Mythic Evil emerges: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding shocker, streaming October 2025 across premium platforms

A bone-chilling supernatural scare-fest from creator / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an forgotten force when unknowns become puppets in a supernatural ritual. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful journey of staying alive and ancient evil that will resculpt terror storytelling this Halloween season. Helmed by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and emotionally thick feature follows five unacquainted souls who are stirred ensnared in a remote cottage under the ominous grip of Kyra, a cursed figure claimed by a prehistoric Old Testament spirit. Anticipate to be immersed by a audio-visual ride that combines bodily fright 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.


Possession by evil has been a classic element in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is inverted when the demons no longer descend outside the characters, but rather from deep inside. This echoes the most terrifying element of the group. The result is a harrowing cognitive warzone where the suspense becomes a constant confrontation between righteousness and malevolence.


In a unforgiving terrain, five figures find themselves sealed under the malicious presence and domination of a unidentified character. As the protagonists becomes vulnerable to reject her command, isolated and targeted by beings inconceivable, they are forced to endure their inner horrors while the moments ruthlessly ticks onward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia surges and alliances crack, compelling each participant to question their being and the principle of self-determination itself. The pressure mount with every minute, delivering a frightening tale that merges supernatural terror with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to channel ancestral fear, an evil before modern man, working through our fears, and navigating a presence that dismantles free will when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra was centered on something more primal than sorrow. She is unseeing until the evil takes hold, and that metamorphosis is harrowing because it is so raw.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—allowing households worldwide can engage with this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its release of trailer #1, which has attracted over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, offering the tale to horror fans worldwide.


Don’t miss this life-altering journey into fear. Watch *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to dive into these evil-rooted truths about our species.


For previews, production news, and social posts via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your socials and visit the movie portal.





Current horror’s inflection point: the year 2025 U.S. calendar interlaces Mythic Possession, festival-born jolts, together with returning-series thunder

Beginning with grit-forward survival fare saturated with legendary theology and onward to IP renewals as well as focused festival visions, 2025 is lining up as the most dimensioned paired with deliberate year for the modern era.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Top studios set cornerstones with familiar IP, at the same time OTT services load up the fall with first-wave breakthroughs and ancient terrors. In the indie lane, horror’s indie wing is surfing the afterglow of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and now, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are methodical, hence 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: The Return of Prestige Fear

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 capitalizes.

the Universal banner sets the tone with a marquee bet: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in an immediate now. Directed by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. Slated for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Directed by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. unveils the final movement inside its trusty horror universe: 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. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 follows. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the memorable motifs return: 70s style chill, trauma in the foreground, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The stakes escalate here, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Completing the calendar 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 opens in December, cornering year end horror.

Platform Plays: Economy, maximum dread

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a close quarters body horror study featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story with Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of 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 chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in 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 looks like sharp programming. No heavy handed lore. No legacy baggage. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, with Francis Lawrence directing, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Emerging Currents

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight 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
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forecast: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. 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 forthcoming 2026 genre Year Ahead: returning titles, standalone ideas, and also A brimming Calendar optimized for shocks

Dek The upcoming scare year clusters up front with a January glut, after that spreads through June and July, and carrying into the winter holidays, fusing IP strength, new voices, and savvy counterweight. Studios and platforms are relying on efficient budgets, cinema-first plans, and buzz-forward plans that turn horror entries into all-audience topics.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The genre has turned into the most reliable swing in studio lineups, a pillar that can surge when it clicks and still buffer the risk when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year demonstrated to studio brass that modestly budgeted pictures can command the discourse, the following year maintained heat with auteur-driven buzzy films and slow-burn breakouts. The energy carried into 2025, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers highlighted there is capacity for many shades, from series extensions to original features that travel well. The takeaway for 2026 is a schedule that shows rare alignment across studios, with purposeful groupings, a combination of household franchises and new pitches, and a recommitted emphasis on cinema windows that power the aftermarket on premium digital and home streaming.

Planners observe the category now acts as a flex slot on the grid. The genre can arrive on a wide range of weekends, deliver a clean hook for ad units and platform-native cuts, and punch above weight with audiences that appear on early shows and return through the second frame if the title works. Emerging from a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 layout underscores belief in that equation. The year kicks off with a thick January block, then uses spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while saving space for a October build that runs into spooky season and into the next week. The calendar also features the continuing integration of arthouse labels and subscription services that can develop over weeks, fuel WOM, and scale up at the sweet spot.

