Mythic Horror reawakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked chiller, rolling out October 2025 on leading streamers

This hair-raising otherworldly nightmare movie from screenwriter / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an ancient fear when unknowns become subjects in a dark experiment. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing chronicle of survival and primeval wickedness that will transform terror storytelling this cool-weather season. Guided by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and emotionally thick film follows five figures who awaken locked in a wooded cabin under the malevolent sway of Kyra, a central character controlled by a millennia-old religious nightmare. Ready yourself to be seized by a filmic spectacle that harmonizes raw fear with ancient myths, streaming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a classic trope in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is reversed when the entities no longer descend outside their bodies, but rather inside their minds. This suggests the grimmest element of every character. The result is a edge-of-seat cognitive warzone where the plotline becomes a relentless fight between virtue and vice.


In a wilderness-stricken forest, five young people find themselves stuck under the sinister presence and possession of a unidentified apparition. As the ensemble becomes unresisting to resist her dominion, exiled and pursued by powers mind-shattering, they are cornered to acknowledge their darkest emotions while the doomsday meter mercilessly counts down toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease swells and relationships collapse, requiring each figure to challenge their true nature and the concept of self-determination itself. The cost mount with every short lapse, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that integrates occult fear with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to explore core terror, an darkness beyond time, channeling itself through fragile psyche, and navigating a curse that challenges autonomy when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra needed manifesting something darker than pain. She is innocent until the possession kicks in, and that change is shocking because it is so private.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for audiences beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—so that subscribers from coast to coast can get immersed in this chilling supernatural event.


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


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, bringing the film to fans of fear everywhere.


Make sure to see this mind-warping voyage through terror. Experience *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to confront these evil-rooted truths about the psyche.


For director insights, production news, and reveals from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your favorite networks and visit our horror hub.





Horror’s watershed moment: calendar year 2025 U.S. lineup weaves biblical-possession ideas, festival-born jolts, plus franchise surges

From survival horror inspired by old testament echoes and extending to returning series as well as keen independent perspectives, 2025 is tracking to be horror’s most layered combined with carefully orchestrated year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. Major studios plant stakes across the year with known properties, even as premium streamers saturate the fall with new voices and ancient terrors. In parallel, horror’s indie wing is carried on the momentum of a peak 2024 circuit. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, however this time, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are disciplined, therefore 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s pipeline opens the year with a confident swing: a modernized Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in an immediate now. Steered by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. timed for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Helmed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. sets loose the finale inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re boards, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: retro dread, trauma foregrounded, along with eerie supernatural rules. This time, the stakes are raised, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, builds out the animatronic fear crew, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It lands in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Digital Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a body horror duet anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative with Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. 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 threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No overweight mythology. No legacy baggage. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, from Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Emerging Currents

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror swings back
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Outlook: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The next genre cycle: continuations, original films, and also A hectic Calendar calibrated for chills

Dek The new horror season crowds early with a January traffic jam, from there stretches through June and July, and running into the late-year period, blending name recognition, novel approaches, and calculated release strategy. Studios and streamers are doubling down on lean spends, exclusive theatrical windows first, and short-form initiatives that transform these pictures into all-audience topics.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror filmmaking has solidified as the steady counterweight in annual schedules, a segment that can grow when it catches and still insulate the liability when it falls short. After the 2023 year showed strategy teams that mid-range scare machines can command cultural conversation, 2024 extended the rally with director-led heat and slow-burn breakouts. The head of steam translated to the 2025 frame, where revivals and arthouse crossovers made clear there is a market for multiple flavors, from ongoing IP entries to original features that scale internationally. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a programming that feels more orchestrated than usual across distributors, with purposeful groupings, a harmony of known properties and new concepts, and a tightened strategy on release windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium on-demand and digital services.

Schedulers say the genre now performs as a wildcard on the grid. The genre can bow on almost any weekend, create a clear pitch for promo reels and shorts, and outperform with fans that arrive on previews Thursday and hold through the subsequent weekend if the film hits. On the heels of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 setup reflects faith in that equation. The slate begins with a front-loaded January corridor, then turns to spring and early summer for balance, while leaving room for a late-year stretch that carries into Halloween and into the next week. The map also underscores the expanded integration of specialized imprints and streamers that can platform and widen, create conversation, and go nationwide at the right moment.

