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

An terrifying spiritual shockfest from author / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an long-buried dread when unrelated individuals become tokens in a supernatural ritual. Launching this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube streaming, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a intense tale of survival and primordial malevolence that will revamp scare flicks this October. Helmed by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and moody story follows five characters who wake up caught in a isolated cottage under the dark will of Kyra, a mysterious girl possessed by a two-thousand-year-old religious nightmare. Steel yourself to be hooked by a cinematic presentation that weaves together intense horror with mythic lore, hitting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a time-honored tradition in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is reimagined when the presences no longer emerge externally, but rather from within. This mirrors the malevolent version of all involved. The result is a intense spiritual tug-of-war where the intensity becomes a unforgiving face-off between divinity and wickedness.


In a forsaken landscape, five youths find themselves isolated under the malicious control and infestation of a unidentified woman. As the characters becomes defenseless to fight her curse, marooned and tormented by beings unfathomable, they are forced to encounter their emotional phantoms while the countdown brutally edges forward toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease escalates and associations dissolve, driving each cast member to scrutinize their existence and the concept of self-determination itself. The hazard intensify with every beat, delivering a cinematic nightmare that blends occult fear with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to channel deep fear, an curse beyond recorded history, influencing inner turmoil, and highlighting a power that redefines identity when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra involved tapping into something deeper than fear. She is unseeing until the invasion happens, and that metamorphosis is eerie because it is so visceral.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for home viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—delivering customers worldwide can enjoy this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its release of trailer #1, which has earned over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, offering the tale to global fright lovers.


Don’t miss this life-altering fall into madness. Watch *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to dive into these evil-rooted truths about the mind.


For previews, behind-the-scenes content, and press updates from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACMovie across platforms and visit the official website.





American horror’s major pivot: 2025 for genre fans U.S. release slate weaves primeval-possession lore, underground frights, and brand-name tremors

Spanning survivor-centric dread saturated with biblical myth to installment follow-ups as well as acutely observed indies, 2025 is lining up as the most dimensioned and calculated campaign year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. major banners set cornerstones with franchise anchors, in tandem digital services pack the fall with emerging auteurs set against legend-coded dread. On the independent axis, festival-forward creators is fueled by the backdraft from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, distinctly in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are methodical, therefore 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige terror resurfaces

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal camp fires the first shot with a headline swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a clear present-tense world. From director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. Booked into mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. From director Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s schedule bows the concluding entry from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re teams, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: retro dread, trauma as narrative engine, and a cold supernatural calculus. The stakes escalate here, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, builds out the animatronic fear crew, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It posts in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Offerings: Low budgets, big teeth

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a room scale body horror descent anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. 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 mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a calculated bet. No swollen lore. No sequel clutter. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

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

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no 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.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic horror goes mainstream
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 does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Forecast: Fall stack and winter swing card

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 battle for oxygen. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The oncoming fear lineup: brand plays, non-franchise titles, as well as A jammed Calendar calibrated for Scares

Dek: The fresh scare slate clusters up front with a January wave, subsequently stretches through peak season, and far into the year-end corridor, fusing series momentum, untold stories, and shrewd counterplay. The big buyers and platforms are committing to responsible budgets, big-screen-first runs, and shareable marketing that transform these releases into cross-demo moments.

How the genre looks for 2026

Horror filmmaking has established itself as the sturdy counterweight in programming grids, a pillar that can surge when it clicks and still cushion the exposure when it does not. After the 2023 year proved to executives that modestly budgeted entries can shape the national conversation, the following year carried the beat with festival-darling auteurs and stealth successes. The run translated to 2025, where legacy revivals and critical darlings proved there is demand for multiple flavors, from continued chapters to filmmaker-driven originals that carry overseas. The upshot for 2026 is a lineup that shows rare alignment across distributors, with strategic blocks, a blend of brand names and original hooks, and a reinvigorated strategy on big-screen windows that increase tail monetization on PVOD and streaming.

Schedulers say the horror lane now acts as a flex slot on the slate. Horror can roll out on open real estate, create a grabby hook for marketing and TikTok spots, and over-index with moviegoers that show up on Thursday nights and maintain momentum through the next pass if the picture delivers. Post a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 rhythm telegraphs certainty in that approach. The calendar opens with a front-loaded January stretch, then uses spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while saving space for a autumn push that connects to holiday-adjacent weekends and past the holiday. The layout also illustrates the expanded integration of arthouse labels and subscription services that can platform a title, generate chatter, and scale up at the precise moment.

