms are betting on responsible budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and short-form initiatives that shape genre titles into mainstream chatter.

Horror momentum into 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the surest move in annual schedules, a space that can spike when it breaks through and still hedge the downside when it stumbles. After 2023 reminded strategy teams that lean-budget shockers can own social chatter, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with filmmaker-forward plays and word-of-mouth wins. The tailwind translated to the 2025 frame, where returns and festival-grade titles demonstrated there is a lane for a variety of tones, from legacy continuations to filmmaker-driven originals that play globally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a slate that reads highly synchronized across the market, with defined corridors, a blend of legacy names and untested plays, and a sharpened strategy on theatrical windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on paid VOD and subscription services.

Marketers add the horror lane now operates like a swing piece on the calendar. The genre can debut on almost any weekend, furnish a tight logline for trailers and social clips, and outperform with audiences that lean in on previews Thursday and continue through the follow-up frame if the release pays off. Following a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 mapping underscores certainty in that approach. The year opens with a stacked January window, then leans on spring and early summer for alternate plays, while carving room for a fall corridor that extends to the Halloween corridor and into the next week. The arrangement also features the stronger partnership of specialty arms and streamers that can grow from platform, fuel WOM, and widen at the inflection point.

A parallel macro theme is series management across unified worlds and storied titles. The studios are not just mounting another follow-up. They are seeking to position lore continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a typeface approach that broadcasts a new tone or a lead change that threads a incoming chapter to a initial period. At the same time, the directors behind the top original plays are prioritizing physical effects work, in-camera effects and concrete locations. That mix gives 2026 a confident blend of assurance and newness, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount establishes early momentum with two prominent projects that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the center, presenting it as both a legacy handover and a DNA-forward character study. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture indicates a throwback-friendly angle without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. see here Anticipate a campaign built on recognizable motifs, intro reveals, and a staggered trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will feature. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will hunt mainstream recognition through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format enabling quick adjustments to whatever rules pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three differentiated bets. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is crisp, sorrow-tinged, and concept-forward: a grieving man purchases an synthetic partner that turns into a deadly partner. The date sets it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to revisit creepy live activations and micro spots that blurs attachment and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a final title to become an event moment closer to the early tease. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele titles are positioned as signature events, with a teaser that reveals little and a later trailer push that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The late-month date gives Universal room to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. check over here The franchise has repeatedly shown that a blood-soaked, practical-effects forward mix can feel prestige on a efficient spend. Look for a blood-soaked summer horror hit that leans hard into worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio books two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, carrying a bankable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is describing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both players and new audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build promo materials around lore, and monster craft, elements that can stoke premium format interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by careful craft and historical speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. The specialty arm has already locked the day for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is robust.

Platform lanes and windowing

Digital strategies for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre slate transition to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ladder that expands both launch urgency and viewer acquisition in the post-theatrical. Prime Video stitches together third-party pickups with global originals and select theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in library pulls, using prominent placements, horror hubs, and curated strips to keep attention on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps flexible about Netflix originals and festival deals, timing horror entries closer to drop and positioning as event drops arrivals with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a one-two of targeted cinema placements and prompt platform moves that funnels enthusiasm into 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+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a selective basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to take on select projects with award winners or star-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for sustained usage when the genre conversation spikes.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 arc with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is simple: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, updated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a cinema-first plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late stretch.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then working the holiday dates to increase reach. That positioning has delivered for director-led genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception encourages. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using boutique theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subs.

Legacy titles versus originals

By skew, the 2026 slate bends toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate brand equity. The concern, as ever, is overexposure. The preferred tactic is to pitch each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is foregrounding character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a European tilt from a new voice. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles deliver 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, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the bundle is familiar enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years clarify the plan. In 2023, a cinema-first model that honored streaming windows did not foreclose a hybrid test from winning when the brand was potent. In 2024, director-craft horror surged in premium formats. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they alter lens and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, enables marketing to interlace chapters through personae and themes and to keep materials circulating without pause points.

Technique and craft currents

The craft conversations behind these films suggest a continued shift toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that centers unease and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for textured sound and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in trade spotlights and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a teaser that withholds plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for red-band excess, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and earns shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta inflection that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature craft and set design, which work nicely for convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that underscore fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that work in PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is jammed. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid headline IP. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the palette of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth persists.

Winter into spring prepare summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now hosts 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 spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

End of summer through fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a opaque tease strategy and limited asset reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and holiday gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s machine mate turns into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 remote island as the power balance of power reverses and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to fright, founded on Cronin’s material craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting tale that manipulates the unease of a child’s wobbly impressions. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-built and name-above-title spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that targets in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fervors. Rating: to be announced. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 bursts, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further widens again, with a unlucky family caught in lingering terrors. Rating: pending. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A new start designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-driven horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: to be announced. Production: active. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and elemental menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three practical forces shape this lineup. First, production that slowed or shuffled have a peek here in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often require limited 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 out-earned straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine clippable moments from test screenings, metered scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

The slot calculus is real. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, making room for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will compete across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where disciplined-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to work those windows. January could easily deliver the first 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, 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 keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, sound, and imagery 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 Is Well Positioned

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand equity where it matters, original vision where it matters, 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 late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.