Ancient Evil Rises in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling shocker, debuting Oct 2025 on major streaming services

An eerie paranormal suspense film from scriptwriter / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an ancient curse when foreigners become puppets in a cursed ordeal. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching narrative of continuance and archaic horror that will remodel scare flicks this ghoul season. Directed by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and eerie feature follows five people who emerge ensnared in a cut-off shack under the malignant sway of Kyra, a tormented girl dominated by a 2,000-year-old biblical demon. Ready yourself to be shaken by a audio-visual outing that blends soul-chilling terror with biblical origins, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a enduring theme in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is reversed when the beings no longer manifest externally, but rather from their psyche. This portrays the malevolent corner of the protagonists. The result is a relentless psychological battle where the tension becomes a unyielding conflict between divinity and wickedness.


In a isolated natural abyss, five friends find themselves trapped under the sinister sway and spiritual invasion of a shadowy female figure. As the ensemble becomes unresisting to resist her control, left alone and attacked by unknowns beyond reason, they are driven to battle their emotional phantoms while the timeline relentlessly edges forward toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion swells and relationships disintegrate, requiring each person to scrutinize their being and the integrity of conscious will itself. The cost amplify with every minute, delivering a frightening tale that harmonizes paranormal dread with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to tap into instinctual horror, an power rooted in antiquity, embedding itself in mental cracks, and navigating a entity that forces self-examination when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra involved tapping into something more primal than sorrow. She is uninformed until the curse activates, and that turn is soul-crushing because it is so internal.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for on-demand beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—offering users everywhere can be part of this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its original promo, which has attracted over six-figure audience.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, bringing the film to international horror buffs.


Do not miss this visceral ride through nightmares. Explore *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to uncover these terrifying truths about the psyche.


For previews, on-set glimpses, and updates directly from production, follow @YACMovie across your favorite networks and visit the movie portal.





The horror genre’s decisive shift: the year 2025 stateside slate integrates Mythic Possession, microbudget gut-punches, together with brand-name tremors

Ranging from grit-forward survival fare saturated with near-Eastern lore and including legacy revivals as well as pointed art-house angles, 2025 is lining up as the most variegated as well as carefully orchestrated year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. Top studios bookend the months through proven series, as SVOD players front-load the fall with discovery plays in concert with ancestral chills. On the independent axis, horror’s indie wing is catching the afterglow from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween holding the peak, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, however this time, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are calculated, hence 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s slate lights the fuse with a bold swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, but a sharp contemporary setting. With Leigh Whannell at the helm featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. Booked into mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Directed by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer eases, Warner’s schedule delivers the closing chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Granted the structure is classic, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Scott Derrickson returns, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: retrograde shiver, trauma as narrative engine, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time, the stakes are raised, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The continuation widens the legend, builds out the animatronic fear crew, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It arrives in December, buttoning the final window.

SVOD Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a sealed box body horror arc with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend led by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical 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.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. That is a savvy move. No overinflated mythology. No continuity burden. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, with Francis Lawrence directing, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Emerging Currents

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror comes roaring back
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

The big screen is a trust exercise
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Near Term Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

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

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The next fear cycle: returning titles, new stories, and also A loaded Calendar optimized for nightmares

Dek: The brand-new genre season packs from day one with a January crush, and then flows through the mid-year, and continuing into the year-end corridor, fusing series momentum, new voices, and strategic counterweight. Studios and streamers are betting on mid-range economics, theatrical leads, and buzz-forward plans that turn genre titles into culture-wide discussion.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The field has proven to be the most reliable swing in programming grids, a genre that can grow when it connects and still safeguard the drag when it stumbles. After 2023 reminded decision-makers that disciplined-budget shockers can drive audience talk, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with visionary-driven titles and slow-burn breakouts. The upswing translated to 2025, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers demonstrated there is room for a spectrum, from sequel tracks to original one-offs that translate worldwide. The upshot for 2026 is a lineup that shows rare alignment across distributors, with planned clusters, a balance of household franchises and fresh ideas, and a refocused strategy on cinema windows that increase tail monetization on PVOD and SVOD.

Studio leaders note the category now operates like a plug-and-play option on the grid. The genre can premiere on open real estate, generate a easy sell for marketing and platform-native cuts, and punch above weight with audiences that respond on early shows and return through the second weekend if the movie fires. Following a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 layout indicates comfort in that approach. The slate kicks off with a weighty January band, then taps spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while making space for a fall cadence that stretches into holiday-adjacent weekends and into the next week. The layout also illustrates the tightening integration of specialty distributors and platforms that can platform and widen, spark evangelism, and broaden at the timely point.