A notable top-line trend is franchise tending across interlocking continuities and classic IP. Big banners are not just turning out another entry. They are looking to package lineage with a occasion, whether that is a title treatment that telegraphs a tonal shift or a talent selection that bridges a new entry to a heyday. At the parallel to that, the visionaries behind the high-profile originals are doubling down on real-world builds, makeup and prosthetics and concrete locations. That pairing affords the 2026 slate a healthy mix of assurance and shock, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount leads early with two centerpiece pushes that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the heart, marketing it as both a cross-generational handoff and a foundation-forward character-focused installment. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the narrative stance suggests a nostalgia-forward mode without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push driven by heritage visuals, character-first teases, and a promo sequence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also dusts off 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 behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will spotlight. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will seek wide appeal through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format enabling quick switches to whatever defines pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three distinct releases. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is efficient, soulful, and commercial: a grieving man purchases an intelligent companion that escalates into a harmful mate. The date locates it at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s campaign likely to replay uncanny-valley stunts and snackable content that hybridizes romance and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates 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 public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a proper title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first look. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele projects are marketed as director events, with a hinting teaser and a second beat that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The pre-Halloween slot allows Universal to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a in-your-face, prosthetic-heavy treatment can feel deluxe on a tight budget. Expect a red-band summer horror hit that emphasizes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio rolls out two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, sustaining a dependable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is positioning as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both diehards and first-timers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build artifacts around setting detail, and monster craft, elements that can fuel deluxe auditorium demand and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror defined by rigorous craft and language, this time orbiting lycan myth. The label has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is glowing.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform strategies for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal titles head to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a pacing that amplifies both opening-weekend urgency and platform bumps in the after-window. Prime Video combines licensed films with cross-border buys and select theatrical runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in library pulls, using prominent placements, horror hubs, and handpicked rows to increase tail value on aggregate take. Netflix keeps options open about originals and festival acquisitions, dating horror entries on shorter runways and elevating as drops launches with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a staged of targeted theatrical exposure and quick platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has shown appetite to board select projects with established auteurs or celebrity-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to earn receipts 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 surges.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 corridor with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is tight: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, updated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late stretch.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, shepherding the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then working the December frame to scale. That positioning has helped for prestige horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception allows. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using boutique theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their audience.

Balance of brands and originals

By share, the 2026 slate leans toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage household recognition. The concern, as ever, is overexposure. The workable fix is to package each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is leading with character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French sensibility from a rising filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the cast-creatives package is recognizable enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday previews.

Comps from the last three years outline the approach. In 2023, a exclusive window model that preserved streaming windows did not stop a simultaneous release test from performing when the brand was powerful. In 2024, director-craft horror hit big in PLF. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they change perspective 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 produced back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to relate entries through cast and motif and to sustain campaign assets without hiatuses.

How the look and feel evolve

The craft rooms behind 2026 horror signal a continued bias toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that emphasizes unease and texture rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in deep-dive features and department features before rolling out a teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and gathers shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-aware reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will live or die on creature design and production design, which align with booth activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel compelling. Look for trailers that center disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that benefit on big speakers.

The schedule at a glance

January is packed. 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 tonal palate cleanser amid headline IP. The month wraps 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 formidable, but the range of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth persists.

February through May stage summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds 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 comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a transitional slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a opaque tease strategy and limited teasers that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card burn.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s synthetic partner shifts into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

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 confront a warped 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 hard-edged boss fight to survive on a isolated island as the power balance inverts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: have a peek here roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to nightmare, rooted in Cronin’s hands-on craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting piece that pipes the unease through a little one’s unreliable perspective. Rating: forthcoming. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-built and name-above-title supernatural suspense.

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 comic send-up that teases today’s horror trends and true crime fascinations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. 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 surges, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further reopens, with a another family snared by returning horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-driven horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: undetermined. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: closely held. Rating: TBA. Production: active. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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 time-true diction and primordial menace. Rating: TBA. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026, why now

Three workable forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-sequenced in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, metered scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will jostle across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

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

The stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where modest-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 exploit those windows. 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a buffet, 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 chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, smart allocations, 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 grain, acoustics, and visual design 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

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand equity where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the fear sell the seats.