Mythic Evil Rises in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling horror feature, streaming Oct 2025 on premium platforms

This hair-raising occult terror film from creator / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an long-buried malevolence when unfamiliar people become tokens in a cursed game. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing episode of survival and age-old darkness that will reconstruct fear-driven cinema this cool-weather season. Helmed by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and cinematic cinema piece follows five teens who arise sealed in a wilderness-bound lodge under the dark command of Kyra, a central character occupied by a two-thousand-year-old holy text monster. Steel yourself to be shaken by a theatrical venture that melds primitive horror with mystical narratives, coming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a legendary concept in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is inverted when the forces no longer manifest from an outside force, but rather deep within. This symbolizes the grimmest shade of every character. The result is a enthralling cognitive warzone where the story becomes a brutal push-pull between good and evil.


In a wilderness-stricken woodland, five youths find themselves stuck under the unholy control and infestation of a obscure person. As the victims becomes unresisting to resist her control, abandoned and pursued by unknowns indescribable, they are thrust to battle their soulful dreads while the seconds coldly runs out toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear builds and links dissolve, forcing each figure to examine their true nature and the structure of autonomy itself. The hazard climb with every minute, delivering a nightmarish journey that integrates otherworldly panic with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to awaken basic terror, an spirit rooted in antiquity, working through fragile psyche, and examining a evil that strips down our being when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra demanded embodying something far beyond human desperation. She is clueless until the haunting manifests, and that shift is terrifying because it is so visceral.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for audience access beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—so that watchers in all regions can engage with this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its initial teaser, which has collected over strong viewer count.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, extending the thrill to fans of fear everywhere.


Make sure to see this visceral voyage through terror. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to acknowledge these nightmarish insights about the mind.


For film updates, behind-the-scenes content, and news from inside the story, follow @YACMovie across online outlets and visit the film’s website.





Today’s horror decisive shift: the year 2025 U.S. rollouts blends primeval-possession lore, underground frights, stacked beside franchise surges

Moving from fight-to-live nightmare stories saturated with scriptural legend and onward to franchise returns in concert with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is shaping up as the richest combined with precision-timed year for the modern era.

Call it full, but it is also focused. studio majors set cornerstones via recognizable brands, simultaneously SVOD players flood the fall with unboxed visions together with archetypal fear. Meanwhile, the independent cohort is drafting behind the backdraft of 2024’s record festival wave. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are exacting, accordingly 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Premium genre swings back

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal banner lights the fuse with a headline swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, but a crisp modern milieu. Led 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. dated for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Helmed by Eli Craig featuring turns 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. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer wanes, Warner’s schedule releases the last chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Next is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re engages, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: nostalgic menace, trauma explicitly handled, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This run ups the stakes, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, broadens the animatronic terror cast, reaching teens and game grownups. It posts in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Firsts: Tight funds, wide impact

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a close quarters body horror study with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story starring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No overstuffed canon. No legacy baggage. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Franchise Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, steered 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 a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trends to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror swings back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The 2026 spook cycle: continuations, new stories, alongside A brimming Calendar geared toward Scares

Dek: The emerging genre season builds up front with a January crush, from there stretches through the summer months, and continuing into the festive period, combining IP strength, creative pitches, and smart offsets. Distributors with platforms are doubling down on tight budgets, theatrical leads, and short-form initiatives that pivot these releases into culture-wide discussion.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The horror marketplace has established itself as the bankable play in release plans, a pillar that can scale when it clicks and still insulate the drag when it misses. After the 2023 year showed top brass that low-to-mid budget entries can command mainstream conversation, the following year kept the drumbeat going with festival-darling auteurs and slow-burn breakouts. The carry fed into 2025, where reboots and festival-grade titles demonstrated there is a lane for different modes, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that export nicely. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a run that appears tightly organized across the industry, with intentional bunching, a equilibrium of household franchises and new packages, and a re-energized eye on cinema windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium rental and platforms.

Planners observe the horror lane now operates like a plug-and-play option on the rollout map. Horror can kick off on virtually any date, yield a grabby hook for trailers and platform-native cuts, and outperform with patrons that show up on preview nights and return through the sophomore frame if the release hits. Following a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 cadence telegraphs conviction in that logic. The year launches with a busy January stretch, then taps spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while saving space for a October build that reaches into Halloween and into post-Halloween. The gridline also highlights the deeper integration of arthouse labels and digital platforms that can platform and widen, spark evangelism, and broaden at the optimal moment.

