Antediluvian Evil rises: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling supernatural thriller, landing Oct 2025 on leading streamers

One spine-tingling metaphysical nightmare movie from literary architect / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an mythic horror when newcomers become puppets in a devilish trial. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping depiction of continuance and ancient evil that will revolutionize scare flicks this season. Guided by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and claustrophobic fearfest follows five strangers who emerge caught in a cut-off hideaway under the hostile grip of Kyra, a cursed figure inhabited by a antiquated Old Testament spirit. Steel yourself to be hooked by a visual experience that integrates bodily fright with biblical origins, releasing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a well-established theme in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is twisted when the demons no longer emerge from external sources, but rather within themselves. This mirrors the haunting aspect of these individuals. The result is a psychologically brutal psychological battle where the plotline becomes a unyielding struggle between right and wrong.


In a abandoned no-man's-land, five characters find themselves imprisoned under the evil dominion and possession of a elusive person. As the cast becomes powerless to break her influence, isolated and preyed upon by unknowns beyond comprehension, they are made to wrestle with their worst nightmares while the doomsday meter relentlessly draws closer toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust deepens and ties fracture, requiring each survivor to rethink their true nature and the philosophy of decision-making itself. The hazard rise with every breath, delivering a horror experience that fuses spiritual fright with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to uncover ancestral fear, an darkness that existed before mankind, filtering through soul-level flaws, and highlighting a entity that erodes the self when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra asked for exploring something more primal than sorrow. She is unseeing until the spirit seizes her, and that transition is terrifying because it is so private.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be available for audiences beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring households globally can dive into this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its original clip, which has racked up over a viral response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, presenting the nightmare to viewers around the world.


Make sure to see this bone-rattling journey into fear. Confront *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to experience these haunting secrets about the soul.


For director insights, special features, and updates from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursed across media channels and visit our spooky domain.





U.S. horror’s watershed moment: the 2025 season stateside slate melds old-world possession, underground frights, plus series shake-ups

Across last-stand terror infused with biblical myth and including canon extensions in concert with acutely observed indies, 2025 stands to become the most complex in tandem with blueprinted year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. major banners lay down anchors with established lines, in tandem platform operators crowd the fall with first-wave breakthroughs plus legend-coded dread. In the indie lane, festival-forward creators is surfing the kinetic energy from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, and in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are calculated, therefore 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Premium dread reemerges

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 set the base, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal banner fires the first shot with a statement play: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a crisp modern milieu. From director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. landing in mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. From director Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

When summer fades, the WB camp launches the swan song from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Even with a familiar chassis, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re boards, and the memorable motifs return: 70s style chill, trauma as theme, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The bar is raised this go, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The continuation widens the legend, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, speaking to teens and older millennials. It posts in December, pinning the winter close.

SVOD Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the quieter side is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is virtually assured for fall.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn with Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. 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.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a smart play. No heavy handed lore. No continuity burden. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, under Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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.

Dials to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror retakes ground
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

The Road Ahead: Fall crush plus winter X factor

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The next fear year to come: returning titles, original films, plus A hectic Calendar calibrated for nightmares

Dek: The brand-new terror cycle crowds early with a January pile-up, then carries through midyear, and carrying into the December corridor, fusing brand equity, inventive spins, and strategic counterweight. Studios and platforms are prioritizing tight budgets, box-office-first windows, and social-driven marketing that position these pictures into all-audience topics.

The landscape of horror in 2026

This category has grown into the steady counterweight in annual schedules, a space that can accelerate when it clicks and still insulate the drag when it doesn’t. After 2023 reminded buyers that disciplined-budget pictures can drive pop culture, the following year extended the rally with auteur-driven buzzy films and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam translated to the 2025 frame, where returns and critical darlings highlighted there is room for several lanes, from legacy continuations to filmmaker-driven originals that export nicely. The result for the 2026 slate is a slate that looks unusually coordinated across the field, with intentional bunching, a mix of known properties and new pitches, and a renewed focus on exclusive windows that power the aftermarket on premium on-demand and OTT platforms.

Schedulers say the genre now performs as a fill-in ace on the programming map. The genre can kick off on a wide range of weekends, furnish a clear pitch for trailers and UGC-friendly snippets, and outpace with crowds that show up on Thursday nights and stick through the second frame if the title fires. Following a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 cadence shows assurance in that engine. The calendar gets underway with a crowded January band, then targets spring into early summer for alternate plays, while saving space for a fall corridor that runs into spooky season and past Halloween. The layout also underscores the greater integration of specialized labels and subscription services that can build gradually, fuel WOM, and go nationwide at the right moment.

