Age-old Terror rises: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing Oct 2025 on major streaming services

An frightening metaphysical terror film from scriptwriter / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an ancient curse when unknowns become tokens in a devilish struggle. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching portrayal of survival and forgotten curse that will resculpt fear-driven cinema this season. Helmed by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and emotionally thick motion picture follows five individuals who are stirred imprisoned in a wooded wooden structure under the sinister influence of Kyra, a mysterious girl possessed by a antiquated sacrosanct terror. Be prepared to be seized by a audio-visual event that integrates intense horror with arcane tradition, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a mainstay pillar in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is reimagined when the demons no longer descend from an outside force, but rather from deep inside. This represents the shadowy shade of these individuals. The result is a enthralling psychological battle where the emotions becomes a brutal clash between right and wrong.


In a desolate terrain, five figures find themselves cornered under the ominous force and overtake of a obscure spirit. As the survivors becomes unresisting to escape her curse, marooned and tormented by presences indescribable, they are cornered to stand before their greatest panics while the final hour relentlessly moves toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety builds and bonds fracture, prompting each protagonist to reflect on their core and the idea of decision-making itself. The danger accelerate with every beat, delivering a cinematic nightmare that blends occult fear with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to uncover basic terror, an darkness older than civilization itself, channeling itself through psychological breaks, and dealing with a evil that redefines identity when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra asked for exploring something beneath mortal despair. She is ignorant until the entity awakens, and that evolution is soul-crushing because it is so emotional.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—making sure audiences from coast to coast can get immersed in this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its initial teaser, which has garnered over notable views.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, delivering the story to thrill-seekers globally.


Witness this visceral ride through nightmares. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to explore these terrifying truths about our species.


For bonus footage, filmmaker commentary, and press updates from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across social media and visit our film’s homepage.





Today’s horror tipping point: calendar year 2025 U.S. lineup fuses legend-infused possession, Indie Shockers, in parallel with brand-name tremors

Kicking off with grit-forward survival fare saturated with near-Eastern lore to legacy revivals as well as cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is tracking to be the most dimensioned together with deliberate year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio powerhouses stabilize the year by way of signature titles, simultaneously OTT services stack the fall with unboxed visions set against mythic dread. On the festival side, the artisan tier is drafting behind the backdraft of a banner 2024 fest year. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The fall stretch is the proving field, and now, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are disciplined, as a result 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

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

The majors are assertive. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 capitalizes.

the Universal banner kicks off the frame with a bold swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in a modern-day environment. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. landing in mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. From director Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

Toward summer’s end, the Warner lot sets loose the finale from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the memorable motifs return: vintage toned fear, trauma explicitly handled, and eerie supernatural logic. The stakes escalate here, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The return delves further into myth, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, reaching teens and game grownups. It lands in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Offerings: Low budgets, big teeth

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

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a body horror chamber piece fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative starring Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within 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 an astute call. No overweight mythology. No canon weight. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

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 lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy IP: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Forward View: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The 2026 Horror lineup: Sequels, Originals, paired with A hectic Calendar optimized for frights

Dek: The brand-new horror slate clusters immediately with a January glut, subsequently rolls through summer, and pushing into the winter holidays, fusing legacy muscle, original angles, and data-minded offsets. Studios and streamers are embracing right-sized spends, theatrical-first rollouts, and platform-native promos that shape these films into cross-demo moments.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror has grown into the steady play in studio lineups, a segment that can surge when it hits and still cushion the liability when it misses. After the 2023 year reassured strategy teams that efficiently budgeted pictures can steer mainstream conversation, 2024 kept energy high with director-led heat and quiet over-performers. The carry fed into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and prestige plays confirmed there is room for diverse approaches, from continued chapters to original features that carry overseas. The result for the 2026 slate is a grid that is strikingly coherent across players, with defined corridors, a equilibrium of marquee IP and novel angles, and a sharpened stance on theater exclusivity that feed downstream value on paid VOD and SVOD.

