Antediluvian Evil Returns within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked supernatural thriller, streaming Oct 2025 on top digital platforms

A chilling spectral suspense film from storyteller / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an primeval evil when outsiders become conduits in a fiendish game. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing narrative of resistance and timeless dread that will transform genre cinema this cool-weather season. Directed by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and emotionally thick cinema piece follows five teens who are stirred sealed in a far-off shelter under the aggressive will of Kyra, a troubled woman dominated by a millennia-old sacred-era entity. Anticipate to be immersed by a visual event that unites deep-seated panic with ancient myths, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a well-established tradition in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is reimagined when the presences no longer manifest beyond the self, but rather through their own souls. This suggests the haunting layer of each of them. The result is a psychologically brutal spiritual tug-of-war where the conflict becomes a intense face-off between good and evil.


In a haunting wilderness, five souls find themselves trapped under the unholy effect and infestation of a elusive spirit. As the victims becomes incapacitated to evade her rule, exiled and targeted by presences unimaginable, they are pushed to face their deepest fears while the deathwatch harrowingly draws closer toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust escalates and partnerships collapse, compelling each protagonist to challenge their values and the principle of personal agency itself. The danger rise with every fleeting time, delivering a chilling narrative that integrates occult fear with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to explore deep fear, an force from ancient eras, manifesting in inner turmoil, and challenging a presence that erodes the self when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra meant channeling something unfamiliar to reason. She is unseeing until the evil takes hold, and that conversion is emotionally raw because it is so raw.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing watchers from coast to coast can face this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first trailer, which has received over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, delivering the story to horror fans worldwide.


Witness this unforgettable trip into the unknown. Confront *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to confront these spiritual awakenings about free will.


For behind-the-scenes access, filmmaker commentary, and reveals from behind the lens, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across your socials and visit our horror hub.





U.S. horror’s tipping point: the 2025 season U.S. Slate interlaces primeval-possession lore, independent shockers, stacked beside series shake-ups

Running from fight-to-live nightmare stories steeped in primordial scripture to brand-name continuations together with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is coalescing into horror’s most layered as well as intentionally scheduled year in recent memory.

Call it full, but it is also focused. top-tier distributors lock in tentpoles with established lines, in tandem OTT services pack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs together with primordial unease. At the same time, horror’s indie wing is drafting behind the uplift from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, notably this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are calculated, and 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 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s pipeline kicks off the frame with a headline swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Led by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. arriving mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Helmed by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early reactions hint at fangs.

When summer fades, the Warner Bros. banner launches the swan song from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson returns, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: retrograde shiver, trauma as theme, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The stakes escalate here, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, thickens the animatronic pantheon, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It books December, buttoning the final window.

Streamer Exclusives: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a two hander body horror spiral with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. From writer director 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 the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. That is a savvy move. No puffed out backstory. No legacy baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Emerging Currents

Old myth goes broad
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror swings back
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Outlook: Fall stack and winter swing card

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The coming 2026 scare calendar year ahead: next chapters, filmmaker-first projects, and also A stacked Calendar calibrated for Scares

Dek The arriving horror slate crowds at the outset with a January traffic jam, before it stretches through summer corridors, and continuing into the festive period, blending brand heft, novel approaches, and smart release strategy. The major players are leaning into mid-range economics, exclusive theatrical windows first, and platform-native promos that turn these films into water-cooler talk.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has turned into the most reliable release in programming grids, a space that can break out when it breaks through and still limit the downside when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year showed studio brass that cost-conscious entries can steer the discourse, the following year kept energy high with auteur-driven buzzy films and surprise hits. The upswing rolled into 2025, where revived properties and elevated films signaled there is room for several lanes, from franchise continuations to original one-offs that translate worldwide. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a slate that reads highly synchronized across the major shops, with planned clusters, a spread of brand names and original hooks, and a revived emphasis on cinema windows that power the aftermarket on premium on-demand and digital services.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now acts as a fill-in ace on the release plan. Horror can roll out on numerous frames, furnish a clear pitch for trailers and vertical videos, and exceed norms with audiences that lean in on early shows and maintain momentum through the follow-up frame if the feature connects. On the heels of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 pattern indicates confidence in that approach. The calendar rolls out with a stacked January schedule, then plants flags in spring and early summer for audience offsets, while saving space for a October build that reaches into Halloween and afterwards. The grid also includes the tightening integration of boutique distributors and subscription services that can develop over weeks, fuel WOM, and go nationwide at the inflection point.

