Primordial Evil Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding horror thriller, bowing October 2025 across leading streamers

One blood-curdling metaphysical terror film from screenwriter / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an prehistoric evil when unrelated individuals become tokens in a fiendish contest. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking chronicle of living through and primordial malevolence that will reconstruct the fear genre this October. Crafted by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and immersive thriller follows five people who are stirred caught in a off-grid dwelling under the menacing sway of Kyra, a central character overtaken by a ancient sacred-era entity. Anticipate to be absorbed by a theatrical spectacle that blends raw fear with arcane tradition, debuting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a legendary trope in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is reimagined when the presences no longer originate from elsewhere, but rather inside their minds. This portrays the most sinister element of all involved. The result is a relentless internal warfare where the emotions becomes a soul-crushing fight between heaven and hell.


In a haunting terrain, five adults find themselves caught under the possessive rule and domination of a shadowy female presence. As the group becomes unresisting to withstand her control, isolated and targeted by beings beyond comprehension, they are thrust to acknowledge their greatest panics while the countdown without pity moves toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion grows and teams shatter, requiring each survivor to rethink their identity and the concept of personal agency itself. The threat mount with every short lapse, delivering a frightening tale that intertwines otherworldly panic with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to evoke basic terror, an power rooted in antiquity, feeding on inner turmoil, and navigating a being that tests the soul when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra meant evoking something darker than pain. She is blind until the spirit seizes her, and that evolution is emotionally raw because it is so emotional.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for audience access beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring fans in all regions can be part of this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first trailer, which has garnered over 100K plays.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, bringing the film to fans of fear everywhere.


Don’t miss this haunted exploration of dread. Face *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to survive these dark realities about existence.


For previews, director cuts, and news from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your favorite networks and visit youngandcursed.com.





Contemporary horror’s watershed moment: the year 2025 U.S. release slate blends biblical-possession ideas, art-house nightmares, alongside franchise surges

Running from endurance-driven terror drawn from primordial scripture all the way to installment follow-ups together with acutely observed indies, 2025 is tracking to be the most stratified plus precision-timed year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. studio powerhouses bookend the months with established lines, as platform operators saturate the fall with fresh voices as well as primordial unease. On another front, indie storytellers is buoyed by the carry of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, notably this year, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are precise, accordingly 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Elevated fear reclaims ground

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal starts the year with a bold swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, in a modern-day environment. Steered by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. landing in mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Directed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

At summer’s close, Warner Bros. Pictures rolls out the capstone from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson resumes command, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: retro dread, trauma explicitly handled, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This time the stakes climb, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The new chapter enriches the lore, thickens the animatronic pantheon, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It books December, buttoning the final window.

Streamer Exclusives: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a sealed box body horror arc starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Then there is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. 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. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, from Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Signals and Trends

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror returns
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Forecast: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The next fear year to come: next chapters, new stories, And A Crowded Calendar engineered for chills

Dek: The arriving genre cycle packs immediately with a January crush, before it unfolds through midyear, and running into the holiday frame, marrying brand equity, new voices, and data-minded counterplay. Studio marketers and platforms are betting on lean spends, theater-first strategies, and social-fueled campaigns that convert genre titles into four-quadrant talking points.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This category has shown itself to be the consistent release in distribution calendars, a pillar that can expand when it breaks through and still cushion the losses when it misses. After 2023 re-taught leaders that low-to-mid budget entries can dominate mainstream conversation, 2024 sustained momentum with visionary-driven titles and under-the-radar smashes. The carry carried into 2025, where returns and premium-leaning entries proved there is capacity for a spectrum, from series extensions to one-and-done originals that export nicely. The takeaway for 2026 is a calendar that presents tight coordination across companies, with obvious clusters, a blend of legacy names and untested plays, and a re-energized eye on box-office windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium digital and home streaming.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now serves as a utility player on the rollout map. Horror can roll out on many corridors, supply a simple premise for ad units and reels, and outperform with ticket buyers that turn out on first-look nights and stick through the second weekend if the title fires. After a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 cadence demonstrates conviction in that engine. The calendar gets underway with a thick January window, then plants flags in spring and early summer for audience offsets, while reserving space for a September to October window that flows toward the Halloween corridor and beyond. The calendar also reflects the ongoing integration of indie arms and digital platforms that can stage a platform run, create conversation, and scale up at the timely point.

