Primordial Terror rises: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing October 2025 on top streamers

An spine-tingling mystic thriller from writer / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an long-buried nightmare when unfamiliar people become victims in a demonic conflict. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping tale of struggle and primeval wickedness that will revamp genre cinema this fall. Created by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and claustrophobic suspense flick follows five strangers who suddenly rise stranded in a unreachable hideaway under the dark grip of Kyra, a young woman possessed by a timeless biblical demon. Arm yourself to be absorbed by a cinematic venture that harmonizes soul-chilling terror with ancestral stories, landing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a well-established foundation in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is inverted when the beings no longer descend from beyond, but rather inside their minds. This symbolizes the most primal dimension of the players. The result is a harrowing spiritual tug-of-war where the narrative becomes a intense confrontation between light and darkness.


In a isolated woodland, five individuals find themselves caught under the malicious rule and spiritual invasion of a unknown entity. As the protagonists becomes paralyzed to deny her curse, exiled and targeted by spirits impossible to understand, they are required to battle their core terrors while the countdown brutally ticks toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust escalates and teams disintegrate, driving each member to reflect on their true nature and the concept of free will itself. The pressure amplify with every fleeting time, delivering a chilling narrative that marries occult fear with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to dig into basic terror, an threat rooted in antiquity, influencing emotional fractures, and challenging a being that dismantles free will when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra demanded embodying something past sanity. She is blind until the haunting manifests, and that metamorphosis is haunting because it is so internal.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be released for viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring subscribers around the globe can enjoy this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its original clip, which has racked up over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, offering the tale to lovers of terror across nations.


Mark your calendar for this haunted path of possession. Explore *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to explore these chilling revelations about free will.


For sneak peeks, filmmaker commentary, and promotions from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across online outlets and visit our film’s homepage.





Current horror’s sea change: calendar year 2025 U.S. release slate Mixes ancient-possession motifs, Indie Shockers, stacked beside IP aftershocks

Ranging from survival horror drawn from mythic scripture and onward to brand-name continuations as well as cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is shaping up as the most dimensioned combined with deliberate year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. Top studios bookend the months by way of signature titles, in parallel OTT services prime the fall with fresh voices and ancestral chills. In parallel, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is surfing the momentum of 2024’s record festival wave. With Halloween holding the peak, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The fall stretch is the proving field, but this year, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are intentional, as a result 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige fear returns

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s slate opens the year with a confident swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Under director Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. arriving 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.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Guided by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

When summer fades, the WB camp drops the final chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 follows. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the memorable motifs return: 70s style chill, trauma in the foreground, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The stakes escalate here, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The new chapter enriches the lore, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, courting teens and the thirty something base. It posts in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Firsts: No Budget, No Problem

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a sealed box body horror arc starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. 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 each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. 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. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. That is a savvy move. No overinflated mythology. No legacy baggage. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Series Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

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

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, guided by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no 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.

What to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror retakes ground
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

What’s Next: Fall stack and winter swing card

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. 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.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The oncoming spook lineup: entries, universe starters, together with A packed Calendar aimed at frights

Dek The arriving terror cycle lines up at the outset with a January traffic jam, following that carries through summer, and continuing into the year-end corridor, weaving brand equity, untold stories, and savvy counterweight. Studios and platforms are betting on efficient budgets, cinema-first plans, and buzz-forward plans that turn horror entries into national conversation.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has emerged as the dependable lever in release plans, a category that can scale when it performs and still cushion the floor when it falls short. After the 2023 year reassured strategy teams that efficiently budgeted pictures can shape pop culture, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with buzzy auteur projects and sleeper breakouts. The trend extended into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and arthouse crossovers proved there is an opening for diverse approaches, from series extensions to one-and-done originals that perform internationally. The net effect for 2026 is a run that seems notably aligned across the market, with purposeful groupings, a equilibrium of familiar brands and untested plays, and a renewed emphasis on box-office windows that drive downstream revenue on premium rental and OTT platforms.

Planners observe the space now functions as a plug-and-play option on the slate. Horror can debut on many corridors, yield a simple premise for previews and shorts, and lead with demo groups that arrive on early shows and return through the second frame if the offering hits. After a work stoppage lag, the 2026 mapping shows trust in that approach. The calendar rolls out with a front-loaded January stretch, then taps spring and early summer for contrast, while leaving room for a October build that stretches into the fright window and afterwards. The grid also highlights the stronger partnership of boutique distributors and digital platforms that can launch in limited release, generate chatter, and broaden at the timely point.

