Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons antediluvian malevolence, a nightmare fueled thriller, debuting Oct 2025 across top streaming platforms

An bone-chilling spiritual suspense story from literary architect / director Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an archaic fear when unfamiliar people become tools in a hellish ritual. Available this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping episode of staying alive and primeval wickedness that will transform the fear genre this harvest season. Created by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and eerie screenplay follows five characters who suddenly rise stuck in a wilderness-bound cabin under the oppressive will of Kyra, a tormented girl overtaken by a ancient ancient fiend. Ready yourself to be hooked by a narrative outing that harmonizes soul-chilling terror with ancestral stories, landing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a recurring trope in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is flipped when the demons no longer manifest from a different plane, but rather from their psyche. This illustrates the most sinister version of the cast. The result is a enthralling mental war where the events becomes a ongoing tug-of-war between righteousness and malevolence.


In a abandoned wild, five adults find themselves contained under the malevolent rule and control of a obscure apparition. As the cast becomes unable to combat her control, severed and followed by forces unimaginable, they are confronted to confront their core terrors while the moments unforgivingly ticks onward toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion escalates and connections disintegrate, requiring each soul to contemplate their character and the idea of personal agency itself. The tension amplify with every minute, delivering a scare-fueled ride that combines unearthly horror with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to draw upon raw dread, an curse born of forgotten ages, embedding itself in psychological breaks, and dealing with a darkness that tests the soul when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra meant channeling something outside normal anguish. She is unseeing until the spirit seizes her, and that pivot is bone-chilling because it is so close.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for digital release beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—delivering horror lovers internationally can experience this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its first preview, which has seen over 100K plays.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, delivering the story to fans of fear everywhere.


Do not miss this visceral trip into the unknown. Watch *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to confront these ghostly lessons about the human condition.


For film updates, special features, and press updates from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACMovie across social media and visit our spooky domain.





Current horror’s major pivot: 2025 across markets U.S. rollouts integrates Mythic Possession, independent shockers, stacked beside returning-series thunder

Beginning with fight-to-live nightmare stories grounded in mythic scripture through to franchise returns as well as cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 appears poised to be horror’s most layered combined with intentionally scheduled year in ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. leading studios lay down anchors using marquee IP, simultaneously SVOD players saturate the fall with emerging auteurs together with ancestral chills. In parallel, indie storytellers is buoyed by the echoes of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, but this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are methodical, therefore 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige fear returns

The top end is active. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal kicks off the frame with a statement play: a contemporary Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in an immediate now. Led by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. dated for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Helmed by Eli Craig and featuring 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.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. drops the final chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. While the template is known, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson returns, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: nostalgic menace, trauma as theme, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time, the stakes are raised, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The next entry deepens the tale, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It posts in December, pinning the winter close.

SVOD Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a forensic chill anthology braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a two hander body horror spiral starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. 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.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. That is a savvy move. No puffed out backstory. No franchise baggage. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Series Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

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

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

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

What to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

The Road Ahead: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The upcoming chiller lineup: follow-ups, filmmaker-first projects, as well as A loaded Calendar aimed at goosebumps

Dek The brand-new scare season clusters from day one with a January glut, from there runs through peak season, and running into the December corridor, weaving legacy muscle, inventive spins, and shrewd release strategy. The big buyers and platforms are relying on tight budgets, theater-first strategies, and shareable marketing that frame horror entries into water-cooler talk.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The horror marketplace has turned into the dependable option in programming grids, a pillar that can scale when it connects and still hedge the losses when it stumbles. After the 2023 year proved to leaders that disciplined-budget genre plays can command social chatter, the following year kept the drumbeat going with high-profile filmmaker pieces and unexpected risers. The trend fed into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and festival-grade titles highlighted there is a market for varied styles, from franchise continuations to director-led originals that export nicely. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a schedule that seems notably aligned across distributors, with defined corridors, a spread of household franchises and novel angles, and a recommitted strategy on box-office windows that boost PVOD and platform value on paid VOD and home streaming.

Schedulers say the space now acts as a schedule utility on the slate. The genre can open on a wide range of weekends, yield a tight logline for ad units and social clips, and outpace with demo groups that turn out on previews Thursday and maintain momentum through the week two if the release satisfies. On the heels of a production delay era, the 2026 configuration exhibits comfort in that setup. The slate gets underway with a loaded January corridor, then plants flags in spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while carving room for a autumn push that flows toward All Hallows period and into the next week. The map also includes the deeper integration of specialized labels and streaming partners that can develop over weeks, create conversation, and broaden at the sweet spot.