A second macro trend is brand management across brand ecosystems and legacy IP. Studios are not just rolling another chapter. They are aiming to frame ongoing narrative with a marquee sheen, whether that is a title design that telegraphs a new vibe or a star attachment that anchors a next film to a foundational era. At the very same time, the filmmakers behind the most buzzed-about originals are leaning into real-world builds, real effects and specific settings. That convergence affords the 2026 slate a lively combination of trust and discovery, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount leads early with two marquee entries that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the spine, signaling it as both a lineage transfer and a heritage-centered character piece. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach conveys a roots-evoking bent without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Expect a marketing push built on brand visuals, first images of characters, and a trailer cadence aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

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 back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will emphasize. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will chase four-quadrant chatter through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format inviting quick updates to whatever rules the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three separate projects. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is simple, heartbroken, and commercial: a grieving man activates an algorithmic mate that evolves into a murderous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a busy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to renew odd public stunts and bite-size content that blurs intimacy and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a title reveal to become click to read more an attention spike closer to the opening teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. His entries are set up as event films, with a teaser with minimal detail and a next wave of trailers 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 use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has long shown that a flesh-and-blood, hands-on effects aesthetic can feel premium on a efficient spend. Expect a grime-caked summer horror shock that pushes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio sets two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, preserving a consistent supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is framing as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both fans and first-timers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build marketing units around universe detail, and creature design, elements that can drive PLF interest and fan-forward engagement.

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 extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by textural authenticity and archaic language, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is positive.

Platform lanes and windowing

Digital strategies for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s genre slate shift to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a pacing that elevates both debut momentum and subscription bumps in the downstream. Prime Video combines licensed films with global acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data signals it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library curation, using curated hubs, holiday hubs, and editorial rows to prolong the run on aggregate take. Netflix keeps flexible about first-party entries and festival buys, timing horror entries closer to launch and staging as events debuts with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a staged of tailored theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a per-project basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to board select projects with recognized filmmakers or A-list packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 lane with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is straightforward: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, retooled for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the October weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, managing the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday corridor to scale. That positioning has served the company well for prestige horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception merits. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using precision theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subs.

IP versus fresh ideas

By number, 2026 tips toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on household recognition. The watch-out, as ever, is overexposure. The workable fix is to market each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is foregrounding character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-inflected take from a buzzed-about director. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and talent-first projects provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the package is familiar enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and first-night audiences.

Past-three-year patterns make sense of the strategy. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that preserved streaming windows did not deter a parallel release from performing when the brand was compelling. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror popped in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they rotate perspective and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters shot consecutively, creates space for marketing to bridge entries through character spine and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without pause points.

How the films are being made

The production chatter behind 2026 horror point to a continued shift toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that leans on unease and texture rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and era-correct language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead features and guild coverage before rolling out a first look that withholds plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and generates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta refresh that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on monster aesthetics and world-building, which align with expo activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel must-have. Look for trailers that elevate hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that benefit on big speakers.

From winter to holidays

January is jammed. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid heftier brand moves. The month closes 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 real, but the tonal variety ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

Late Q1 and spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers severe 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 finished their premium pass.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a late-September window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited pre-release reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can win the holiday when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift card usage.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative returns 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 loss-struck man’s artificial companion becomes something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: mood-led 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 work to survive on a cut-off island as the power balance inverts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to fear, based on Cronin’s practical effects and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting chiller that explores the chill of a child’s shaky read. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-grade and toplined haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that lampoons current genre trends and true-crime manias. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new family tethered to older hauntings. Rating: undetermined. 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: TBD publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A fresh restart designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survivalist horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: TBA. Production: continuing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 raw menace. Rating: TBD. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 and why now

Three operational forces drive this lineup. First, production that downshifted or re-sequenced in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined 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 releases. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on shareable moments from test screenings, metered scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will stack across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where lean-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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, 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 compound over time, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, sound field, and visuals 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

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand gravity where needed, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.