Antediluvian Evil awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding feature, rolling out October 2025 on top streamers

This terrifying metaphysical suspense story from narrative craftsman / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an ancient horror when unrelated individuals become victims in a dark experiment. Airings begin this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching portrayal of resistance and old world terror that will resculpt genre cinema this harvest season. Guided by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and gothic fearfest follows five people who arise imprisoned in a remote hideaway under the malevolent control of Kyra, a female lead occupied by a 2,000-year-old biblical demon. Steel yourself to be seized by a immersive ride that harmonizes primitive horror with biblical origins, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a classic motif in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is reimagined when the spirits no longer arise outside their bodies, but rather inside them. This embodies the most sinister element of all involved. The result is a relentless psychological battle where the conflict becomes a brutal battle between divinity and wickedness.


In a isolated no-man's-land, five campers find themselves isolated under the unholy grip and haunting of a enigmatic woman. As the survivors becomes vulnerable to deny her power, severed and tracked by unknowns ungraspable, they are driven to encounter their emotional phantoms while the moments mercilessly draws closer toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear mounts and connections erode, demanding each person to scrutinize their character and the structure of self-determination itself. The hazard rise with every short lapse, delivering a paranormal ride that merges otherworldly panic with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to tap into primitive panic, an curse older than civilization itself, influencing human fragility, and dealing with a being that forces self-examination when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra meant evoking something unfamiliar to reason. She is uninformed until the curse activates, and that flip is shocking because it is so close.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for streaming beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—delivering subscribers anywhere can watch this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original promo, which has seen over a viral response.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, presenting the nightmare to viewers around the world.


Avoid skipping this life-altering journey into fear. Join *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to dive into these haunting secrets about free will.


For exclusive trailers, extra content, and promotions from behind the lens, follow @YACMovie across entertainment pages and visit our horror hub.





Today’s horror sea change: the year 2025 American release plan Mixes legend-infused possession, festival-born jolts, plus returning-series thunder

Ranging from survivor-centric dread grounded in legendary theology and onward to IP renewals alongside sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 looks like the most complex in tandem with calculated campaign year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. Major studios lay down anchors with familiar IP, simultaneously platform operators saturate the fall with discovery plays paired with ancient terrors. On the independent axis, the art-house flank is carried on the carry from a record 2024 festival run. Since Halloween is the prized date, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, however this time, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are surgical, accordingly 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Premium genre swings back

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal camp leads off the quarter with a statement play: a contemporary Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, inside today’s landscape. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. set for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Helmed by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early reactions hint at fangs.

When summer fades, the WB camp launches the swan song from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson returns, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: old school creep, trauma in the foreground, along with eerie supernatural rules. This pass pushes higher, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It lands in December, pinning the winter close.

Streaming Originals: No Budget, No Problem

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is virtually assured for fall.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No heavy handed lore. No legacy baggage. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Brands: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

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 earlier entries, this leans 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 opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, with Francis Lawrence directing, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Key Trends

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror swings back
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Near Term Outlook: Fall stack and winter swing card

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. 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.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The coming 2026 scare calendar year ahead: next chapters, standalone ideas, paired with A jammed Calendar calibrated for Scares

Dek The incoming terror year crowds right away with a January pile-up, subsequently flows through the summer months, and pushing into the year-end corridor, weaving franchise firepower, inventive spins, and well-timed counterprogramming. Studios with streamers are relying on smart costs, theatrical exclusivity first, and short-form initiatives that position these releases into national conversation.

Horror’s status entering 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the bankable tool in release plans, a genre that can surge when it catches and still hedge the downside when it stumbles. After 2023 signaled to strategy teams that cost-conscious horror vehicles can drive the national conversation, the following year maintained heat with buzzy auteur projects and unexpected risers. The tailwind extended into the 2025 frame, where revivals and arthouse crossovers signaled there is a market for different modes, from legacy continuations to filmmaker-driven originals that export nicely. The takeaway for 2026 is a lineup that is strikingly coherent across the market, with clear date clusters, a balance of marquee IP and original hooks, and a recommitted emphasis on exclusive windows that fuel later windows on premium rental and SVOD.

Studio leaders note the category now works like a swing piece on the schedule. Horror can open on numerous frames, furnish a simple premise for ad units and shorts, and outperform with fans that arrive on first-look nights and sustain through the sophomore frame if the picture satisfies. Emerging from a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 mapping indicates comfort in that playbook. The year starts with a busy January corridor, then primes spring and early summer for counterweight, while carving room for a late-year stretch that stretches into the Halloween frame and into early November. The grid also includes the tightening integration of arthouse labels and digital platforms that can stage a platform run, generate chatter, and expand at the right moment.

