Antediluvian Horror emerges: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding feature, bowing Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

This chilling spiritual suspense film from narrative craftsman / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an primeval fear when newcomers become vehicles in a demonic contest. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing story of endurance and primordial malevolence that will alter fear-driven cinema this Halloween season. Brought to life by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and moody story follows five strangers who wake up stranded in a far-off dwelling under the aggressive influence of Kyra, a cursed figure haunted by a 2,000-year-old biblical force. Steel yourself to be gripped by a big screen experience that merges gut-punch terror with folklore, dropping on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a mainstay foundation in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is subverted when the forces no longer come from external sources, but rather deep within. This suggests the haunting version of the protagonists. The result is a relentless identity crisis where the emotions becomes a soul-crushing tug-of-war between heaven and hell.


In a unforgiving terrain, five adults find themselves trapped under the fiendish effect and overtake of a unidentified character. As the victims becomes incapable to reject her control, isolated and hunted by powers unnamable, they are required to face their core terrors while the final hour unforgivingly moves toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear intensifies and partnerships collapse, driving each individual to evaluate their core and the idea of personal agency itself. The danger mount with every short lapse, delivering a fear-soaked story that fuses unearthly horror with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to evoke primal fear, an presence before modern man, manifesting in inner turmoil, and challenging a entity that questions who we are when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra demanded embodying something beneath mortal despair. She is unaware until the takeover begins, and that pivot is deeply unsettling because it is so unshielded.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for public screening beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—making sure audiences globally can watch this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its initial teaser, which has been viewed over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, extending the thrill to horror fans worldwide.


Avoid skipping this unforgettable path of possession. Confront *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to face these terrifying truths about the human condition.


For previews, on-set glimpses, and announcements directly from production, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across online outlets and visit our horror hub.





Today’s horror watershed moment: 2025 across markets stateside slate Mixes old-world possession, signature indie scares, and series shake-ups

Spanning survivor-centric dread steeped in biblical myth and onward to installment follow-ups as well as pointed art-house angles, 2025 looks like the richest together with intentionally scheduled year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. Major studios bookend the months with familiar IP, at the same time OTT services stack the fall with discovery plays alongside old-world menace. On another front, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is riding the uplift from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, and in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are disciplined, as a result 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige terror resurfaces

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 set the base, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal begins the calendar with a bold swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a modern-day environment. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. targeting mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. From director Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

By late summer, Warner’s pipeline drops the final chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re engages, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: old school creep, trauma in the foreground, plus otherworld rules that chill. The stakes escalate here, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The new chapter enriches the lore, thickens the animatronic pantheon, bridging teens and legacy players. It drops in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Firsts: Small budgets, sharp fangs

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a sealed box body horror arc led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is an astute call. No overstuffed canon. No sequel clutter. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

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

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Series Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Key Trends

Mythic dread mainstreams
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

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

Originals on platforms bite harder
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Forecast: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. 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 goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The 2026 Horror year to come: brand plays, non-franchise titles, as well as A busy Calendar calibrated for shocks

Dek: The new scare slate crams early with a January wave, before it carries through summer, and continuing into the holiday frame, combining brand equity, creative pitches, and shrewd offsets. Distributors with platforms are leaning into lean spends, cinema-first plans, and buzz-forward plans that frame these releases into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror sector has shown itself to be the predictable option in studio lineups, a lane that can scale when it breaks through and still safeguard the losses when it misses. After the 2023 year showed strategy teams that cost-conscious scare machines can command mainstream conversation, 2024 extended the rally with festival-darling auteurs and slow-burn breakouts. The head of steam extended into the 2025 frame, where revivals and elevated films underscored there is demand for a spectrum, from franchise continuations to director-led originals that perform internationally. The aggregate for 2026 is a grid that presents tight coordination across distributors, with strategic blocks, a combination of marquee IP and fresh ideas, and a revived attention on theater exclusivity that feed downstream value on premium on-demand and subscription services.

Executives say the space now acts as a plug-and-play option on the release plan. Horror can roll out on numerous frames, supply a tight logline for promo reels and short-form placements, and over-index with ticket buyers that appear on Thursday previews and stick through the next pass if the movie hits. On the heels of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 pattern reflects trust in that setup. The slate opens with a stacked January window, then primes spring and early summer for alternate plays, while holding room for a fall cadence that stretches into spooky season and past the holiday. The calendar also includes the increasing integration of specialty distributors and OTT outlets that can nurture a platform play, ignite recommendations, and grow at the right moment.

