Ancient Darkness Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked horror thriller, bowing October 2025 across leading streamers

One unnerving occult horror tale from author / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an forgotten terror when drifters become puppets in a hellish struggle. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving episode of struggle and timeless dread that will resculpt the fear genre this season. Crafted by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and moody feature follows five unknowns who regain consciousness sealed in a isolated shelter under the malevolent dominion of Kyra, a young woman occupied by a ancient scriptural evil. Brace yourself to be seized by a screen-based experience that intertwines gut-punch terror with ancient myths, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a enduring concept in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is reversed when the malevolences no longer appear from elsewhere, but rather from their psyche. This echoes the most terrifying corner of each of them. The result is a psychologically brutal spiritual tug-of-war where the drama becomes a unforgiving face-off between good and evil.


In a barren no-man's-land, five individuals find themselves confined under the evil influence and grasp of a enigmatic woman. As the survivors becomes paralyzed to evade her grasp, cut off and tormented by beings unfathomable, they are pushed to acknowledge their core terrors while the clock ruthlessly ticks onward toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion mounts and associations collapse, pressuring each soul to reconsider their true nature and the integrity of free will itself. The hazard climb with every tick, delivering a frightening tale that integrates ghostly evil with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to channel raw dread, an entity from ancient eras, manifesting in inner turmoil, and highlighting a presence that threatens selfhood when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra involved tapping into something more primal than sorrow. She is ignorant until the curse activates, and that flip is haunting because it is so raw.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for home viewing beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—delivering streamers worldwide can dive into this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its original promo, which has earned over massive response.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, presenting the nightmare to thrill-seekers globally.


Tune in for this bone-rattling descent into darkness. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to see these haunting secrets about the soul.


For featurettes, production news, and promotions via the production team, follow @YACMovie across entertainment pages and visit our film’s homepage.





The horror genre’s decisive shift: the 2025 cycle U.S. release slate Mixes Mythic Possession, art-house nightmares, alongside legacy-brand quakes

From fight-to-live nightmare stories saturated with mythic scripture and including canon extensions as well as surgical indie voices, 2025 looks like the most stratified together with blueprinted year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. Major studios lay down anchors by way of signature titles, at the same time subscription platforms front-load the fall with new voices paired with ancient terrors. Across the art-house lane, festival-forward creators is fueled by the carry from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween stays the prime week, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, yet in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are exacting, thus 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s pipeline starts the year with a bold swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a crisp modern milieu. From director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. targeting mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Guided by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

When summer tapers, the Warner lot releases the last chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. While the template is known, 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.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: 70s style chill, trauma driven plotting, and a cold supernatural calculus. The ante is higher this round, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The follow up digs further into canon, thickens the animatronic pantheon, courting teens and the thirty something base. It drops in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a body horror duet fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, 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. Before a platform date is locked, it is virtually assured for fall.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story starring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with 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. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It looks like sharp programming. No bloated mythology. No IP hangover. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

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

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Heritage Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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.

Trends to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror reemerges
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

What’s Next: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

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 approaching fear Year Ahead: continuations, new stories, as well as A packed Calendar tailored for Scares

Dek: The emerging scare cycle builds at the outset with a January pile-up, subsequently rolls through midyear, and well into the holidays, balancing marquee clout, inventive spins, and well-timed release strategy. Distributors with platforms are leaning into efficient budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and platform-native promos that frame these offerings into national conversation.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The horror sector has shown itself to be the surest option in release plans, a vertical that can surge when it clicks and still protect the floor when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year showed buyers that lean-budget genre plays can steer pop culture, the following year held pace with auteur-driven buzzy films and surprise hits. The upswing rolled into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and arthouse crossovers proved there is demand for varied styles, from brand follow-ups to non-IP projects that export nicely. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a run that presents tight coordination across companies, with obvious clusters, a harmony of known properties and new pitches, and a refocused priority on cinema windows that increase tail monetization on premium home window and subscription services.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now functions as a schedule utility on the programming map. The genre can arrive on virtually any date, deliver a clean hook for marketing and social clips, and outstrip with viewers that appear on opening previews and maintain momentum through the second frame if the offering satisfies. Emerging from a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 configuration demonstrates confidence in that approach. The calendar commences with a heavy January schedule, then exploits spring through early summer for genre counterpoints, while making space for a fall cadence that stretches into holiday-adjacent weekends and past Halloween. The layout also illustrates the deeper integration of specialty arms and subscription services that can develop over weeks, fuel WOM, and grow at the timely point.