A companion trend is franchise tending across connected story worlds and legacy franchises. Big banners are not just turning out another return. They are looking to package connection with a headline quality, whether that is a title presentation that broadcasts a recalibrated tone or a casting move that anchors a new entry to a early run. At the meanwhile, the filmmakers behind the high-profile originals are embracing physical effects work, practical gags and distinct locales. That alloy provides the 2026 slate a robust balance of assurance and shock, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount sets the tone early with two front-of-slate plays that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the front, setting it up as both a relay and a back-to-basics character-centered film. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach indicates a memory-charged treatment without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push stacked with franchise iconography, early character teases, and a staggered trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will spotlight. As a summer contrast play, this one will build four-quadrant chatter through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format enabling quick adjustments to whatever leads the discourse that spring.

Universal has three separate bets. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is crisp, melancholic, and logline-clear: a grieving man adopts an digital partner that evolves into a killer companion. The date places it at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s team likely to iterate on creepy live activations and micro spots that interlaces longing and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under internal titles 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 fan moment closer to the teaser. The timing creates 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 thrived in before. Peele titles are presented as marquee events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a subsequent 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 press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has demonstrated that a blood-soaked, makeup-driven mix can feel cinematic on a controlled budget. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror hit that leans into international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio books two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, keeping a evergreen supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is describing as a new take 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 clearer mandate to serve both loyalists and casuals. The fall slot offers Sony space to build assets around setting detail, and monster craft, elements that can stoke IMAX and PLF uptake and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror driven by meticulous craft and dialect, this time exploring werewolf lore. The company has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is robust.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform windowing in 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal titles land on copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a structure that expands both premiere heat and sign-up momentum in the tail. Prime Video blends acquired titles with global originals and select theatrical runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, holiday hubs, and handpicked rows to prolong the run on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps options open about Netflix films and festival grabs, scheduling horror entries on shorter runways and turning into events arrivals with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a paired of targeted cinema placements and swift platform pivots that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has proven amenable to secure select projects with established auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a modest theatrical 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 leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 pipeline with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is straightforward: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, upgraded for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the fall weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through autumn festivals navigate to this website if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday frame to go wider. That positioning has helped for filmmaker-first horror with audience crossover. 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. A reasonable expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception prompts. Be ready for 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 jointly, using boutique theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their audience.

Franchises versus originals

By skew, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on marquee value. The caveat, as ever, is brand wear. The pragmatic answer is to brand each entry as a new angle. Paramount is bringing forward character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is promising a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-tinted vision from a buzzed-about director. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and visionary-led titles keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the bundle is known enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Recent-year comps clarify the playbook. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that kept clean windows did not stop a day-and-date experiment from hitting when the brand was trusted. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror popped in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they change perspective and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends 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, provides the means for marketing to connect the chapters through relationships and themes and to keep assets in-market without lulls.

How the look and feel evolve

The director conversations behind the upcoming entries telegraph a continued emphasis on practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that elevates texture and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in feature stories and artisan spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that elevates tone over story, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and generates shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta reframe that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will live or die on creature execution and sets, which fit with convention activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel compelling. Look for trailers that spotlight pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in big rooms.

Annual flow

January is stacked. 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 foggy reset amid bigger brand plays. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the palette of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Late winter and spring stage summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps 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 tight. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

End of summer through fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a opaque tease strategy and limited advance reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, 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 open up in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and holiday card usage.

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 moves. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genome. 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 AI companion evolves into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises 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 travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. 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 unyielding boss try to survive on a cut-off island as the control dynamic shifts and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

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 fresh reimagining that returns the monster to dread, founded on Cronin’s material craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting premise that explores the panic of a child’s mercurial senses. Rating: rating pending. Production: locked. Positioning: major-studio and name-above-title haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A parody reboot that skewers hot-button genre motifs and true crime fascinations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 spreads, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new clan caught in older hauntings. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-first horror over action fireworks. Rating: undetermined. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: strategically hidden. 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 era-faithful speech and elemental fear. Rating: TBD. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three pragmatic forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or re-sequenced in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, managed scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

A fourth factor is programming math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can command a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will compete across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. 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 target range. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, 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 keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, soundcraft, 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 Looks Exciting

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is IP strength where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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.