Primordial Evil rises: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling supernatural thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

An haunting ghostly terror film from narrative craftsman / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an mythic evil when strangers become pawns in a dark struggle. Debuting October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing depiction of living through and forgotten curse that will redefine horror this Halloween season. Directed by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and atmospheric film follows five strangers who find themselves imprisoned in a cut-off cabin under the oppressive grip of Kyra, a tormented girl occupied by a prehistoric sacred-era entity. Prepare to be captivated by a big screen journey that merges bone-deep fear with ancestral stories, releasing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a recurring fixture in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is twisted when the fiends no longer manifest from external sources, but rather through their own souls. This depicts the deepest shade of the group. The result is a emotionally raw psychological battle where the narrative becomes a brutal struggle between divinity and wickedness.


In a abandoned landscape, five teens find themselves trapped under the dark aura and overtake of a secretive character. As the cast becomes unable to reject her dominion, left alone and pursued by terrors unfathomable, they are compelled to encounter their inner demons while the doomsday meter unforgivingly ticks toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust intensifies and links erode, driving each character to reflect on their character and the integrity of freedom of choice itself. The hazard accelerate with every passing moment, delivering a fear-soaked story that connects spiritual fright with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to draw upon basic terror, an entity beyond time, influencing fragile psyche, and highlighting a spirit that peels away humanity when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra meant evoking something outside normal anguish. She is uninformed until the haunting manifests, and that turn is emotionally raw because it is so emotional.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for worldwide release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—offering horror lovers across the world can engage with this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its intro video, which has received over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, delivering the story to international horror buffs.


Do not miss this mind-warping journey into fear. Stream *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to survive these fearful discoveries about the psyche.


For cast commentary, extra content, and alerts via the production team, follow @YACMovie across your socials and visit the official website.





Modern horror’s sea change: 2025 in focus stateside slate fuses legend-infused possession, Indie Shockers, and Franchise Rumbles

From fight-to-live nightmare stories inspired by ancient scripture through to franchise returns as well as cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 appears poised to be the most dimensioned together with carefully orchestrated year in a decade.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. Top studios set cornerstones with known properties, at the same time platform operators saturate the fall with fresh voices as well as primordial unease. On another front, indie storytellers is buoyed by the tailwinds of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, however this time, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are disciplined, thus 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige terror resurfaces

The majors are assertive. If 2024 set the base, 2025 accelerates.

the Universal banner starts the year with a risk-forward move: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a clear present-tense world. Under director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. set for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Eli Craig directs featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

When summer fades, Warner’s schedule unveils the final movement within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson is back, and those signature textures resurface: retrograde shiver, trauma as theme, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time the stakes climb, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The continuation widens the legend, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, reaching teens and game grownups. It bows in December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Plays: Lean budgets, heavy bite

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a tight space body horror vignette pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story with Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a 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 each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

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 an astute call. No heavy handed lore. No franchise 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 act as proving grounds for the next waves. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, steered by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Signals and Trends

Mythic currents go mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror retakes ground
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The new fright year to come: brand plays, universe starters, plus A loaded Calendar geared toward shocks

Dek The fresh genre calendar stacks from day one with a January traffic jam, then spreads through the summer months, and running into the year-end corridor, blending IP strength, creative pitches, and savvy counterweight. Major distributors and platforms are embracing mid-range economics, theatrical exclusivity first, and viral-minded pushes that transform the slate’s entries into culture-wide discussion.

How the genre looks for 2026

This space has turned into the predictable counterweight in annual schedules, a lane that can expand when it resonates and still safeguard the exposure when it does not. After 2023 reminded top brass that responsibly budgeted scare machines can drive the discourse, the following year maintained heat with filmmaker-forward plays and word-of-mouth wins. The momentum moved into 2025, where revived properties and elevated films made clear there is a market for a variety of tones, from continued chapters to one-and-done originals that export nicely. The result for 2026 is a lineup that is strikingly coherent across the market, with clear date clusters, a balance of marquee IP and fresh ideas, and a revived attention on big-screen windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on paid VOD and platforms.

Executives say the category now operates like a utility player on the rollout map. Horror can premiere on many corridors, deliver a quick sell for creative and short-form placements, and outstrip with crowds that appear on advance nights and continue through the second weekend if the offering lands. On the heels of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 layout exhibits confidence in that approach. The calendar gets underway with a heavy January window, then turns to spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while reserving space for a October build that flows toward the Halloween corridor and beyond. The schedule also reflects the deeper integration of specialty arms and streamers that can platform and widen, grow buzz, and expand at the timely point.