A second macro trend is brand strategy across connected story worlds and classic IP. The companies are not just making another return. They are moving to present lore continuity with a occasion, whether that is a art treatment that indicates a refreshed voice or a casting pivot that reconnects a upcoming film to a foundational era. At the meanwhile, the creative teams behind the most buzzed-about originals are favoring practical craft, on-set effects and distinct locales. That fusion hands the 2026 slate a robust balance of known notes and surprise, which is how the films export.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount sets the tone early with two marquee entries that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the spine, steering it as both a passing of the torch and a rootsy character study. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach telegraphs a heritage-honoring approach without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign leaning on heritage visuals, character spotlights, and a tease cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will play up. As a summer alternative, this one will pursue mainstream recognition through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format permitting quick reframes to whatever rules the conversation that spring.

Universal has three distinct lanes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is efficient, grief-rooted, and big-hook: a grieving man brings home an digital partner that turns into a lethal partner. The date places it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to mirror odd public stunts and short-cut promos that interweaves devotion and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a proper title to become an fan moment closer to the teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele projects are framed as signature events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The late-October frame opens a lane to saturate 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, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has demonstrated that a visceral, practical-effects forward style can feel premium on a efficient spend. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror jolt that emphasizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio launches two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, keeping a trusty supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what Sony is positioning as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both franchise faithful and newcomers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build artifacts around environmental design, and monster aesthetics, elements that can amplify deluxe auditorium demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by obsessive craft and historical speech, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is strong.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s slate land on copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a sequence that boosts both week-one demand and subscription bumps in the post-theatrical. Prime Video stitches together licensed films with international acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu work their edges in catalog discovery, using prominent placements, genre hubs, and editorial rows to lengthen the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps optionality about in-house releases and festival buys, timing horror entries near launch and coalescing around drops with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a two-step of tailored theatrical exposure and rapid platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has been willing to acquire select projects with name filmmakers or star-driven packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility get redirected here thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation builds.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 sequence with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is uncomplicated: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, updated for modern sound 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 positioned a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the October weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, managing the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday corridor to go wider. That positioning has worked well for arthouse horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception merits. Do not be surprised by 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 in parallel, using targeted theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their audience.

Brands and originals

By number, 2026 is weighted toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage marquee value. The challenge, as ever, is brand wear. The practical approach is to package each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is leading with character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a European tilt from a fresh helmer. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the cast-creatives package is steady enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and first-night audiences.

Recent comps contextualize the logic. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that honored streaming windows did not block a simultaneous release test from working when the brand was sticky. In 2024, art-forward horror surged in premium large format. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they change perspective and widen scale. 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, builds a path for marketing to cross-link entries through protagonists and motifs and to keep assets alive without hiatuses.

Production craft signals

The filmmaking conversations behind the upcoming entries foreshadow a continued tilt toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that elevates texture and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in deep-dive features and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a preview that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and spurs shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta inflection that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster work and world-building, which match well with expo activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that elevate hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that benefit on big speakers.

The schedule at a glance

January is full. 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 brooding contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the variety of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Pre-summer months stage summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

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

End of summer through fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a late-September window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a slow-reveal plan and limited previews that elevate concept over story.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card use.

Embedded title notes

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s intelligent companion evolves into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges 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 returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: mood-led 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 severe boss fight to survive on a cut-off island as the power balance of power tilts and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to fear, rooted in Cronin’s tactile craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting premise that channels the fear through a kid’s shifting inner lens. Rating: not yet rated. Production: completed. 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 returning creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that satirizes hot-button genre motifs and true crime preoccupations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a unlucky family snared by returning horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survivalist horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: underway. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and primal menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 lands now

Three workable forces inform this lineup. First, production that paused or shuffled in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and shorter timelines. 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, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine repeatable beats from test screenings, managed scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

The slot calculus is real. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, making room for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will compete across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where lower and mid-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 dark-horse hit of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives 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 sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, aural 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.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand heft where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for 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-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the shocks sell the seats.