Ancient Malevolence awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding feature, rolling out October 2025 on major streaming services

A spine-tingling metaphysical shockfest from writer / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an long-buried force when newcomers become pawns in a devilish ritual. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful depiction of perseverance and mythic evil that will remodel horror this harvest season. Helmed by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and emotionally thick tale follows five young adults who awaken locked in a unreachable dwelling under the dark sway of Kyra, a tormented girl dominated by a two-thousand-year-old scriptural evil. Be warned to be ensnared by a screen-based spectacle that integrates soul-chilling terror with mythic lore, debuting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a well-established pillar in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is redefined when the presences no longer appear outside their bodies, but rather from within. This embodies the darkest dimension of the players. The result is a harrowing emotional conflict where the emotions becomes a merciless contest between right and wrong.


In a remote outland, five friends find themselves isolated under the evil effect and overtake of a uncanny character. As the cast becomes paralyzed to deny her influence, disconnected and pursued by presences mind-shattering, they are confronted to reckon with their emotional phantoms while the countdown without pity strikes toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion surges and friendships shatter, urging each protagonist to evaluate their core and the philosophy of personal agency itself. The consequences intensify with every fleeting time, delivering a paranormal ride that harmonizes otherworldly suspense with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to extract elemental fright, an force from ancient eras, embedding itself in mental cracks, and exposing a will that peels away humanity when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra was centered on something unfamiliar to reason. She is insensitive until the possession kicks in, and that transition is bone-chilling because it is so private.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for public screening beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—delivering users across the world can face this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its release of trailer #1, which has earned over strong viewer count.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, spreading the horror to a worldwide audience.


Avoid skipping this soul-jarring path of possession. Watch *Young & Cursed* this launch day to explore these fearful discoveries about the human condition.


For previews, set experiences, and reveals from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursed across Facebook and TikTok and visit our film’s homepage.





The horror genre’s major pivot: calendar year 2025 American release plan blends Mythic Possession, indie terrors, and returning-series thunder

Spanning endurance-driven terror suffused with primordial scripture all the way to canon extensions as well as incisive indie visions, 2025 is emerging as the most textured paired with precision-timed year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. Top studios hold down the year with familiar IP, simultaneously OTT services front-load the fall with discovery plays and scriptural shivers. On the festival side, festival-forward creators is fueled by the afterglow of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, but this year, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are intentional, as a result 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: High-craft horror returns

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s distribution arm begins the calendar with a confident swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, inside today’s landscape. Led by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. landing in mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Under Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer eases, Warner’s pipeline launches the swan song from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson returns, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: old school creep, trauma as narrative engine, and eerie supernatural logic. This pass pushes higher, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It posts in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Firsts: Tight funds, wide impact

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a body horror chamber piece including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, 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. Despite no official platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale starring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

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 Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is canny scheduling. No overinflated mythology. No continuity burden. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

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

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy IP: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, under Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

What to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

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

Originals on platforms bite harder
The filler era wanes for platform horror. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The next fear year to come: Sequels, non-franchise titles, as well as A loaded Calendar optimized for jolts

Dek The new genre season lines up from the jump with a January pile-up, subsequently stretches through June and July, and pushing into the holiday frame, combining brand equity, fresh ideas, and savvy release strategy. Major distributors and platforms are embracing responsible budgets, cinema-first plans, and buzz-forward plans that convert genre releases into national conversation.

How the genre looks for 2026

The horror marketplace has turned into the steady lever in release plans, a lane that can spike when it clicks and still buffer the risk when it misses. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for leaders that mid-range horror vehicles can dominate audience talk, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with buzzy auteur projects and slow-burn breakouts. The upswing flowed into the 2025 frame, where revivals and filmmaker-prestige bets demonstrated there is an opening for different modes, from sequel tracks to non-IP projects that scale internationally. The sum for the 2026 slate is a slate that reads highly synchronized across the field, with purposeful groupings, a equilibrium of brand names and new concepts, and a re-energized strategy on exclusive windows that increase tail monetization on PVOD and platforms.

