Ancient Evil emerges: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding chiller, rolling out October 2025 on leading streamers

One chilling unearthly terror film from narrative craftsman / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an age-old horror when unknowns become vehicles in a diabolical experiment. Premiering October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing tale of continuance and age-old darkness that will revolutionize terror storytelling this harvest season. Produced by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and claustrophobic feature follows five characters who arise ensnared in a off-grid cottage under the ominous sway of Kyra, a young woman possessed by a 2,000-year-old scriptural evil. Brace yourself to be drawn in by a screen-based event that fuses visceral dread with mythic lore, arriving on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a historical theme in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is subverted when the fiends no longer arise from elsewhere, but rather from their psyche. This illustrates the most terrifying layer of these individuals. The result is a edge-of-seat mind game where the tension becomes a ongoing conflict between light and darkness.


In a remote wilderness, five friends find themselves stuck under the ominous effect and domination of a uncanny being. As the ensemble becomes incapable to fight her rule, detached and tracked by beings ungraspable, they are driven to battle their greatest panics while the timeline relentlessly ticks onward toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease surges and bonds erode, demanding each cast member to evaluate their being and the structure of autonomy itself. The stakes accelerate with every heartbeat, delivering a paranormal ride that connects demonic fright with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to dig into raw dread, an force older than civilization itself, emerging via fragile psyche, and highlighting a force that forces self-examination when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra was centered on something beyond human emotion. She is in denial until the invasion happens, and that metamorphosis is terrifying because it is so visceral.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for on-demand beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that viewers around the globe can witness this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its release of trailer #1, which has attracted over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, exporting the fear to thrill-seekers globally.


Experience this haunted journey into fear. Watch *Young & Cursed* this launch day to survive these chilling revelations about mankind.


For director insights, set experiences, and reveals from the story's source, follow @YACFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit the movie’s homepage.





Today’s horror tipping point: 2025 for genre fans American release plan Mixes legend-infused possession, art-house nightmares, stacked beside Franchise Rumbles

Moving from grit-forward survival fare drawn from legendary theology as well as IP renewals as well as sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is lining up as the most complex and deliberate year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio powerhouses lay down anchors with franchise anchors, at the same time streamers prime the fall with debut heat together with primordial unease. In parallel, horror’s indie wing is carried on the tailwinds from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, distinctly in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are exacting, which means 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: The Return of Prestige Fear

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s slate kicks off the frame with a bold swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, instead in a current-day frame. Steered by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. landing in mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Led by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer winds down, the WB camp launches the swan song of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: retrograde shiver, trauma driven plotting, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The bar is raised this go, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The next entry deepens the tale, broadens the animatronic terror cast, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It bows in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Firsts: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a tight space body horror vignette anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also notable is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Penned and steered 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing 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 a clever angle. No overweight mythology. No IP hangover. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

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

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, 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 offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Franchise Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trends Worth Watching

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror resurges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forward View: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The coming 2026 spook cycle: next chapters, fresh concepts, plus A hectic Calendar calibrated for goosebumps

Dek: The incoming terror cycle builds right away with a January wave, after that flows through midyear, and pushing into the holiday frame, braiding series momentum, original angles, and strategic counterweight. Studios and streamers are embracing tight budgets, box-office-first windows, and shareable marketing that elevate the slate’s entries into all-audience topics.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The genre has turned into the most reliable option in release plans, a vertical that can spike when it breaks through and still safeguard the drawdown when it does not. After 2023 signaled to decision-makers that low-to-mid budget horror vehicles can dominate pop culture, the following year carried the beat with filmmaker-forward plays and surprise hits. The trend pushed into 2025, where reawakened brands and elevated films underscored there is an opening for several lanes, from franchise continuations to non-IP projects that scale internationally. The upshot for 2026 is a schedule that seems notably aligned across the market, with purposeful groupings, a harmony of household franchises and novel angles, and a renewed eye on box-office windows that feed downstream value on premium video on demand and platforms.

Insiders argue the space now slots in as a fill-in ace on the rollout map. Horror can bow on nearly any frame, provide a quick sell for ad units and platform-native cuts, and exceed norms with moviegoers that show up on first-look nights and stick through the second frame if the offering lands. On the heels of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 mapping demonstrates conviction in that equation. The year launches with a thick January window, then primes spring and early summer for contrast, while leaving room for a September to October window that flows toward the Halloween frame and into post-Halloween. The gridline also spotlights the ongoing integration of boutique distributors and subscription services that can platform a title, grow buzz, and scale up at the precise moment.

