Age-old Terror Returns within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked horror feature, streaming Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

This chilling ghostly nightmare movie from storyteller / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an mythic evil when guests become tools in a fiendish ritual. Launching this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish tale of resistance and forgotten curse that will resculpt the fear genre this October. Produced by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and tone-heavy tale follows five young adults who wake up isolated in a wilderness-bound wooden structure under the dark rule of Kyra, a troubled woman inhabited by a antiquated biblical demon. Brace yourself to be drawn in by a motion picture venture that fuses deep-seated panic with biblical origins, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a iconic trope in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is redefined when the spirits no longer emerge outside their bodies, but rather inside their minds. This depicts the darkest dimension of every character. The result is a enthralling identity crisis where the tension becomes a constant clash between moral forces.


In a wilderness-stricken terrain, five individuals find themselves contained under the dark presence and possession of a enigmatic entity. As the group becomes defenseless to withstand her manipulation, isolated and hunted by powers inconceivable, they are forced to encounter their greatest panics while the seconds coldly pushes forward toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease intensifies and bonds implode, compelling each participant to challenge their values and the philosophy of independent thought itself. The stakes grow with every tick, delivering a scare-fueled ride that harmonizes otherworldly panic with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to dive into basic terror, an spirit born of forgotten ages, working through our fears, and testing a presence that questions who we are when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra involved tapping into something past sanity. She is oblivious until the invasion happens, and that turn is haunting because it is so visceral.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for public screening beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—making sure customers anywhere can be part of this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original promo, which has garnered over notable views.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, bringing the film to fans of fear everywhere.


Experience this gripping exploration of dread. Enter *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to dive into these fearful discoveries about the mind.


For behind-the-scenes access, production insights, and press updates from inside the story, follow @YACFilm across entertainment pages and visit the movie’s homepage.





American horror’s Turning Point: calendar year 2025 domestic schedule melds primeval-possession lore, underground frights, set against franchise surges

From last-stand terror saturated with ancient scripture and including brand-name continuations alongside surgical indie voices, 2025 looks like the most variegated in tandem with calculated campaign year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. top-tier distributors set cornerstones with familiar IP, in tandem premium streamers load up the fall with new perspectives alongside mythic dread. On another front, the artisan tier is surfing the backdraft of a banner 2024 fest year. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The fall stretch is the proving field, and now, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are intentional, accordingly 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige fear returns

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 set the base, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s schedule lights the fuse with a headline swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a sharp contemporary setting. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. Booked into mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Led by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer winds down, the Warner Bros. banner rolls out the capstone inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: 70s style chill, trauma explicitly handled, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time the stakes climb, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The follow up digs further into canon, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, courting teens and the thirty something base. It arrives in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a close quarters body horror study starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story featuring Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Shaped and helmed 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 dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. That is a savvy move. No overinflated mythology. No legacy baggage. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

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

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Long Running Lines: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, under Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Emerging Currents

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror swings back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Forward View: Autumn density and winter pivot

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The new Horror calendar year ahead: entries, non-franchise titles, paired with A packed Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek: The upcoming genre calendar clusters at the outset with a January bottleneck, from there runs through summer corridors, and running into the holiday frame, blending marquee clout, inventive spins, and smart counterprogramming. Studios and platforms are leaning into responsible budgets, box-office-first windows, and buzz-forward plans that position horror entries into water-cooler talk.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This category has grown into the steady move in release strategies, a space that can expand when it connects and still limit the losses when it doesn’t. After 2023 signaled to greenlighters that efficiently budgeted horror vehicles can dominate audience talk, 2024 held pace with signature-voice projects and unexpected risers. The carry flowed into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and festival-grade titles made clear there is capacity for multiple flavors, from franchise continuations to one-and-done originals that carry overseas. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a calendar that looks unusually coordinated across the industry, with obvious clusters, a equilibrium of recognizable IP and new concepts, and a sharpened attention on box-office windows that boost PVOD and platform value on PVOD and digital services.

Buyers contend the category now works like a utility player on the programming map. Horror can kick off on nearly any frame, offer a simple premise for previews and social clips, and punch above weight with patrons that come out on preview nights and stay strong through the sophomore frame if the movie connects. Post a production delay era, the 2026 cadence reflects comfort in that engine. The year starts with a thick January corridor, then taps spring and early summer for contrast, while saving space for a fall run that pushes into late October and beyond. The layout also underscores the greater integration of indie arms and streamers that can nurture a platform play, grow buzz, and grow at the precise moment.

