Ancient Evil returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising feature, bowing Oct 2025 on major streaming services

This unnerving occult thriller from literary architect / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an prehistoric horror when newcomers become subjects in a fiendish struggle. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving depiction of living through and primeval wickedness that will revolutionize horror this harvest season. Realized by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and eerie screenplay follows five people who emerge ensnared in a cut-off wooden structure under the oppressive will of Kyra, a possessed female dominated by a timeless sacred-era entity. Ready yourself to be hooked by a motion picture spectacle that weaves together visceral dread with timeless legends, coming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a time-honored fixture in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is flipped when the spirits no longer emerge beyond the self, but rather internally. This mirrors the most hidden side of the protagonists. The result is a gripping mind game where the tension becomes a unforgiving clash between innocence and sin.


In a desolate natural abyss, five characters find themselves stuck under the ominous influence and control of a shadowy female presence. As the protagonists becomes paralyzed to withstand her curse, exiled and preyed upon by presences beyond reason, they are driven to acknowledge their inner horrors while the timeline relentlessly pushes forward toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust escalates and teams shatter, urging each survivor to rethink their identity and the concept of liberty itself. The hazard magnify with every tick, delivering a chilling narrative that intertwines ghostly evil with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to dive into primal fear, an power beyond time, channeling itself through inner turmoil, and navigating a being that tests the soul when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra was centered on something beyond human emotion. She is oblivious until the entity awakens, and that transition is gut-wrenching because it is so unshielded.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for audiences beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—providing customers around the globe can get immersed in this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its first trailer, which has racked up over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, presenting the nightmare to scare fans abroad.


Mark your calendar for this soul-jarring path of possession. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to uncover these spiritual awakenings about the soul.


For film updates, filmmaker commentary, and updates from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across online outlets and visit our film’s homepage.





American horror’s watershed moment: 2025 across markets U.S. lineup braids together biblical-possession ideas, signature indie scares, alongside returning-series thunder

Across survivor-centric dread steeped in mythic scripture and stretching into franchise returns and cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 stands to become the most complex paired with deliberate year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio powerhouses plant stakes across the year by way of signature titles, as streaming platforms pack the fall with emerging auteurs paired with archetypal fear. On the festival side, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is drafting behind the kinetic energy of a peak 2024 circuit. Since Halloween is the prized date, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, however this time, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are precise, and 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Premium genre swings back

The majors are assertive. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 accelerates.

the Universal camp sets the tone with a confident swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in a modern-day environment. From director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. 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 novel refit as minimal menace. Guided by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. Pictures rolls out the capstone within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. While the template is known, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re boards, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: throwback unease, trauma centered writing, and eerie supernatural logic. This run ups the stakes, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The new chapter enriches the lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It hits in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Firsts: Lean budgets, heavy bite

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a room scale body horror descent featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches 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 a clever angle. No overinflated mythology. No continuity burden. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Franchise Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Trends to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror swings back
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

The Road Ahead: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The coming 2026 scare calendar year ahead: follow-ups, non-franchise titles, together with A jammed Calendar Built For jolts

Dek The incoming genre cycle packs up front with a January glut, after that rolls through summer corridors, and far into the holidays, blending legacy muscle, fresh ideas, and strategic alternatives. Studio marketers and platforms are embracing mid-range economics, big-screen-first runs, and short-form initiatives that transform horror entries into culture-wide discussion.

The landscape of horror in 2026

This space has solidified as the steady move in studio slates, a space that can expand when it breaks through and still buffer the drawdown when it stumbles. After 2023 reassured decision-makers that responsibly budgeted scare machines can drive pop culture, 2024 maintained heat with festival-darling auteurs and stealth successes. The carry pushed into 2025, where resurrections and awards-minded projects highlighted there is a lane for several lanes, from franchise continuations to one-and-done originals that export nicely. The combined impact for 2026 is a calendar that shows rare alignment across the industry, with obvious clusters, a equilibrium of familiar brands and first-time concepts, and a refocused emphasis on exhibition windows that drive downstream revenue on premium home window and platforms.

Marketers add the category now functions as a flex slot on the programming map. Horror can arrive on numerous frames, offer a sharp concept for promo reels and social clips, and punch above weight with patrons that lean in on first-look nights and keep coming through the second frame if the film delivers. On the heels of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 layout signals conviction in that setup. The calendar kicks off with a thick January corridor, then plants flags in spring and early summer for contrast, while saving space for a September to October window that runs into the Halloween corridor and past the holiday. The grid also underscores the deeper integration of specialty distributors and OTT outlets that can platform and widen, fuel WOM, and expand at the proper time.