A notable top-line trend is legacy care across interlocking continuities and classic IP. Studios are not just rolling another installment. They are trying to present threaded continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title treatment that indicates a new tone or a star attachment that ties a next entry to a foundational era. At the alongside this, the filmmakers behind the headline-grabbing originals are celebrating hands-on technique, practical gags and concrete locations. That blend yields 2026 a lively combination of home base and newness, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount leads early with two marquee releases that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the heart, setting it up as both a relay and a return-to-roots character piece. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the artistic posture indicates a classic-referencing angle without going over the last two entries’ sibling arc. Plan for a rollout fueled by signature symbols, character previews, and a rollout cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

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 paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will emphasize. As a summer relief option, this one will hunt wide buzz through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format permitting quick turns to whatever rules the social talk that spring.

Universal has three discrete entries. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is simple, melancholic, and commercial: a grieving man onboards an algorithmic mate that grows into a lethal partner. The date lines it up at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s campaign likely to replay strange in-person beats and micro spots that interlaces longing and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a public title to become an event moment closer to the initial tease. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. The filmmaker’s films are marketed as director events, with a hinting teaser and a later creative that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The spooky-season slot creates space for Universal to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a flesh-and-blood, prosthetic-heavy approach can feel high-value on a disciplined budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror shock that maximizes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio lines up two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, maintaining a consistent supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is describing as a new foundation 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 directive to serve both longtime followers and fresh viewers. The fall slot lets Sony to build marketing units around canon, and practical creature work, elements that can drive PLF interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror built on obsessive craft and archaic language, this time circling werewolf lore. The imprint has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is glowing.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform strategies for 2026 run on predictable routes. The studio’s horror films move to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a cadence that boosts both week-one demand and sign-up momentum in the late-window. Prime Video interleaves catalogue additions with worldwide buys and limited cinema engagements when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in deep cuts, using in-app campaigns, seasonal hubs, and programmed rows to increase tail value on overall cume. Netflix keeps optionality about first-party entries and festival pickups, timing horror entries near their drops and turning into events rollouts with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a dual-phase of tailored theatrical exposure and fast windowing that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a selective basis. The platform has been willing to invest in select projects with established auteurs or marquee packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for retention when the genre conversation ramps.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 slate with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is straightforward: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, upgraded for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a cinema-first plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the autumn weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then deploying the Christmas corridor to widen. That positioning has paid off for prestige horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception supports. Keep an eye check over here on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using boutique theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

IP versus fresh ideas

By count, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate fan equity. The challenge, as ever, is diminishing returns. The workable fix is to sell each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is spotlighting character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-flavored turn from a emerging director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the bundle is anchored enough to drive advance ticketing and first-night audiences.

Comparable trends from recent years announce the logic. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that kept streaming intact did not hamper a hybrid test from hitting when the brand was compelling. In 2024, auteur craft horror surged in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they shift POV and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters shot consecutively, lets marketing to cross-link entries through character web and themes and to keep assets in-market without long breaks.

Technique and craft currents

The creative meetings behind the 2026 entries telegraph a continued preference for real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that centers texture and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft features before rolling out a initial teaser that leans on mood over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and gathers shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a self-aware reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature design and production design, which fit with expo activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that underscore pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that shine in top rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is heavy. Universal’s 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 brooding contrast amid marquee brands. The month concludes 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 real, but the menu of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Post-January through spring tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now can handle 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 divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a minimalist tease strategy and limited previews that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can play the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and holiday gift-card burn.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s virtual companion evolves into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

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 confront a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: gothic-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 struggle to survive on a far-flung island as the hierarchy reverses and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to chill, founded on Cronin’s in-camera craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting piece that filters its scares through a minor’s uncertain perspective. Rating: rating pending. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-built and toplined paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A comic send-up that lampoons modern genre fads and true-crime obsessions. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 global twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a another family tethered to returning horrors. Rating: TBD. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for true survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: pending. Production: underway. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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-precise speech and elemental dread. Rating: TBA. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three operational forces frame this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or reshuffled in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage repeatable beats from test screenings, curated scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where disciplined-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to maximize those pockets. 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, 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 momentum and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing 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 cold, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, optimized footprints, 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 dimensionality, sound, and picture that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand equity where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shudders sell the seats.