Another broad trend is IP cultivation across interlocking continuities and legacy franchises. The studios are not just turning out another follow-up. They are trying to present connection with a must-see charge, whether that is a title design that signals a re-angled tone or a cast configuration that binds a incoming chapter to a first wave. At the parallel to that, the filmmakers behind the most buzzed-about originals are embracing on-set craft, special makeup and site-specific worlds. That pairing yields the 2026 slate a solid mix of home base and discovery, which is the formula for international play.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount establishes early momentum with two prominent plays that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the focus, positioning the film as both a legacy handover and a back-to-basics character-centered film. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture telegraphs a legacy-leaning bent without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Watch for a push driven by legacy iconography, character navigate to this website previews, and a rollout cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also relaunches 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 as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will feature. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will go after wide appeal through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format inviting quick updates to whatever rules horror talk that spring.

Universal has three differentiated lanes. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is simple, loss-driven, and easily pitched: a grieving man implements an machine companion that evolves into a murderous partner. The date positions it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s marketing likely to echo uncanny-valley stunts and short-form creative that interweaves affection and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a public title to become an headline beat closer to the opening teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s releases are presented as filmmaker events, with a mystery-first teaser and a later creative that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween runway gives Universal room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a in-your-face, makeup-driven strategy can feel high-value on a lean spend. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror charge that spotlights worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio places two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, continuing a reliable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is presenting 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 novices. The fall slot provides the studio time to build campaign creative around universe detail, and creature design, elements that can boost premium booking interest and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors 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 driven by textural authenticity and archaic language, this time circling werewolf lore. The label has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is strong.

Platform lanes and windowing

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s horror titles window into copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a structure that fortifies both week-one demand and sign-up spikes in the later phase. Prime Video will mix licensed content with worldwide buys and limited cinema engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in back-catalog play, using editorial spots, holiday hubs, and staff picks to maximize the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps options open about originals and festival pickups, dating horror entries on shorter runways and framing as events debuts with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a laddered of targeted cinema placements and short jumps to platform that turns chatter to conversion. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing horror-fan channels 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 award winners or name-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation surges.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 track with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is direct: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, elevated for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a cinema-first plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the fall weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, managing the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday frame to scale. That positioning has worked well for arthouse horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception encourages. Watch 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 in parallel, using small theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their membership.

Franchise entries versus originals

By count, the 2026 slate favors the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on marquee value. The watch-out, as ever, is overexposure. The workable fix is to position each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is elevating character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-flavored turn from a buzzed-about director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the configuration is steady enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Rolling three-year comps frame the method. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that maintained windows did not foreclose a hybrid test from working when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror rose in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they angle differently and scale the storytelling. 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 two-film strategy, with chapters lensed back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to connect the chapters through character arcs and themes and to leave creative active without doldrums.

Technique and craft currents

The director conversations behind this year’s genre point to a continued emphasis on material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that centers tone and tension rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that withholds plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta reframe that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster realization and design, which lend themselves to booth activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel compelling. Look for trailers that spotlight hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that benefit on big speakers.

The schedule at a glance

January is jammed. 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 somber counterpoint amid marquee brands. The month wraps 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 credible, but the menu of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Late winter and spring stage summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a transitional slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited disclosures that lean on concept not plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card burn.

Embedded title notes

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 face a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s synthetic partner mutates into something dangerously intimate. 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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

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 collide with a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 demanding boss try to survive on a lonely island as the power dynamic reverses and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

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 fear, driven by Cronin’s material craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting piece that teases the dread of a child’s tricky perspective. Rating: to be announced. Production: fully shot. 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 back in the creative mix. Logline: {A parody reboot that targets of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fixations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: shoot planned 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 detonates, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a fresh family bound to lingering terrors. Rating: TBA. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A restart designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survivalist horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: this website 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: undisclosed. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: forthcoming. Production: ongoing. 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 period language and elemental dread. Rating: pending. 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: date in flux, fall expected.

Why this year, why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces define this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or re-sequenced in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming releases. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on turnkey scare beats from test screenings, managed scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can lead a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will cluster across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before imp source back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where value-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first unexpected 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, 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 hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, audio design, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is IP strength where it matters, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, protect the mystery, and let the fear sell the seats.