Age-old Terror rises: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling horror feature, landing Oct 2025 on leading streamers

An eerie spiritual nightmare movie from literary architect / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an mythic dread when guests become subjects in a diabolical game. Dropping on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing episode of endurance and mythic evil that will reconstruct scare flicks this cool-weather season. Produced by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and moody thriller follows five teens who are stirred ensnared in a hidden lodge under the ominous command of Kyra, a mysterious girl consumed by a timeless Old Testament spirit. Prepare to be captivated by a screen-based display that fuses intense horror with arcane tradition, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a recurring element in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is reimagined when the malevolences no longer form from elsewhere, but rather deep within. This embodies the haunting aspect of these individuals. The result is a psychologically brutal mind game where the suspense becomes a soul-crushing struggle between innocence and sin.


In a forsaken outland, five campers find themselves marooned under the sinister dominion and overtake of a unidentified character. As the survivors becomes submissive to resist her rule, cut off and tracked by evils indescribable, they are compelled to face their soulful dreads while the countdown coldly counts down toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust surges and alliances dissolve, pressuring each member to question their identity and the foundation of conscious will itself. The hazard escalate with every second, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that blends spiritual fright with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to explore raw dread, an darkness that existed before mankind, feeding on human fragility, and examining a being that erodes the self when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra meant channeling something outside normal anguish. She is uninformed until the curse activates, and that conversion is haunting because it is so raw.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for home viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—making sure horror lovers worldwide can get immersed in this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its initial teaser, which has pulled in over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, taking the terror to scare fans abroad.


Don’t miss this life-altering trip into the unknown. Confront *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to explore these spiritual awakenings about inner darkness.


For film updates, set experiences, and news from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursed across media channels and visit youngandcursed.com.





Modern horror’s decisive shift: 2025 U.S. calendar braids together Mythic Possession, indie terrors, together with brand-name tremors

Kicking off with pressure-cooker survival tales grounded in old testament echoes and including canon extensions plus pointed art-house angles, 2025 is coalescing into the most variegated together with intentionally scheduled year of the last decade.

Call it full, but it is also focused. the big studios set cornerstones through proven series, at the same time subscription platforms saturate the fall with fresh voices plus scriptural shivers. Meanwhile, the independent cohort is carried on the backdraft from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, but this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are calculated, which means 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige terror resurfaces

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal Pictures begins the calendar with a risk-forward move: a contemporary Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, in a modern-day environment. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. landing in 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 adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Helmed by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. Pictures delivers the closing chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Though the outline is tried, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 follows. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: throwback unease, trauma as text, and eerie supernatural logic. This pass pushes higher, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, stretches the animatronic parade, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It hits in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Platform Plays: Tight funds, wide impact

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a body horror duet fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn starring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, 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 unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. That is a savvy move. No overweight mythology. No brand fatigue. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They are more runway than museum.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

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

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, 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.

Legacy Lines: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, with Francis Lawrence directing, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Dials to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror ascends again
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

What’s Next: Autumn density and winter pivot

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The upcoming chiller slate: installments, new stories, in tandem with A jammed Calendar Built For frights

Dek The arriving terror cycle stacks in short order with a January wave, after that spreads through June and July, and deep into the winter holidays, balancing brand equity, creative pitches, and strategic counterprogramming. Studios with streamers are doubling down on smart costs, theatrical leads, and social-fueled campaigns that position these pictures into culture-wide discussion.

Horror momentum into 2026

Horror filmmaking has established itself as the consistent option in studio calendars, a pillar that can break out when it catches and still buffer the downside when it underperforms. After the 2023 year reassured top brass that cost-conscious genre plays can galvanize social chatter, 2024 maintained heat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and quiet over-performers. The trend extended into 2025, where reboots and awards-minded projects signaled there is space for diverse approaches, from franchise continuations to filmmaker-driven originals that perform internationally. The aggregate for 2026 is a schedule that shows rare alignment across the industry, with clear date clusters, a spread of household franchises and new pitches, and a sharpened focus on box-office windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium rental and subscription services.