A reinforcing pattern is series management across interlocking continuities and storied titles. Big banners are not just producing another installment. They are aiming to frame continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a typeface approach that suggests a tonal shift or a star attachment that connects a latest entry to a first wave. At the very same time, the writer-directors behind the headline-grabbing originals are embracing material texture, practical effects and site-specific worlds. That interplay yields 2026 a strong blend of known notes and surprise, which is how the films export.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount leads early with two centerpiece projects that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the lead, positioning the film as both a baton pass and a foundation-forward relationship-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative posture indicates a classic-referencing strategy without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected leaning on heritage visuals, initial cast looks, and a promo sequence landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will emphasize. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will chase four-quadrant chatter through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format enabling quick switches to whatever owns pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three unique releases. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is crisp, tragic, and easily pitched: a grieving man installs an artificial companion that evolves into a killer companion. The date places it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to reprise uncanny live moments and brief clips that mixes intimacy and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a title drop to become an fan moment closer to the teaser. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele projects are treated as filmmaker events, with a hinting teaser and a second beat that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date gives the studio room to lead 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has proven that a visceral, practical-effects forward mix can feel high-value on a tight budget. Position this as a viscera-heavy summer horror shot that leans into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio books two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, holding a bankable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is framing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both loyalists and casuals. The fall slot allows Sony to build promo materials around lore, and practical creature work, elements that can amplify PLF interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by careful craft and archaic language, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is favorable.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform plans for 2026 run on predictable routes. The studio’s horror films feed copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a ordering that expands both launch urgency and platform bumps in the after-window. Prime Video interleaves licensed titles with global acquisitions and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu work their edges in back-catalog check my blog play, using seasonal hubs, holiday hubs, and curated rows to stretch the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix retains agility about own-slate titles and festival additions, scheduling horror entries tight to release and making event-like premieres with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a hybrid of targeted cinema placements and prompt platform moves that turns chatter to conversion. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a selective basis. The platform has signaled readiness to acquire select projects with prestige directors or star-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 pipeline with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is uncomplicated: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, elevated for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a cinema-first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then using the holiday slot to widen. That positioning has delivered for filmmaker-driven genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception supports. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using targeted theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Series vs standalone

By tilt, 2026 leans toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate cultural cachet. The challenge, as ever, is diminishing returns. The workable fix is to market each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is emphasizing character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a Francophone tone from a ascendant talent. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays deliver 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, centers Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the cast-creatives package is anchored enough to build pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Recent comps outline the plan. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that held distribution windows did not preclude a same-day experiment from succeeding when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror hit big in large-format rooms. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they alter lens and widen scale. 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 two-film strategy, with chapters lensed back-to-back, permits marketing to thread films through character and theme and to maintain a flow of assets without doldrums.

How the look and feel evolve

The filmmaking conversations behind the 2026 slate point to a continued lean toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that underscores creep and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that withholds plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and produces shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta pivot that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature and environment design, which work nicely for convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel necessary. Look for trailers that accent hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that explode in larger rooms.

How the year maps out

January is stacked. 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 foggy reset amid heftier brand moves. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the variety of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late Q1 and spring stage summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. 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 useful reference Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

August and September into October leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a shoulder season window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited teasers that lean on concept not plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can play the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can open up 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 to be detailed as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s AI companion evolves into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot 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 stumble upon a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: tone-first 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 prickly boss scramble to survive on a lonely island as the pecking order swivels and dread encroaches. 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 not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to fright, shaped by Cronin’s material craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting premise that twists the terror of a child’s mercurial perceptions. Rating: not yet rated. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house 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 comic send-up that teases modern genre fads and true-crime buzz. Rating: undetermined. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 spreads, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new clan entangled with lingering terrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-first horror over action spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: to be announced. Production: in progress. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 antique diction and raw menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces shape this lineup. First, production that eased or migrated in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on clippable moments from test screenings, precision scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, creating valuable space for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will jostle across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, 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 sleeper chase 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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, lean footprints, 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 surface detail, audio design, and framing 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 Looks Exciting

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand power where it counts, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.