Another broad trend is brand curation across ongoing universes and long-running brands. The companies are not just making another entry. They are aiming to frame brand continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a brandmark that conveys a new tone or a casting move that threads a fresh chapter to a heyday. At the very same time, the helmers behind the most buzzed-about originals are leaning into material texture, physical gags and vivid settings. That alloy offers 2026 a strong blend of comfort and novelty, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount fires first with two headline releases that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the focus, presenting it as both a baton pass and a classic-mode character-first story. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the directional approach signals a fan-service aware bent without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push rooted in heritage visuals, character previews, and a staggered trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 back together, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will feature. As a summer counter-slot, this one will drive large awareness through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick redirects to whatever shapes genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three specific strategies. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is crisp, soulful, and high-concept: a grieving man activates an machine companion that shifts into a perilous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to mirror off-kilter promo beats and short-cut promos that threads devotion and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a branding reveal to become an event moment closer to the debut look. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele projects are marketed as must-see filmmaker statements, with a opaque teaser and a next wave of trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The late-October frame gives the studio room to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has consistently shown that a raw, in-camera leaning mix can feel high-value on a moderate cost. Look for a grime-caked summer horror charge that pushes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio deploys two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, extending a trusty supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is presenting as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both longtime followers and first-timers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build marketing units around mythos, and creature work, elements that can fuel IMAX and PLF uptake and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in meticulous craft and period speech, this time focused on werewolf legend. The distributor has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is favorable.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform strategies for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre slate window into copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a ordering that fortifies both first-week urgency and platform bumps in the after-window. Prime Video continues to mix third-party pickups with cross-border buys and small theatrical windows when the data signals it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library curation, using prominent placements, Halloween hubs, and curated strips to sustain interest on aggregate take. Netflix keeps flexible about in-house releases and festival acquisitions, securing horror entries toward the drop and making event-like premieres with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a two-step of precision releases and prompt platform moves that converts WOM to subscribers. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a discrete basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to take on select projects with accomplished filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is curating a 2026 slate with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is direct: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, elevated for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late-season weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the Christmas window to open out. That positioning has worked well for craft-driven horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception justifies. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using limited theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Known brands versus new stories

By share, 2026 favors the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit marquee value. The concern, as ever, is audience fatigue. The near-term solution is to brand each entry as a new angle. Paramount is centering character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-tinted vision from a buzzed-about director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and talent-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a stranded survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the team and cast is known enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night turnout.

The last three-year set announce the method. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept streaming intact did not prevent a day-date move from performing when the brand was compelling. In 2024, precision craft horror outperformed in PLF. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they reframe POV and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to relate entries through personae and themes and to leave creative active without extended gaps.

How the films are being made

The production chatter behind this year’s genre point to a continued turn toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that elevates mood and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in craft journalism and craft coverage before rolling out a teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and creates shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta reframe that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature and environment design, which align with con floor moments and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel compelling. Look for trailers that spotlight pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that shine in top rooms.

Calendar cadence

January is packed. 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 marquee brands. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the tonal variety ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth spreads.

Late Q1 and spring load in summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s 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 spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can win 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 finished their premium pass.

August and September into October leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a late-September window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a opaque tease strategy and limited pre-release reveals that center concept over reveals.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and card redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to 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 algorithmic partner grows into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked 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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a mutable 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 battle to survive on a lonely island as the control dynamic swivels and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to fear, founded on Cronin’s on-set craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting tale that leverages the panic of a child’s tricky perspective. Rating: to be announced. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-scale and headline-actor led spirit-world 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 genre lampoon that targets modern genre fads and true-crime manias. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites ignites, More about the author with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new clan snared by older hauntings. Rating: forthcoming. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A restart designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-first horror over action fireworks. Rating: undetermined. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in progress. 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 period-precise speech and elemental fear. Rating: TBD. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 lands now

Three workable forces inform this lineup. First, production that paused or shuffled in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming launches. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify repeatable beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, freeing space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will stack across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, 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 breakout hunt 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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

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

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is recognizable IP where it plays, creative ambition where it counts, 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, hold the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.