A second macro trend is IP cultivation across connected story worlds and legacy franchises. The companies are not just mounting another follow-up. They are shaping as connection with a occasion, whether that is a logo package that announces a refreshed voice or a casting move that bridges a upcoming film to a original cycle. At the same time, the creative leads behind the high-profile originals are returning to tactile craft, in-camera effects and distinct locales. That mix delivers 2026 a strong blend of assurance and discovery, which is what works overseas.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount plants an early flag with two marquee plays that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the lead, marketing it as both a legacy handover and a back-to-basics character piece. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the story approach telegraphs a roots-evoking angle without going over the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Expect a marketing push leaning on brand visuals, character-first teases, and a promo sequence targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

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 reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will lean on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will pursue mainstream recognition through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format fitting quick reframes to whatever owns trend lines that spring.

Universal has three clear pushes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is crisp, heartbroken, and high-concept: a grieving man implements an AI companion that becomes a lethal partner. The date positions it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the studio’s marketing likely to mirror off-kilter promo beats and short-form creative that hybridizes romance and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a final title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. His entries are framed as creative events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second trailer wave that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The spooky-season slot lets the studio to own 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, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has made clear that a gnarly, practical-first strategy can feel top-tier on a controlled budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror shock that pushes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio places two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, maintaining a evergreen supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is calling a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both core fans and new audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build artifacts around environmental design, and creature builds, elements that can stoke premium screens and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in rigorous craft and period language, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streaming windows and tactics

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal titles shift to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a stair-step that expands both FOMO and trial spikes in the after-window. Prime Video will mix outside acquisitions with worldwide entries and targeted theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in catalog discovery, using prominent placements, Halloween hubs, and editorial rows to extend momentum on the annual genre haul. Netflix remains opportunistic about originals and festival buys, securing horror entries closer to drop and positioning as event drops rollouts with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a tiered of limited theatrical footprints and swift platform pivots that translates talk to trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate 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 create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation swells.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 runway with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is no-nonsense: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, upgraded for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical-first plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the late-season weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the Christmas window to expand. That positioning has proved effective for filmmaker-first horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception prompts. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using select theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Franchises versus originals

By tilt, 2026 favors the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on legacy awareness. The trade-off, as ever, is diminishing returns. The pragmatic answer is to sell each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is underscoring character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French sensibility from a fresh helmer. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the bundle is known enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Comparable trends from recent years outline the logic. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that respected streaming windows did not block a day-date try from winning when the brand was compelling. In 2024, auteur craft horror exceeded expectations in large-format rooms. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they angle differently and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses 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 lensed sequentially, lets marketing to connect the chapters through character and theme and to continue assets in field without lulls.

How the films are being made

The craft rooms behind the upcoming entries suggest a continued move toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that foregrounds tone and tension rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in craft profiles and artisan spotlights before rolling out a teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for red-band excess, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and spurs shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a self-referential reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature craft and set design, which lend themselves to convention floor stunts and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel key. Look for trailers that highlight hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that work in PLF.

Release calendar overview

January is packed. 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 heftier brand moves. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the variety of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth sticks.

Late Q1 and spring prepare summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards navigate to this website once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a early fall window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited previews that lean on concept not plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card burn.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s virtual companion shifts into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. 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 tough boss fight to survive on a desolate island as the pecking order flips and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to dread, founded on Cronin’s tactile craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 in-home haunting chiller that threads the dread through a young child’s uncertain subjective view. Rating: pending. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that riffs on hot-button genre motifs and true-crime crazes. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites erupts, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new household snared by returning horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-first horror over action fireworks. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: not yet rated. Production: active. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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 period language and elemental dread. Rating: to be announced. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three operational forces shape this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shifted in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and pared-down timelines. 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 out-earned straight-to-streaming placements. Third, news social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify clippable moments from More about the author test screenings, orchestrated scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will cluster across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, 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.

2026 Looks Exciting

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand power where it counts, original 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the shocks sell the seats.