Insiders argue the genre now functions as a plug-and-play option on the schedule. The genre can arrive on numerous frames, generate a clean hook for trailers and social clips, and lead with ticket buyers that line up on preview nights and stay strong through the follow-up frame if the picture works. On the heels of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 cadence shows faith in that dynamic. The calendar rolls out with a front-loaded January stretch, then turns to spring and early summer for alternate plays, while keeping space for a October build that reaches into the Halloween frame and past the holiday. The arrangement also reflects the deeper integration of specialty arms and streaming partners that can launch in limited release, spark evangelism, and broaden at the timely point.

A companion trend is series management across shared IP webs and storied titles. Big banners are not just producing another sequel. They are aiming to frame ongoing narrative with a heightened moment, whether that is a title presentation that indicates a recalibrated tone or a ensemble decision that anchors a new installment to a vintage era. At the concurrently, the creative leads behind the most anticipated originals are championing in-camera technique, makeup and prosthetics and distinct locales. That fusion hands 2026 a confident blend of recognition and discovery, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount leads early with two marquee releases that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the spine, angling it as both a passing of the torch and a back-to-basics character-forward chapter. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative stance points to a roots-evoking framework without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push anchored in classic imagery, character spotlights, and a tiered teaser plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will foreground. As a summer alternative, this one will seek general-audience talk through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format permitting quick redirects to whatever leads the discourse that spring.

Universal has three discrete projects. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is efficient, tragic, and easily pitched: a grieving man brings home an synthetic partner that escalates into a lethal partner. The date nudges it to the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s team likely to echo off-kilter promo beats and micro spots that melds devotion and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a title drop to become an earned moment closer to the initial tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. The filmmaker’s films are presented as event films, with a mystery-first teaser and a subsequent trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The pre-Halloween slot lets the studio to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has proven that a visceral, in-camera leaning aesthetic can feel prestige on a disciplined budget. Look for a grime-caked summer horror hit that leans hard into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio places two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, holding a consistent supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is presenting as a clean-slate approach 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 diehards and curious audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build marketing units around canon, and creature design, elements that can boost IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in rigorous craft and period language, this time driven by werewolf stories. The company has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is supportive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform plans for 2026 run on predictable routes. The Universal horror run land on copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a stair-step that enhances both premiere heat and sign-up spikes in the back half. Prime Video stitches together third-party pickups with world buys and small theatrical windows when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library curation, using prominent placements, genre hubs, and featured rows to sustain interest on overall cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about original films and festival buys, timing horror entries closer to drop and positioning as event drops releases with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a dual-phase of targeted theatrical exposure and quick platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has been willing to buy select projects with award winners or celebrity-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for platform stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 corridor with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is simple: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, upgraded for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday slot to widen. That positioning has paid off for craft-driven horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. this page A likely scenario is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception allows. Watch 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 hand in hand, using precision theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their membership.

IP versus fresh ideas

By weight, 2026 is weighted toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on marquee value. The risk, as ever, is viewer burnout. The go-to fix is to package each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is centering character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French sensibility from a emerging director. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and talent-first projects provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the configuration is grounded enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years help explain the template. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept streaming intact did not stop a same-day experiment from succeeding when the brand was powerful. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror rose in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they reframe POV and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, allows marketing to bridge entries through relationships and themes and to keep assets in-market without long breaks.

Technique and craft currents

The creative meetings behind this year’s genre suggest a continued tilt toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that centers tone and tension rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in deep-dive features and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that leans on mood over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and sparks shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta-horror reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster aesthetics and world-building, which match well with booth activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel compelling. Look for trailers that center disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that sing on PLF.

How the year maps out

January is loaded. 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 moody palate cleanser amid macro-brand pushes. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the range of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Early-year through spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited teasers that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s machine mate becomes something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot 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 travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 cut-off island as the pecking order tilts and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. 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 yet announced in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to chill, founded on Cronin’s physical craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting premise that frames the panic through a youth’s wavering inner lens. Rating: TBA. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-scale and headline-actor led paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that skewers of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fixations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites surges, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a different family tethered to returning horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. 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: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward true survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: TBA. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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 historical diction and ancient menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 lands now

Three pragmatic forces frame this lineup. First, production that slowed or re-sequenced in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and condensed timelines. 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 exceeded straight-to-streaming launches. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate repeatable beats from test screenings, select scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can command 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 allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where value-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, aural design, and picture 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, Lined Up To Scare

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand heft where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the chills sell the seats.