Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primordial evil, a nerve shredding chiller, premiering Oct 2025 on leading streamers

An terrifying metaphysical fear-driven tale from literary architect / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an prehistoric entity when unfamiliar people become tokens in a satanic game. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving depiction of survival and prehistoric entity that will resculpt fear-driven cinema this scare season. Crafted by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and claustrophobic tale follows five unknowns who arise sealed in a hidden dwelling under the malignant sway of Kyra, a tormented girl overtaken by a timeless biblical demon. Anticipate to be hooked by a theatrical venture that intertwines gut-punch terror with arcane tradition, landing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a mainstay fixture in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is inverted when the dark entities no longer appear outside the characters, but rather inside their minds. This suggests the most primal layer of the protagonists. The result is a harrowing moral showdown where the intensity becomes a ongoing push-pull between moral forces.


In a barren wilderness, five teens find themselves cornered under the possessive grip and domination of a mysterious female figure. As the survivors becomes helpless to fight her command, detached and preyed upon by evils impossible to understand, they are required to face their worst nightmares while the deathwatch harrowingly edges forward toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia deepens and links break, pressuring each participant to doubt their core and the foundation of personal agency itself. The consequences amplify with every breath, delivering a chilling narrative that harmonizes spiritual fright with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to tap into primal fear, an spirit older than civilization itself, filtering through emotional fractures, and challenging a spirit that threatens selfhood when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra asked for exploring something beyond human emotion. She is in denial until the spirit seizes her, and that evolution is terrifying because it is so raw.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for on-demand beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing horror lovers around the globe can dive into this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its intro video, which has garnered over strong viewer count.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, taking the terror to thrill-seekers globally.


Join this life-altering trip into the unknown. Explore *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to face these evil-rooted truths about mankind.


For previews, director cuts, and reveals from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit our film’s homepage.





Today’s horror pivotal crossroads: the 2025 season U.S. release slate weaves ancient-possession motifs, underground frights, stacked beside IP aftershocks

From survivor-centric dread grounded in scriptural legend and stretching into returning series plus acutely observed indies, 2025 is lining up as the most variegated and deliberate year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio majors lay down anchors through proven series, in tandem platform operators crowd the fall with new perspectives plus ancient terrors. Meanwhile, the artisan tier is drafting behind the kinetic energy of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, yet in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are intentional, so 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: The Return of Prestige Fear

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 set the base, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal banner leads off the quarter with a big gambit: a refreshed Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, but a sharp contemporary setting. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. Slated for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Steered by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer eases, the Warner lot sets loose the finale from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Even with a familiar chassis, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

After that, The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: 70s style chill, trauma as theme, and a cold supernatural calculus. This time the stakes climb, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The follow up digs further into canon, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, bridging teens and legacy players. It books December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Offerings: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a close quarters body horror study pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, 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. While no platform has formally placed a date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend with Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Penned and steered 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. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It reads as sharp positioning. No heavy handed lore. No franchise baggage. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Series Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Key Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror swings back
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

The Road Ahead: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must 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. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The approaching chiller Year Ahead: brand plays, filmmaker-first projects, together with A loaded Calendar calibrated for goosebumps

Dek: The incoming scare year crams at the outset with a January bottleneck, subsequently flows through peak season, and pushing into the festive period, balancing name recognition, untold stories, and tactical counter-scheduling. Major distributors and platforms are committing to smart costs, theatrical exclusivity first, and viral-minded pushes that convert these releases into water-cooler talk.

Horror’s status entering 2026

Horror has grown into the consistent release in studio lineups, a vertical that can surge when it lands and still mitigate the floor when it under-delivers. After 2023 showed strategy teams that cost-conscious genre plays can galvanize pop culture, the following year held pace with festival-darling auteurs and sleeper breakouts. The trend moved into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and arthouse crossovers demonstrated there is appetite for a spectrum, from brand follow-ups to one-and-done originals that scale internationally. The sum for the 2026 slate is a run that reads highly synchronized across companies, with obvious clusters, a harmony of legacy names and novel angles, and a re-energized eye on theatrical windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium digital and digital services.

Marketers add the genre now functions as a schedule utility on the programming map. The genre can arrive on nearly any frame, deliver a quick sell for promo reels and shorts, and overperform with moviegoers that show up on Thursday nights and keep coming through the next pass if the picture hits. Following a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 plan signals comfort in that approach. The calendar starts with a busy January corridor, then targets spring into early summer for contrast, while clearing room for a late-year stretch that stretches into the Halloween frame and into post-Halloween. The grid also includes the tightening integration of arthouse labels and OTT outlets that can stage a platform run, fuel WOM, and go nationwide at the precise moment.