Insiders argue the genre now functions as a plug-and-play option on the calendar. The genre can open on virtually any date, create a easy sell for previews and social clips, and punch above weight with moviegoers that appear on Thursday previews and stick through the next weekend if the movie satisfies. After a production delay era, the 2026 pattern exhibits assurance in that equation. The year launches with a stacked January band, then uses spring and early summer for audience offsets, while making space for a fall cadence that extends to the fright window and into early November. The arrangement also includes the increasing integration of specialty distributors and SVOD players that can build gradually, ignite recommendations, and broaden at the inflection point.

A parallel macro theme is brand curation across brand ecosystems and heritage properties. Major shops are not just greenlighting another chapter. They are seeking to position brand continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title design that signals a new vibe or a lead change that connects a fresh chapter to a classic era. At the concurrently, the creative teams behind the most watched originals are championing hands-on technique, special makeup and grounded locations. That blend provides the 2026 slate a robust balance of known notes and surprise, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount defines the early cadence with two headline moves that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the front, setting it up as both a cross-generational handoff and a foundation-forward relationship-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the story approach suggests a memory-charged angle without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run fueled by signature symbols, intro reveals, and a staggered trailer plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will spotlight. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will go after general-audience talk through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format inviting quick shifts to whatever drives the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three distinct lanes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is tidy, soulful, and easily pitched: a grieving man adopts an algorithmic mate that becomes a murderous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to replay uncanny-valley stunts and short-form creative that interweaves love and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a proper title to become an teaser payoff closer to the initial tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s pictures are set up as must-see filmmaker statements, with a concept-forward tease and a second trailer wave that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date allows Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has shown that a gnarly, in-camera leaning style can feel big on a controlled budget. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror shot that pushes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio lines up two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, continuing a reliable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is presenting as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both core fans and first-timers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build materials around setting detail, and creature builds, elements that can accelerate PLF interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror defined by historical precision and historical speech, this time engaging werewolf myth. The label has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform tactics for 2026 run on proven patterns. The studio’s horror films flow to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a cadence that optimizes both initial urgency and trial spikes in the late-window. Prime Video blends licensed films with global acquisitions and limited runs in theaters when the data points to it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in archive usage, using in-app campaigns, Halloween hubs, and editorial rows to prolong the run on overall cume. Netflix retains agility about Netflix films and festival wins, timing horror entries toward the drop and eventizing drops with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a tiered of targeted cinema placements and accelerated platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has been willing to pick up select projects with top-tier auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation swells.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 corridor 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 angle is straightforward: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, upgraded for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical rollout for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the back half.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, managing the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the year-end corridor to widen. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-first horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception prompts. Plan on 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 as a pair, using limited runs to ignite evangelism that fuels their community.

Franchises versus originals

By share, 2026 leans toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap name recognition. The concern, as ever, is overexposure. The operating solution is to sell each entry as a new angle. Paramount is foregrounding character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French sensibility from a fresh helmer. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the deal build is anchored enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday previews.

Past-three-year patterns frame the template. In 2023, a theatrical-first Source plan that respected streaming windows did not deter a day-and-date experiment from thriving when the brand was sticky. In 2024, art-forward horror popped in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they shift POV and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, lets marketing to connect the chapters through character spine and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without long gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The director conversations behind this year’s genre indicate a continued preference for in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that elevates texture and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in craft journalism and guild coverage before rolling out a first look that leans on mood over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta reframe that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will live or die on monster realization and design, which are ideal for convention floor stunts and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that highlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that shine in top rooms.

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 somber counterpoint amid heftier brand moves. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the mix of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

Post-January through spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Late summer into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited plot reveals that center concept over reveals.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card redemption.

Embedded title notes

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 re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genome. 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 algorithmic partner mutates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

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

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss try to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance of power swivels and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-forward 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 fresh reimagining that returns the monster to fright, built on Cronin’s practical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting scenario that filters Check This Out its scares through a youngster’s uneven internal vantage. Rating: pending. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A satire sequel that satirizes today’s horror trends and true-crime manias. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. 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 bursts, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further widens again, with a different family tethered to older hauntings. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A restart designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survivalist horror over action fireworks. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 raw menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces inform this lineup. First, production that slowed or shifted in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and shorter 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming releases. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage turnkey scare beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, creating valuable space for genre entries that can command a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will stack across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 lower and mid-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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a tasting table, 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 gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, 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 compound over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, soundcraft, 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 Promising 2026

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is name recognition where it counts, fresh vision where it counts, 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, protect the mystery, and let the chills sell the seats.