A companion trend is brand strategy across linked properties and veteran brands. The studios are not just producing another next film. They are setting up connection with a specialness, whether that is a typeface approach that conveys a re-angled tone or a casting choice that links a next film to a early run. At the in tandem, the creative teams behind the eagerly awaited originals are favoring material texture, physical gags and location-forward worlds. That blend affords 2026 a lively combination of familiarity and invention, which is why the genre exports well.

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

Paramount sets the tone early with two spotlight bets that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the lead, signaling it as both a cross-generational handoff and a DNA-forward character-first story. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the authorial approach announces a throwback-friendly bent without looping the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push fueled by classic imagery, intro reveals, and a trailer cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is big-screen via see here Paramount.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will feature. As a summer counter-slot, this one will go after wide appeal through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format enabling quick turns to whatever tops the discourse that spring.

Universal has three differentiated plays. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is tight, tragic, and concept-forward: a grieving man activates an algorithmic mate that mutates into a deadly partner. The date locates it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with the marketing arm likely to revisit strange in-person beats and short-form creative that threads intimacy and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a name unveil to become an event moment closer to the teaser. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele projects are framed as director events, with a teaser that holds back and a later creative that signal tone without plot the concept. The late-month date allows Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage 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 directs, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has consistently shown that a blood-soaked, in-camera leaning execution can feel high-value on a efficient spend. Look for a blood-and-grime summer horror blast that leans hard into worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio rolls out two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, continuing a bankable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is framing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both devotees and new audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build assets around canon, and practical creature work, elements that can stoke deluxe auditorium demand and convention buzz.

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 follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in obsessive craft and dialect, this time circling werewolf lore. have a peek at these guys The distributor has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is strong.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform plans for 2026 run on known playbooks. The Universal horror run window into copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a cadence that enhances both debut momentum and sub growth in the post-theatrical. Prime Video combines library titles with worldwide buys and brief theater runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in archive usage, using timely promos, fright rows, and handpicked rows to keep attention on the horror cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about first-party entries and festival additions, locking in horror entries with shorter lead times and positioning as event drops launches with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a two-step of focused cinema runs and accelerated platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to pick up select projects with acclaimed directors or star-driven packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for platform stickiness when the genre conversation heats up.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 slate with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is uncomplicated: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, elevated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the autumn stretch.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through festival season if the cut is ready, then working the holiday frame to expand. That positioning has worked well for filmmaker-first horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception warrants. Be ready for 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 partners, using precision theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Franchise entries versus originals

By tilt, 2026 leans in favor of the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate marquee value. The risk, as ever, is fatigue. The go-to fix is to market each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is leading with character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing 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-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the configuration is anchored enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Recent-year comps outline the approach. In 2023, a theater-first model that respected streaming windows did not obstruct a day-date move from hitting when the brand was sticky. In 2024, art-forward horror hit big in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reorient and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, lets marketing to tie installments through cast and motif and to leave creative active without long gaps.

Production craft signals

The creative meetings behind 2026 horror telegraph a continued emphasis on in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that centers aura and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft coverage before rolling out a mood teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and spurs shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta inflection that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature execution and sets, which favor fan conventions and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that spotlight pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that shine in top rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is crowded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid heavier IP. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the variety of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Early-year through spring prepare summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The 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 sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

August into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a transitional slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a peekaboo tease plan and limited advance reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift card usage.

Film-by-film briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s algorithmic partner evolves into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 lonely island as the control balance inverts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to nightmare, shaped by Cronin’s on-set craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting story that frames the panic through a minor’s unreliable subjective view. Rating: not yet rated. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-built and A-list fronted supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A parody return that lampoons current genre trends and true crime fascinations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites erupts, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further widens again, with a young family linked to returning horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-driven horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: to be announced. 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: to be announced. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: forthcoming. Production: ongoing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. have a peek here Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and primordial menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. 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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026 and why now

Three hands-on forces inform this lineup. First, production that downshifted or shifted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine bite-size scare clips from test screenings, precision scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

There is also the slotting calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will line up across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

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

The search for sleepers continues in Q1, where low-to-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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first quiet 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, optimized footprints, 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 materiality, sound, and image-making 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 Shapes Up Strong

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is franchise muscle where it helps, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, keep the secrets, and let the shocks sell the seats.