A parallel macro theme is IP stewardship across shared universes and veteran brands. The players are not just pushing another entry. They are moving to present threaded continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a title presentation that signals a refreshed voice or a casting pivot that threads a fresh chapter to a heyday. At the meanwhile, the helmers behind the most buzzed-about originals are returning to material texture, special makeup and specific settings. That fusion produces the 2026 slate a strong blend of recognition and newness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount opens strong with two big-ticket projects that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the center, signaling it as both a handoff and a origin-leaning character-forward chapter. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance telegraphs a legacy-leaning campaign without covering again the last two entries’ sisters thread. Count on a promo wave fueled by signature symbols, intro reveals, and a tiered teaser plan timed to late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

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 reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will foreground. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will drive large awareness through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format allowing quick redirects to whatever dominates trend lines that spring.

Universal has three distinct releases. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is straightforward, tragic, and logline-clear: a grieving man implements an artificial companion that mutates into a perilous partner. The date sets it at the front of a crowded corridor, with marketing at Universal likely to mirror uncanny live moments and short reels that hybridizes love and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio movies books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a name unveil to become an fan moment closer to the early tease. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele projects are set up as director events, with a mystery-first teaser and a subsequent trailers that signal tone without plot the concept. The spooky-season slot creates space for Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has shown that a raw, hands-on effects mix can feel big on a lean spend. Look for a blood-and-grime summer horror rush that pushes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio deploys two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, sustaining a dependable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has recalibrated 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 re-emerges in what the studio is positioning 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 focus to serve both players and new audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build marketing units around universe detail, and practical creature work, elements that can fuel premium screens and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror defined by minute detail and archaic language, this time exploring werewolf lore. The imprint has already locked the day for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is glowing.

Where the platforms fit in

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s slate transition to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a cadence that boosts both initial urgency and viewer acquisition in the downstream. Prime Video continues to mix library titles with international acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data supports it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in archive usage, using well-timed internal promotions, Halloween hubs, and curated rows to keep attention on overall cume. Netflix keeps options open about original films and festival acquisitions, slotting horror entries with shorter lead times and coalescing around rollouts with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a staged of targeted cinema placements and speedy platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has shown appetite to pick up select projects with prestige directors or headline-cast packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation peaks.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 lane with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is simple: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, upgraded for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a theatrical-first plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the October weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, shepherding the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday frame to open out. That positioning has worked well for arthouse horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand 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 as a pair, using precision theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their user base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By tilt, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage household recognition. The potential drawback, as ever, is staleness. The pragmatic answer is to market each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is spotlighting character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a continental coloration from a buzzed-about director. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the assembly is known enough to spark pre-sales and early previews.

Recent comps clarify the model. In 2023, a theater-first model that kept clean windows did not hamper a simultaneous release test from thriving when the brand was strong. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror popped in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they reframe POV and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, provides the means for marketing to bridge entries through character and theme and to keep assets alive without long breaks.

Creative tendencies and craft

The craft conversations behind the 2026 entries suggest a continued preference for in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that emphasizes texture and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in craft journalism and department features before rolling out a preview that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta recalibration that centers its original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature and environment design, which play well in fan conventions and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that elevate precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that land in premium houses.

Annual flow

January is heavy. 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 quiet contrast amid big-brand pushes. The month concludes 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 credible, but the tonal variety ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth carries.

Post-January through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to 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 presents ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late-season stretch leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a late-September window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a mystery-first teaser plan and limited pre-release reveals that center concept over reveals.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can win the holiday when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

One-sentence dossiers

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s digital partner mutates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked 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 coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

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 collide with a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. 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 hard-edged boss battle to survive on a rugged island as the control dynamic turns and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to nightmare, anchored by Cronin’s tactile craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting story that plays with the terror of a child’s tricky interpretations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed and name-above-title haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A parody return that satirizes present-day genre chatter and true crime fixations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 surges, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. 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: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further opens again, with a fresh family lashed to returning horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on true survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: forthcoming. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: TBA. Production: proceeding. 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-faithful speech and elemental dread. Rating: not yet rated. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three workable forces structure this lineup. First, production that decelerated or migrated in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest bite-size scare clips from test screenings, metered scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, making room 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 coexist across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. 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 stealth-hit search 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 capitalize on 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, 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 appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, 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.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand heft where it matters, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, guard the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.