Age-old Evil rises: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling supernatural thriller, landing Oct 2025 across top streaming platforms

This eerie mystic thriller from author / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an ancient terror when newcomers become vehicles in a cursed ceremony. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing episode of continuance and archaic horror that will reconstruct horror this spooky time. Crafted by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and moody story follows five strangers who suddenly rise trapped in a secluded shack under the dark power of Kyra, a central character dominated by a antiquated sacrosanct terror. Anticipate to be ensnared by a filmic journey that harmonizes raw fear with spiritual backstory, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demonic control has been a legendary theme in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is subverted when the spirits no longer appear from beyond, but rather inside their minds. This mirrors the deepest layer of the cast. The result is a bone-chilling spiritual tug-of-war where the plotline becomes a ongoing clash between virtue and vice.


In a remote landscape, five teens find themselves stuck under the malevolent presence and control of a haunted female figure. As the victims becomes incapacitated to reject her control, exiled and followed by unknowns mind-shattering, they are compelled to battle their deepest fears while the moments harrowingly pushes forward toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion mounts and teams shatter, compelling each person to reconsider their values and the principle of decision-making itself. The risk amplify with every heartbeat, delivering a paranormal ride that harmonizes ghostly evil with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to dive into raw dread, an presence older than civilization itself, feeding on fragile psyche, and questioning a power that peels away humanity when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra meant evoking something far beyond human desperation. She is clueless until the evil takes hold, and that pivot is terrifying because it is so deep.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for home viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing viewers no matter where they are can survive this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its release of trailer #1, which has collected over massive response.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, extending the thrill to a worldwide audience.


Don’t miss this haunted path of possession. Stream *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to dive into these evil-rooted truths about the soul.


For teasers, production insights, and reveals from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across Facebook and TikTok and visit the official movie site.





U.S. horror’s Turning Point: 2025 across markets American release plan integrates archetypal-possession themes, festival-born jolts, set against returning-series thunder

From life-or-death fear drawn from scriptural legend all the way to IP renewals as well as sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is lining up as the most dimensioned along with deliberate year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. top-tier distributors stabilize the year by way of signature titles, concurrently subscription platforms saturate the fall with debut heat set against ancestral chills. On another front, the independent cohort is drafting behind the uplift from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Since Halloween is the prized date, the other windows are mapped with care. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, and now, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are intentional, as a result 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The majors are assertive. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s distribution arm kicks off the frame with a marquee bet: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in a clear present-tense world. Steered by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. arriving mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Led by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

By late summer, the Warner Bros. banner drops the final chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Granted the structure is classic, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re boards, and the memorable motifs return: period tinged dread, trauma as narrative engine, and eerie supernatural logic. This time, the stakes are raised, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The next entry deepens the tale, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It hits in December, buttoning the final window.

Streamer Exclusives: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

More contained by design is Together, a close quarters body horror study fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Next comes Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative starring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No swollen lore. No franchise baggage. 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.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, under Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With sharp marketing, it could translate to 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.

Emerging Currents

Old myth goes broad
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror returns
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The oncoming scare release year: entries, original films, as well as A hectic Calendar optimized for frights

Dek The new terror season loads in short order with a January wave, and then flows through midyear, and deep into the holiday stretch, marrying brand heft, inventive spins, and tactical counter-scheduling. The major players are embracing mid-range economics, exclusive theatrical windows first, and buzz-forward plans that convert the slate’s entries into mainstream chatter.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror has turned into the dependable move in studio slates, a category that can expand when it connects and still protect the drawdown when it does not. After the 2023 year re-taught leaders that low-to-mid budget horror vehicles can galvanize mainstream conversation, the following year held pace with filmmaker-forward plays and under-the-radar smashes. The tailwind translated to 2025, where reboots and elevated films highlighted there is appetite for a spectrum, from legacy continuations to standalone ideas that perform internationally. The result for the 2026 slate is a programming that is strikingly coherent across the field, with purposeful groupings, a combination of brand names and original hooks, and a re-energized strategy on exclusive windows that enhance post-theatrical value on PVOD and streaming.

