Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons antediluvian malevolence, a chilling horror thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on leading streamers

An bone-chilling ghostly fright fest from writer / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an timeless fear when foreigners become instruments in a malevolent ceremony. Hitting screens this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish narrative of perseverance and old world terror that will revolutionize horror this ghoul season. Visualized by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and atmospheric cinema piece follows five individuals who suddenly rise locked in a remote structure under the sinister command of Kyra, a tormented girl claimed by a millennia-old religious nightmare. Ready yourself to be drawn in by a immersive venture that blends deep-seated panic with mythic lore, releasing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a long-standing theme in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is inverted when the forces no longer appear from beyond, but rather from deep inside. This depicts the grimmest version of every character. The result is a gripping internal warfare where the narrative becomes a ongoing struggle between divinity and wickedness.


In a unforgiving terrain, five young people find themselves marooned under the dark force and control of a haunted female figure. As the youths becomes helpless to break her command, marooned and attacked by beings impossible to understand, they are forced to battle their emotional phantoms while the clock unceasingly draws closer toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion escalates and ties collapse, coercing each protagonist to rethink their true nature and the philosophy of independent thought itself. The pressure escalate with every tick, delivering a frightening tale that connects otherworldly suspense with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to draw upon primal fear, an darkness beyond time, working through soul-level flaws, and examining a curse that erodes the self when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra needed manifesting something deeper than fear. She is oblivious until the haunting manifests, and that transition is bone-chilling because it is so close.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring fans no matter where they are can engage with this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its intro video, which has seen over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, delivering the story to fans of fear everywhere.


Don’t miss this cinematic voyage through terror. Stream *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to experience these fearful discoveries about human nature.


For director insights, filmmaker commentary, and reveals from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across Facebook and TikTok and visit our horror hub.





The horror genre’s inflection point: 2025 for genre fans U.S. rollouts Mixes biblical-possession ideas, indie terrors, and franchise surges

Spanning endurance-driven terror rooted in primordial scripture to returning series as well as incisive indie visions, 2025 is shaping up as the genre’s most multifaceted and strategic year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. the big studios lay down anchors using marquee IP, while digital services load up the fall with first-wave breakthroughs in concert with archetypal fear. On another front, indie storytellers is fueled by the afterglow of a record-setting 2024 festival season. As Halloween stays the prime week, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, distinctly in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are disciplined, and 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

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

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal camp starts the year with a bold swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, inside today’s landscape. Led by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. landing in mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. From director Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

When summer tapers, the WB camp sets loose the finale from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Though the formula is familiar, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: 70s style chill, trauma as narrative engine, plus otherworld rules that chill. The bar is raised this go, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, builds out the animatronic fear crew, reaching teens and game grownups. It lands in December, securing the winter cap.

Platform Plays: Small budgets, sharp fangs

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

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale starring Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, 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. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is canny scheduling. No overinflated mythology. No series drag. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

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 premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Lines: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

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. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

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

Trend Lines

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror ascends again
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Laurels convert to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Season Ahead: Fall pileup, winter curveball

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The next chiller lineup: returning titles, standalone ideas, alongside A packed Calendar Built For nightmares

Dek The incoming horror calendar loads immediately with a January crush, then carries through midyear, and pushing into the winter holidays, fusing legacy muscle, new voices, and shrewd release strategy. The big buyers and platforms are prioritizing lean spends, theatrical leads, and social-driven marketing that position these pictures into water-cooler talk.

How the genre looks for 2026

The field has solidified as the consistent play in distribution calendars, a lane that can break out when it connects and still protect the drawdown when it stumbles. After 2023 demonstrated to greenlighters that responsibly budgeted scare machines can steer social chatter, 2024 sustained momentum with buzzy auteur projects and slow-burn breakouts. The energy rolled into the 2025 frame, where returns and prestige plays confirmed there is demand for different modes, from series extensions to non-IP projects that resonate abroad. The sum for 2026 is a programming that looks unusually coordinated across the field, with strategic blocks, a harmony of marquee IP and first-time concepts, and a reinvigorated attention on cinema windows that feed downstream value on premium digital rental and streaming.

Buyers contend the category now slots in as a flex slot on the release plan. The genre can roll out on virtually any date, furnish a sharp concept for promo reels and short-form placements, and exceed norms with moviegoers that show up on first-look nights and stay strong through the next pass if the picture delivers. Post a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 cadence shows faith in that logic. The year launches with a stacked January stretch, then turns to spring and early summer for alternate plays, while keeping space for a fall corridor that extends to holiday-adjacent weekends and into early November. The arrangement also highlights the deeper integration of specialty distributors and subscription services that can platform and widen, build word of mouth, and move wide at the right moment.