An added macro current is IP stewardship across connected story worlds and heritage properties. Studios are not just releasing another sequel. They are trying to present brand continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a graphic identity that indicates a new tone or a casting choice that ties a upcoming film to a heyday. At the same time, the auteurs behind the headline-grabbing originals are embracing in-camera technique, makeup and prosthetics and specific settings. That mix delivers the 2026 slate a lively combination of brand comfort and novelty, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

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

Paramount plants an early flag with two centerpiece plays that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a succession moment and a rootsy character piece. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative stance hints at a classic-referencing angle without retreading the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Watch for a push centered on recognizable motifs, character spotlights, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm landing toward late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via 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 back together, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will spotlight. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will generate wide appeal through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format permitting quick shifts to whatever drives the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three clear pushes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is clean, soulful, and commercial: a grieving man purchases an intelligent companion that escalates into a murderous partner. The date positions it at the front of a heavy month, with the marketing arm likely to reprise strange in-person beats and short reels that mixes intimacy and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a official title to become an headline beat closer to the early tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. His entries are framed as marquee events, with a teaser that holds back and a follow-up trailer set that define feel without revealing the concept. The prime October weekend creates space for Universal to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has made clear that a gnarly, practical-first strategy can feel top-tier on a controlled budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror shock that pushes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio books two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, continuing a proven supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is billing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both longtime followers and curious audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build campaign creative around universe detail, and monster craft, elements that can increase large-format demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in historical precision and period language, this time orbiting lycan myth. The distributor has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is positive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform tactics for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s genre entries shift to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a stair-step that maximizes both first-week urgency and viewer acquisition in the late-window. Prime Video will mix third-party pickups with cross-border buys and limited runs in theaters when the data supports it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in catalog discovery, using editorial spots, fright rows, and curated strips to increase tail value on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps optionality about first-party entries and festival snaps, locking in horror entries toward the drop and making event-like launches with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a laddered of precision theatrical plays and speedy platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will be key 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 shown appetite to pick up select projects with name filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation builds.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 pipeline with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is straightforward: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, modernized for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late stretch.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, stewarding the film through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday dates to go wider. That positioning has helped for craft-driven horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception encourages. Do not be surprised by 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 as partners, using targeted theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By skew, the 2026 slate tips toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use household recognition. The challenge, as ever, is staleness. The near-term solution is to market each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is bringing forward character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-accented approach from a buzzed-about director. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and talent-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the cast-creatives package is comforting enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Recent-year comps illuminate the plan. In 2023, a cinema-first model that preserved streaming windows did not stop a dual release from delivering when the brand was potent. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror exceeded expectations in premium large format. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they shift POV and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to thread films through relationships and themes and to keep materials circulating without hiatuses.

Creative tendencies and craft

The shop talk behind the 2026 entries signal a continued bias toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that elevates aura and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the hardest-edged news project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and artisan spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that withholds plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and gathers shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta-horror reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster aesthetics and world-building, which match well with con floor moments and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that accent razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in premium houses.

Annual flow

January is heavy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid bigger brand plays. The month closes 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 credible, but the tone spread gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

Early-year through spring seed summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can pop 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 shuffled through big rooms.

Late-season stretch leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a transitional slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a slow-reveal plan and limited information drops that trade in concept over detail.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can win the holiday when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s artificial companion mutates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: gothic-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 unyielding boss scramble to survive on a isolated island as the pecking order reverses and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

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 take that returns the monster to nightmare, founded on Cronin’s on-set craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting piece that explores the panic of a child’s shaky read. Rating: TBA. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: major-studio and headline-actor led supernatural 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 satire sequel that riffs on contemporary horror memes and true-crime manias. Rating: TBD. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites bursts, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new household linked to old terrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in true survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: closely held. Rating: TBD. Production: underway. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and elemental dread. Rating: TBA. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why this year, why now

Three operational forces frame this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or rearranged in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on shareable moments from test screenings, curated scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

The slot calculus is real. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can command a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will share space across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

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

The underdog chase continues in Q1, where lean-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, 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 fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, audio design, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is franchise muscle where it helps, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the screams sell the seats.