Marketers add the category now slots in as a flex slot on the rollout map. The genre can roll out on nearly any frame, deliver a clear pitch for ad units and UGC-friendly snippets, and lead with demo groups that respond on advance nights and sustain through the next pass if the title pays off. Post a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 pattern shows confidence in that engine. The year rolls out with a busy January schedule, then turns to spring and early summer for counterweight, while saving space for a autumn stretch that runs into the Halloween frame and into November. The gridline also illustrates the greater integration of specialized imprints and SVOD players that can platform a title, generate chatter, and move wide at the proper time.

Another broad trend is IP stewardship across unified worlds and long-running brands. The companies are not just turning out another sequel. They are aiming to frame brand continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a graphic identity that suggests a re-angled tone or a casting move that reconnects a next entry to a original cycle. At the simultaneously, the auteurs behind the high-profile originals are championing in-camera technique, on-set effects and location-forward worlds. That interplay affords 2026 a healthy mix of known notes and discovery, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

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

Paramount opens strong with two headline entries that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the core, framing it as both a baton pass and a back-to-basics character piece. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture indicates a legacy-leaning approach without repeating the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Look for a marketing run anchored in classic imagery, character-first teases, and a staggered trailer plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will stress. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will drive wide appeal through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format permitting quick turns to whatever drives the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three unique plays. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is clean, soulful, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man activates an digital partner that escalates into a perilous partner. The date sets it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s team likely to recreate creepy live activations and snackable content that interlaces longing and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a name unveil to become an headline beat closer to the initial tease. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s work are presented as director events, with a minimalist tease and a follow-up trailer set that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The late-month date gives the studio room to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has established that a raw, makeup-driven approach can feel premium on a controlled budget. Position this as a splatter summer horror shock that emphasizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio sets two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, continuing a reliable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is framing as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both devotees and casuals. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign pieces around world-building, and creature effects, elements that can fuel PLF interest and convention buzz.

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 carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on minute detail and archaic language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The label has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is robust.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform tactics for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s horror titles feed copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a structure that enhances both first-week urgency and sub growth in the tail. Prime Video combines third-party pickups with worldwide entries and limited runs in theaters when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library engagement, using featured rows, Halloween hubs, and collection rows to sustain interest on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix stays opportunistic about own-slate titles and festival pickups, timing horror entries near launch and staging as events arrivals with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a dual-phase of tailored theatrical exposure and prompt platform moves that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has indicated interest to invest in select projects with established auteurs or star-led packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation swells.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is structuring 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 sell is direct: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, upgraded for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the late stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then relying on the December frame to increase reach. That positioning has shown results for prestige horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception prompts. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using limited theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Brands and originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate favors the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use fan equity. The watch-out, as ever, is fatigue. The go-to fix is to brand each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is bringing forward character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-accented approach from a hot helmer. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the bundle is familiar enough to spark pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

The last three-year set clarify the logic. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that honored streaming windows did not obstruct a day-date try from winning when the brand was trusted. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror exceeded expectations in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they change perspective and expand the canvas. 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters lensed back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to tie installments through character and theme and to leave creative active without hiatuses.

Production craft signals

The director conversations behind this year’s genre forecast a continued lean toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that emphasizes atmosphere and fear rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world 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 highlight this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft features before rolling out a tone piece that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and spurs shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta recalibration that centers an original star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster aesthetics and world-building, which align with convention floor stunts and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel necessary. Look for trailers that elevate razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that shine in top rooms.

How the year maps out

January is jammed. 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 moody palate cleanser amid larger brand plays. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the palette of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth carries.

Post-January through spring prime the summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now hosts 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 sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

August and September into October leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a shoulder season window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited plot reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

One-sentence dossiers

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s virtual companion unfolds into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

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 warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her hard-edged boss fight to survive on a rugged island as the hierarchy flips and fear crawls. 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 kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to fright, founded on Cronin’s on-set craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting narrative that interrogates the panic of a child’s tricky point of view. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fully shot. Positioning: major-studio and toplined eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that lampoons of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime crazes. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: check my blog 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: awaiting classification. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further reopens, with a young family caught in past horrors. Rating: TBD. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-first horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: undetermined. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 raw menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a cinema-first path before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026, why now

Three operational forces inform this lineup. First, production that downshifted or re-sequenced in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, select scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

There is also the slotting calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will compete across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, 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-hit hunt continues in Q1, where midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, 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 hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, efficient screen counts, 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 grain, soundcraft, and cinematography that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open my company in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the useful reference fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand gravity where needed, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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, cut crisp trailers, keep the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.