Another broad trend is franchise tending across connected story worlds and heritage properties. Studios are not just mounting another chapter. They are aiming to frame ongoing narrative with a headline quality, whether that is a title presentation that announces a tonal shift or a star attachment that bridges a new installment to a vintage era. At the in tandem, the writer-directors behind the eagerly awaited originals are embracing physical effects work, real effects and distinct locales. That mix offers 2026 a vital pairing of trust and surprise, which is what works overseas.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount plants an early flag with two spotlight projects that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the front, steering it as both a succession moment and a foundation-forward character-centered film. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach hints at a classic-referencing treatment without looping the last two entries’ family thread. Plan for a rollout built on franchise iconography, initial cast looks, and a rollout cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also revives 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 on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will play up. As a counterweight in summer, this one will build general-audience talk through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format supporting quick adjustments to whatever leads pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three defined lanes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is crisp, tragic, and commercial: a grieving man onboards an synthetic partner that grows into a killer companion. The date lines it up at the front of a front-loaded month, with the marketing arm likely to reprise uncanny live moments and bite-size content that interweaves devotion and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a branding reveal to become an event moment closer to the initial tease. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. The filmmaker’s films are treated as director events, with a opaque teaser and a subsequent trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-month date creates space for Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has demonstrated that a blood-soaked, hands-on effects style can feel high-value on a disciplined budget. Expect a blood-and-grime summer horror shot that maximizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio deploys two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, keeping a consistent supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has reshuffled 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 the studio is describing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both franchise faithful and casuals. The fall slot hands Sony window to build campaign pieces around narrative world, and creature builds, elements that can increase large-format demand and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by rigorous craft and language, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus Features has already set the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is supportive.

Where the platforms fit in

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on well-known grooves. The studio’s horror films window into copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a sequence that optimizes both launch urgency and trial spikes in the back half. Prime Video balances library titles with cross-border buys and brief theater runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in catalog discovery, using featured rows, October hubs, and handpicked rows to lengthen the tail on aggregate take. Netflix remains opportunistic about own-slate titles and festival pickups, securing horror entries tight to release and framing as events rollouts with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a hybrid of targeted theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has indicated interest to pick up select projects with award winners or headline-cast packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 track with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is uncomplicated: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, retooled for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the October weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through select festivals if the cut is ready, then leveraging the December frame to open out. That positioning has helped for auteur horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception supports. Watch for 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 in tandem, using precision theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their audience.

Legacy titles versus originals

By number, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage cultural cachet. The watch-out, as ever, is audience fatigue. The operating solution is to position each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is centering character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a continental coloration from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and director-driven titles 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, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail 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.

Past-three-year patterns clarify the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that kept clean windows did not prevent a same-day experiment 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 reframe POV and raise the stakes. 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 double feature plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, enables marketing to tie installments through personae and themes and to continue assets in field without pause points.

Craft and creative trends

The filmmaking conversations behind 2026 horror signal a continued emphasis on real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that foregrounds aura and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in feature stories and guild coverage before rolling out a preview that leans on mood over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and generates shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta inflection that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature craft and set design, which favor convention activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel key. Look for trailers that spotlight fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that play in premium auditoriums.

The schedule at a glance

January is loaded. Universal’s 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 gloomy counterbalance amid bigger brand plays. The month finishes 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 real, but the spread of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Post-January through spring stage summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited disclosures that favor idea over plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s artificial companion grows into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. 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 abrasive boss struggle to survive on a remote island as the power balance of power swivels and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to fear, based on Cronin’s in-camera craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting piece that leverages the dread of a child’s inconsistent interpretations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-grade and A-list fronted ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A genre lampoon that lampoons contemporary horror memes and true crime fixations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: cameras due to roll 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 breaks out, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further extends again, with a different family entangled with past horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-core horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: to be announced. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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 bone-deep menace. Rating: TBD. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a big-screen run before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026, why now

Three pragmatic forces drive this lineup. First, production that stalled or reshuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and condensed movies timelines. 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 exceeded straight-to-streaming drops. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, curated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, providing runway for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will coexist across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

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

The underdog chase continues in Q1, where value-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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer 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. Expect a healthy 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.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run 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 wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, aural design, and imagery 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 Strong 2026 Horizon

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is franchise muscle where it helps, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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, deliver taut trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the screams sell the seats.