A parallel macro theme is brand curation across brand ecosystems and long-running brands. Big banners are not just greenlighting another next film. They are trying to present lineage with a occasion, whether that is a title treatment that suggests a refreshed voice or a cast configuration that reconnects a new installment to a first wave. At the alongside this, the writer-directors behind the most watched originals are leaning into hands-on technique, makeup and prosthetics and place-driven backdrops. That pairing hands the 2026 slate a vital pairing of home base and discovery, which is the formula for international play.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount defines the early cadence 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 position and Neve Campbell back at the focus, framing it as both a succession moment and a heritage-centered character piece. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the tonal posture points to a legacy-leaning treatment without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Watch for a push fueled by classic imagery, character spotlights, and a rollout cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will spotlight. As a counterweight in summer, this one will chase broad awareness through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format making room for quick shifts to whatever rules the discourse that spring.

Universal has three differentiated bets. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is tidy, grief-rooted, and high-concept: a grieving man onboards an digital partner that shifts into a murderous partner. The date puts it at the front of a thick month, with the marketing arm likely to iterate on uncanny-valley stunts and brief clips that interlaces devotion and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a title drop to become an headline beat closer to the first trailer. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s work are sold as director events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second trailer wave that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The prime October weekend lets the studio to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has consistently shown that a flesh-and-blood, prosthetic-heavy method can feel elevated on a efficient spend. Position this as a blood-soaked summer horror charge that centers international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio lines up two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, keeping a consistent supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is calling a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both loyalists and general audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build artifacts around world-building, and creature builds, elements that can lift large-format demand and cosplay-friendly fan 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 builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on minute detail and language, this time steeped in lycan lore. The imprint has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is robust.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform windowing in 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s slate flow to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a cadence that elevates both debut momentum and subscription bumps in the later window. Prime Video combines catalogue additions with world buys and small theatrical windows when the data supports it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in catalog discovery, using prominent placements, spooky hubs, and curated strips to sustain interest on overall cume. Netflix keeps flexible about original films and festival buys, timing horror entries toward the drop and making event-like drops with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a hybrid of focused cinema runs and quick platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a curated basis. The platform has proven amenable to invest in select projects with recognized filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for monthly activity when the genre conversation spikes.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 runway with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is direct: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, reimagined for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has positioned a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the October weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, marshalling the project through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the year-end corridor to expand. That positioning has helped for auteur horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception justifies. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using targeted theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their audience.

Franchise entries versus originals

By share, 2026 tips toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on fan equity. The challenge, as ever, is viewer burnout. The operating solution is to brand each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is leading with character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is floating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-accented approach from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the bundle is recognizable enough to spark pre-sales and early previews.

Recent-year comps outline the strategy. In 2023, a cinema-first model see here that kept streaming intact did not stop a day-date try from succeeding when the brand was potent. In 2024, director-craft horror rose in premium large format. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they reorient and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters filmed consecutively, provides the means for marketing to bridge entries through character and theme and to hold creative in the market without long breaks.

Craft and creative trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind 2026 horror indicate a continued move toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that leans on creep and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and technical spotlights before rolling out a teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has performed 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 plays abroad in red-band trailers and earns shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a self-aware reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature work and production design, which match well with convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that accent disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in premium houses.

Annual flow

January is heavy. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid marquee brands. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the palette of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

Post-January through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for 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 underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Shoulder season into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a early fall window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a slow-reveal plan and limited previews that elevate concept over story.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk 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 use.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s intelligent companion grows into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human 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 enlarges the frame great post to read beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: gothic-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 abrasive boss battle to survive on a lonely island as the pecking order reverses and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to menace, founded on Cronin’s material craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting setup that explores the fright of a child’s tricky interpretations. Rating: TBA. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that needles today’s horror trends and true-crime manias. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 international twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned 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 another family bound to old terrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A reboot designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survivalist horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: forthcoming. Production: underway. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and bone-deep menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the moment is 2026

Three grounded forces shape this lineup. First, production that decelerated or rearranged in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming drops. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, metered scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will line up across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where midrange-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 shock 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, 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 sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, audio design, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Promising 2026

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is name recognition where it counts, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the frights sell the seats.