A reinforcing pattern is IP cultivation across linked properties and long-running brands. Studios are not just mounting another chapter. They are aiming to frame ongoing narrative with a marquee sheen, whether that is a title design that broadcasts a fresh attitude or a cast configuration that bridges a latest entry to a vintage era. At the concurrently, the creative leads behind the most watched originals are returning to material texture, in-camera effects and vivid settings. That pairing gives the 2026 slate a strong blend of comfort and unexpected turns, which is how the films export.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount marks the early tempo with two centerpiece titles that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the core, signaling it as both a handoff and a classic-mode character study. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the creative stance suggests a throwback-friendly framework without recycling the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Count on a promo wave rooted in signature symbols, intro reveals, and a promo sequence timed to late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will lean on. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will build mainstream recognition through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format making room for quick reframes to whatever leads the social talk that spring.

Universal has three unique pushes. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is simple, melancholic, and high-concept: a grieving man activates an synthetic partner that escalates into a harmful mate. The date puts it at the front of a packed window, with the marketing arm likely to reprise uncanny live moments and micro spots that interweaves longing and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a branding reveal to become an marketing beat closer to the opening teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele titles are framed as must-see filmmaker statements, with a opaque teaser and a later creative that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The late-month date opens a lane to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use 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 guides, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has demonstrated that a blood-soaked, on-set effects led aesthetic can feel prestige on a moderate cost. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror rush that embraces international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio sets two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, holding a dependable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is positioning as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both players and curious audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build artifacts around environmental design, and monster craft, elements that can lift IMAX and PLF uptake and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in careful craft and language, this time set against lycan legends. The distributor has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is favorable.

Digital platform strategies

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal titles transition to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a structure that expands both premiere heat and platform bumps in the back half. Prime Video stitches together third-party pickups with worldwide buys and select theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library engagement, using in-app campaigns, October hubs, and curated rows to sustain interest on the 2026 genre total. Netflix retains agility about original films and festival additions, securing horror entries with shorter lead times and positioning as event drops debuts with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a two-step of focused cinema runs and prompt platform moves that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing fan pipelines in the months that Get More Info follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a curated basis. The platform has shown appetite to secure select projects with top-tier auteurs or name-led packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly activity when the genre conversation spikes.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 track with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is no-nonsense: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, refined for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the fall weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday frame to increase reach. That positioning has worked well for prestige horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception warrants. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using limited theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their membership.

IP versus fresh ideas

By volume, 2026 tilts in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap brand equity. The potential drawback, as ever, is overexposure. The pragmatic answer is to present each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is underscoring character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a Francophone tone from a buzzed-about director. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and talent-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the team and cast is steady enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Rolling three-year comps announce the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that preserved streaming windows did not block a day-date try from succeeding when the brand was powerful. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror surged in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they reframe POV and grow scope. 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to tie installments through character arcs and themes and to continue assets in field without extended gaps.

Behind-the-camera trends

The production chatter behind this slate telegraph a continued bias toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that underscores aura and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for textured sound and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in trade spotlights and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a preview that keeps plot minimal, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for red-band excess, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and gathers shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta refresh that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature work and production design, which play well in fan conventions and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel necessary. Look for trailers that spotlight pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that sing on PLF.

Month-by-month map

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. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid marquee brands. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the tonal variety makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

February through May load in summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines 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 splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late-season stretch leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil follows September 18, a pre-October slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited information drops that elevate concept over story.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift card usage.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s AI companion evolves into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete 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 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 heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: aura-driven 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 hard-edged boss push to survive on a uninhabited island as the power dynamic shifts and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to horror, driven by Cronin’s practical craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting tale that channels the fear through a preteen’s unsteady POV. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that targets of-the-moment horror beats and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBD. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a fresh family caught in past horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A restart designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on classic survival-horror tone over action fireworks. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBA. Production: underway. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and primordial menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026 lands now

Three operational forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that downshifted or rearranged in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate meme-ready beats from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will jostle across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

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

The dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where midrange-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 use those gaps. 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.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

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

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is IP strength where it matters, new vision where it lands, 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, keep the secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.