Another broad trend is brand management across brand ecosystems and veteran brands. The players are not just turning out another return. They are looking to package lineage with a sense of event, whether that is a typeface approach that telegraphs a new vibe or a ensemble decision that binds a new installment to a first wave. At the alongside this, the filmmakers behind the high-profile originals are leaning into material texture, special makeup and place-driven backdrops. That alloy provides the 2026 slate a smart balance of comfort and discovery, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount plants an early flag with two high-profile plays that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the core, positioning the film as both a lineage transfer and a DNA-forward character-focused installment. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the story approach telegraphs a fan-service aware bent without retreading the last two entries’ family thread. Count on a promo wave fueled by iconic art, character previews, and a two-beat trailer plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will double down on. As a summer alternative, this one will pursue mainstream recognition through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick shifts to whatever drives pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three separate bets. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is elegant, sorrow-tinged, and easily pitched: a grieving man activates an intelligent companion that unfolds into a dangerous lover. The date puts it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with marketing at Universal likely to recreate viral uncanny stunts and short reels that mixes affection and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a title reveal to become an attention spike closer to the initial promo. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele projects are framed as marquee events, with a hinting teaser and a follow-up trailer set that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-month date offers Universal room to fill 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has established that a visceral, on-set effects led method can feel cinematic on a tight budget. Look for a grime-caked summer horror shock that leans hard into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio sets two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, continuing a evergreen supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is calling a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both fans and newcomers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build assets around canon, and creature design, elements that can amplify format premiums and cosplayer momentum.

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 carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror centered on careful craft and dialect, this time orbiting lycan myth. Focus has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is supportive.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform strategies for 2026 run on proven patterns. The Universal horror run feed copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a stair-step that expands both launch urgency and viewer acquisition in the post-theatrical. Prime Video stitches together licensed titles with world buys and select theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog engagement, using curated hubs, fright rows, and collection rows to stretch the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix stays opportunistic about in-house releases and festival pickups, slotting horror entries on shorter runways and elevating as drops launches with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a hybrid of limited theatrical footprints and swift platform pivots that drives paid trials from buzz. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has shown appetite to purchase select projects with accomplished filmmakers or A-list packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation ramps.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 pipeline with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is clean: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, reimagined for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the September weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through the autumn circuit 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 locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception encourages. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using select theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Brands and originals

By weight, 2026 leans in favor of the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use franchise value. The potential drawback, as ever, is diminishing returns. The workable fix is to pitch each entry as a new angle. Paramount is elevating character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-inflected take from a new voice. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and auteur plays deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the configuration is known enough to generate pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Three-year comps help explain the method. In 2023, a exclusive window model that honored streaming windows did not deter a dual release from thriving when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror hit big in PLF. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel new when they rotate perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, enables marketing to bridge entries through personae and themes and to hold creative in the market without hiatuses.

How the look and feel evolve

The craft rooms behind 2026 horror foreshadow a continued emphasis on real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that centers texture and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for textured sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft features before rolling out a preview that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and gathers shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta pivot that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature work and production design, which lend themselves to convention activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel primary. Look for trailers that elevate precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that explode in larger rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is busy. 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 tonal palate cleanser amid heavier IP. The month buttons 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 credible, but the variety of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

Late Q1 and spring seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds 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 comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Back half into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-October slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a slow-reveal plan and limited disclosures that favor idea over plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card redemption.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s digital partner escalates into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 tough boss work to survive on a lonely island as the power balance of power shifts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. 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 not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the click to read more monster to fright, driven by Cronin’s tactile craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. 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 in-home haunting story that refracts terror through a youngster’s unreliable inner lens. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in the can. 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 rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A parody reboot that needles in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime obsessions. Rating: TBD. Production: production booked 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 flares, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new household lashed to past horrors. Rating: pending. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-core horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: forthcoming. Production: proceeding. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 era-accurate language and elemental menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three execution-level forces shape this lineup. First, production that eased or shifted in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and tighter 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 surpassed straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify social-ready stingers from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can capture a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will line up across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 lean-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 left-field winner 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a smorgasbord, 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 turns feral, 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 preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, aural design, and picture that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand power where it counts, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shudders sell the seats.