A notable top-line trend is brand management across connected story worlds and long-running brands. The companies are not just turning out another continuation. They are shaping as lore continuity with a occasion, whether that is a art treatment that indicates a new tone or a cast configuration that threads a next film to a classic era. At the alongside this, the directors behind the high-profile originals are favoring tactile craft, on-set effects and specific settings. That fusion produces 2026 a solid mix of trust and freshness, which is why the genre exports well.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount sets the tone early with two marquee moves that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the lead, signaling it as both a passing of the torch and a back-to-basics character study. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance conveys a memory-charged strategy without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push stacked with signature symbols, first images of characters, and a staggered trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will double down on. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will seek large awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick redirects to whatever rules the conversation that spring.

Universal has three separate lanes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is tight, heartbroken, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man activates an algorithmic mate that turns into a fatal companion. The date sets it at the front of a stacked January, with the marketing arm likely to replay odd public stunts and short-form creative that mixes companionship and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a final title to become an earned moment closer to the initial promo. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele projects are marketed as signature events, with a concept-forward tease and a follow-up trailer set that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The spooky-season slot affords Universal to take 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has consistently shown that a flesh-and-blood, practical-effects forward method can feel prestige on a mid-range budget. Position this as a grime-caked summer horror charge that centers global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio rolls out two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, carrying a consistent supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what Sony is selling 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 sharper mandate to serve both fans and first-timers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build materials around setting detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can drive IMAX and PLF uptake and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on meticulous craft and language, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus Features has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is warm.

How the platforms plan to play it

Windowing plans in 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s horror titles feed copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a structure that elevates both debut momentum and sign-up spikes in the downstream. Prime Video stitches together third-party pickups with worldwide buys and small theatrical windows when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog engagement, using curated hubs, seasonal hubs, and featured rows to stretch the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps options open about Netflix originals and festival snaps, finalizing horror entries near their drops and staging as events premieres with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a laddered of limited theatrical footprints and swift platform pivots that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown a willingness to board select projects with established auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation ramps.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 corridor with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is clear: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, modernized for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a cinema-first plan for the title, an promising marker for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the late-season weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday corridor to open out. That positioning has paid off for elevated genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception drives. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using mini theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Legacy titles versus originals

By tilt, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use franchise value. The watch-out, as ever, is diminishing returns. The go-to fix is to package each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is underscoring character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s weblink Evil Dead Burn is driving a continental coloration from a hot helmer. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and director-driven titles add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the packaging is comforting enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Recent-year comps outline the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept clean windows did not foreclose a same-day experiment from winning when the brand was potent. In 2024, director-craft horror surged in premium screens. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they reframe POV and widen scale. 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters shot in tandem, enables marketing to interlace chapters through personae and themes and to keep assets alive without hiatuses.

How the films are being made

The creative meetings behind this slate forecast a continued bias toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that spotlights atmosphere and fear rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and medieval diction, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in craft journalism and guild coverage before rolling out a first look that leans on mood over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers 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 timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel compelling. Look for trailers that spotlight pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that shine in top rooms.

Annual flow

January is heavy. 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 quiet contrast amid headline IP. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the spread of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Late Q1 and spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

End of summer through fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a early fall window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen have a peek at these guys heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited advance reveals that put concept first.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift card usage.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s intelligent companion grows into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror 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 collide with a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. 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 fight to survive on a cut-off island as the chain of command reverses and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

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 terror, anchored by Cronin’s on-set craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting chiller that interrogates the dread of a child’s unreliable senses. Rating: TBD. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-financed and name-above-title supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that targets modern genre fads and true-crime manias. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: principal photography set 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 ignites, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Young & Cursed Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new family linked to ancient dread. Rating: TBD. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A new start designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-driven horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: undetermined. Production: in progress. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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 bone-deep menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. 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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026, why now

Three pragmatic forces structure this lineup. First, production that eased or recalendared in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and tighter 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage repeatable beats from test screenings, curated scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, offering breathing room 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 keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where cost-efficient genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to work those windows. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, 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 conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, acoustics, and image-making that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Ready To Roar

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand power where it counts, auteur intent where it matters, 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-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.