A companion trend is IP cultivation across ongoing universes and classic IP. The studios are not just making another sequel. They are setting up threaded continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a title treatment that indicates a fresh attitude or a casting move that anchors a new entry to a initial period. At the alongside this, the creative teams behind the top original plays are doubling down on tactile craft, on-set effects and specific settings. That fusion produces 2026 a solid mix of known notes and surprise, which is what works overseas.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount sets the tone early with two headline bets that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the spine, presenting it as both a cross-generational handoff and a foundation-forward character-first story. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the authorial approach points to a fan-service aware campaign without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Plan for a rollout centered on franchise iconography, character-first teases, and a tiered teaser plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical through 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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will emphasize. As a summer alternative, this one will hunt large awareness through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format fitting quick redirects to whatever drives the social talk that spring.

Universal has three specific pushes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is tight, tragic, and concept-forward: a grieving man onboards an machine companion that evolves into a fatal companion. The date puts it at the front of a stacked January, with marketing at Universal likely to iterate on off-kilter promo beats and short reels that threads devotion and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a title drop to become an PR pop closer to the opening teaser. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s pictures are marketed as event films, with a teaser that reveals little and a second beat that shape mood without giving away the concept. The prime October weekend allows Universal to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window navigate here to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has made clear that a raw, makeup-driven strategy can feel elevated on a disciplined budget. Position this as a splatter summer horror surge that leans hard into international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio books two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, extending a trusty supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is presenting as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both franchise faithful and fresh viewers. The fall slot gives Sony time to build campaign pieces around world-building, and creature effects, elements that can increase premium screens and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by obsessive craft and dialect, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus’s team has already set the date for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is positive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal titles transition to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a sequence that expands both launch urgency and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video pairs catalogue additions with global originals and limited cinema engagements when the data signals it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in archive usage, using in-app campaigns, spooky hubs, and staff picks to extend momentum on lifetime take. Netflix stays nimble about first-party entries and festival deals, locking in horror entries on shorter runways and positioning as event drops debuts with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a one-two of targeted cinema placements and rapid platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has shown appetite to purchase select projects with recognized filmmakers or star-driven packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for retention when the genre conversation spikes.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 lane with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is tight: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, retooled for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the September weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the December frame to expand. That positioning has served the company well for filmmaker-driven genre with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception prompts. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using precision theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subs.

Franchises versus originals

By number, the 2026 slate tips toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness name recognition. The concern, as ever, is brand wear. The practical approach is to sell each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is centering character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-inflected take from a ascendant talent. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and director-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the configuration is assuring enough to generate pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Past-three-year patterns contextualize the model. In 2023, a theater-first model that kept clean windows did not preclude a dual release from delivering when the brand was compelling. In 2024, auteur craft horror exceeded expectations in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they angle differently and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters filmed in sequence, lets marketing to link the films through character web and themes and to sustain campaign assets without long gaps.

Creative tendencies and craft

The filmmaking conversations behind the upcoming entries forecast a continued emphasis on physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords weblink with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that foregrounds grain and menace rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and drives shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a self-referential reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature craft and set design, which lend themselves to expo activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel essential. Look for trailers that spotlight disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that benefit on big speakers.

Calendar cadence

January is loaded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a foggy reset amid bigger brand plays. The month closes 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 stiff, but the range of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth persists.

Winter into spring seed summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

End of summer through fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a bridge slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited advance reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and card redemption.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s genome. 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 widowed man’s AI companion mutates into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss battle to survive on a desolate island as the power dynamic swivels and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

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


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting story that pipes the unease through a youth’s flickering point of view. Rating: TBA. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven 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 pokes at modern genre fads and true crime fixations. Rating: TBA. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites bursts, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a young family tethered to ancient dread. Rating: to be announced. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A new start designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-driven horror over action fireworks. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: TBA. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on historical diction and elemental fear. Rating: to be announced. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the moment is 2026

Three execution-level forces organize this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or recalendared in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work meme-ready beats from test screenings, precision scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can command a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will line up across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The underdog chase 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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first surprise 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, 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 prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, acoustics, and image-making 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, Ready To Roar

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is recognizable IP where it plays, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.