Marketers add the horror lane now operates like a flex slot on the grid. Horror can roll out on almost any weekend, deliver a clear pitch for spots and social clips, and outperform with fans that line up on preview nights and maintain momentum through the subsequent weekend if the release delivers. On the heels of a production delay era, the 2026 mapping demonstrates faith in that approach. The slate commences with a heavy January stretch, then leans on spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while holding room for a late-year stretch that pushes into Halloween and into post-Halloween. The program also underscores the continuing integration of arthouse labels and home platforms that can platform a title, grow buzz, and move wide at the right moment.

A companion trend is series management across interlocking continuities and established properties. The players are not just greenlighting another sequel. They are setting up continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a brandmark that conveys a fresh attitude or a ensemble decision that binds a new installment to a foundational era. At the concurrently, the helmers behind the headline-grabbing originals are celebrating material texture, special makeup and place-driven backdrops. That pairing gives 2026 a solid mix of trust and discovery, 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 moves that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the front, positioning the film as both a handoff and a origin-leaning character-focused installment. Production is active in Atlanta, and the artistic posture suggests a legacy-leaning angle without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign leaning on iconic art, initial cast looks, and a tease cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reignites 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 development for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will play up. As a counterweight in summer, this one will build mass reach through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format enabling quick switches to whatever owns the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three clear bets. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is elegant, loss-driven, and commercial: a grieving man purchases an synthetic partner that becomes a perilous partner. The date positions it at the front of a packed window, with marketing at Universal likely to mirror strange in-person beats and snackable content that threads love and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a name unveil to become an marketing beat closer to the opening teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s work are sold as marquee events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a next wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The spooky-season slot affords Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has made clear that a gnarly, practical-first strategy can feel top-tier on a controlled budget. Look for a hard-R summer horror rush that leans hard into global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio books two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, continuing a proven supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is describing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both loyalists and new audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build assets around setting detail, and creature builds, elements that can amplify IMAX and PLF uptake and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by textural authenticity and linguistic texture, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streaming windows and tactics

Digital strategies for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal titles feed copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a stair-step that enhances both initial urgency and subscriber lifts in the downstream. Prime Video pairs acquired titles with worldwide buys and short theatrical plays when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in deep cuts, using prominent placements, Halloween hubs, and editorial rows to extend momentum on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix stays nimble about in-house releases and festival pickups, securing horror entries tight to release and making event-like go-lives with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a hybrid of limited theatrical footprints and short jumps to platform that converts WOM to subscribers. 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 selective basis. The platform has shown a willingness to board select projects with acclaimed directors or star-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for sustained usage when the genre conversation builds.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 slate 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 angle is tight: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, updated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the autumn weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, escorting the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday corridor to open out. That positioning has worked well for arthouse horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception encourages. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using limited runs to fuel evangelism that fuels their audience.

Balance of brands and originals

By tilt, 2026 tips toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap marquee value. The potential drawback, as ever, is diminishing returns. The practical approach is to frame each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is emphasizing relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a continental coloration from a hot helmer. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a island-set survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the assembly is assuring enough to build pre-sales and early previews.

Comps from the last three years outline the strategy. In 2023, a cinema-first model that kept streaming intact did not stop a parallel release from paying off when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror popped in PLF. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they pivot perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot in tandem, builds a path for marketing to bridge entries through character spine and themes and to keep materials circulating without doldrums.

Craft and creative trends

The director conversations behind these films foreshadow a continued emphasis on in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that foregrounds atmosphere and fear rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in feature stories and craft spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and drives shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta-horror reset that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature work and production design, which lend themselves to convention activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that emphasize disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that play in premium auditoriums.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is packed. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid headline IP. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the mix of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth persists.

Early-year through spring build the summer base. Scream 7 opens February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can connect 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 cycled through PLF.

Back half into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a bridge slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited pre-release reveals that put concept first.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s synthetic partner turns into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. 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 work to survive on a rugged island as the pecking order flips and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to chill, driven by Cronin’s material craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting scenario that mediates the fear via a youngster’s unsteady POV. Rating: not yet rated. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-scale and A-list fronted eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A comic send-up that targets contemporary horror memes and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBA. Production: lensing scheduled 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 erupts, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new clan entangled with ancient dread. Rating: forthcoming. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A clean reboot designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survivalist horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBD. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: closely held. Rating: TBD. 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 antique diction and elemental menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three pragmatic forces structure this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or reshuffled in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify bite-size scare clips from test screenings, managed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will cluster across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the navigate here conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

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

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand power where it counts, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.