Another broad trend is brand strategy across connected story worlds and legacy franchises. Big banners are not just turning out another return. They are moving to present story carry-over with a premium feel, whether that is a logo package that flags a reframed mood or a talent selection that bridges a new installment to a foundational era. At the very same time, the auteurs behind the eagerly awaited originals are embracing material texture, in-camera effects and grounded locations. That combination offers the 2026 slate a healthy mix of recognition and shock, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount opens strong with two front-of-slate titles that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, marketing it as both a passing of the torch and a return-to-roots character-centered film. Production is active in Atlanta, and the tonal posture points to a legacy-leaning angle without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push leaning on franchise iconography, first images of characters, and a tease cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will spotlight. As a summer relief option, this one will pursue broad awareness through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format allowing quick switches to whatever drives the discourse that spring.

Universal has three separate plays. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tidy, grief-rooted, and concept-forward: a grieving man brings home an synthetic partner that turns into a deadly partner. The date locates it at the front of a packed window, with the Universal machine likely to bring back off-kilter promo beats and snackable content that hybridizes love and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a final title to become an event moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele titles are set up as filmmaker events, with a mystery-first teaser and a next wave of trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The late-October frame affords Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has shown that a in-your-face, makeup-driven strategy can feel top-tier on a disciplined budget. Look for a gore-forward summer horror surge that emphasizes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio mounts two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, preserving a bankable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is describing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both players and general audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign pieces around setting detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can accelerate large-format demand and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by immersive craft and dialect, this time engaging werewolf myth. The imprint has already set the date for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is positive.

How the platforms plan to play it

Windowing plans in 2026 run on stable tracks. The Universal horror run feed copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a stair-step that optimizes both initial urgency and platform bumps in the back half. Prime Video will mix licensed content with international acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, genre hubs, and programmed rows to extend momentum on aggregate take. Netflix remains opportunistic about first-party entries and festival wins, slotting horror entries with shorter lead times and positioning as event drops arrivals with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a hybrid of targeted theatrical exposure and rapid platforming that translates talk to trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has been willing to invest in select projects with recognized filmmakers or star packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is curating a 2026 lane 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 sell is clean: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, recalibrated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has positioned a theatrical rollout for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then using the December frame to move out. That positioning has paid off for craft-driven horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception allows. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using mini theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Known brands versus new stories

By weight, 2026 leans toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on legacy awareness. The concern, as ever, is brand wear. The operating solution is to present each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is bringing forward character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-inflected take from a hot helmer. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s 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 precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the cast-creatives package is anchored enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

The last three-year set contextualize the approach. In 2023, a exclusive window model that honored streaming windows did not foreclose a parallel release from hitting when the brand was strong. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror surged in premium screens. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they pivot perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends 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 filmed consecutively, builds a path for marketing to tie installments through personae and themes and to keep assets alive without lulls.

Behind-the-camera trends

The filmmaking conversations behind these films suggest a continued lean toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that elevates texture and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta-horror reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster aesthetics and world-building, which work nicely for expo activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel definitive. Look for trailers that highlight hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that work in PLF.

Calendar cadence

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 foggy reset amid marquee brands. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the mix of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Post-January through spring seed summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps 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 playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder season window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited teasers that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s digital partner becomes something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: atmospheric 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 demanding boss try to survive on a cut-off island as the control dynamic swivels and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

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 renewed vision that returns the monster to fright, driven by Cronin’s practical effects and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting narrative that teases the dread of a child’s unreliable interpretations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A parody return that needles modern genre fads and true-crime buzz. Rating: pending. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further reopens, with a fresh family bound to lingering terrors. Rating: TBA. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A new start designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survivalist horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBA. Production: moving forward. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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 elemental dread. Rating: to be announced. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three hands-on forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that decelerated or re-sequenced in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine bite-size scare clips from test screenings, precision scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Calendar math also matters. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will stack across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where lower and mid-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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

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

2026 Looks Exciting

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is IP strength where it matters, distinct 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, horror cut crisp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the shudders sell the seats.