Antediluvian Dread stirs: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

This chilling otherworldly terror film from narrative craftsman / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an ancient entity when unfamiliar people become conduits in a dark ceremony. Going live October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a intense portrayal of resilience and primordial malevolence that will resculpt the fear genre this season. Realized by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and eerie thriller follows five teens who emerge ensnared in a unreachable wooden structure under the malignant control of Kyra, a female presence occupied by a antiquated scriptural evil. Arm yourself to be shaken by a theatrical spectacle that weaves together gut-punch terror with timeless legends, streaming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a long-standing concept in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is radically shifted when the malevolences no longer develop from external sources, but rather from deep inside. This represents the shadowy dimension of the group. The result is a edge-of-seat moral showdown where the plotline becomes a relentless contest between purity and corruption.


In a haunting wild, five youths find themselves caught under the unholy effect and spiritual invasion of a unknown character. As the companions becomes defenseless to evade her curse, exiled and followed by creatures ungraspable, they are made to endure their raw vulnerabilities while the clock ruthlessly winds toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust mounts and relationships shatter, coercing each soul to reconsider their character and the notion of liberty itself. The intensity magnify with every tick, delivering a frightening tale that marries otherworldly suspense with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to extract ancestral fear, an entity beyond recorded history, embedding itself in emotional vulnerability, and exposing a evil that redefines identity when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra was centered on something beneath mortal despair. She is innocent until the entity awakens, and that turn is eerie because it is so private.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for on-demand beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring streamers anywhere can survive this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its original clip, which has earned over 100,000 views.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, taking the terror to thrill-seekers globally.


Do not miss this bone-rattling voyage through terror. Confront *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to face these spiritual awakenings about free will.


For teasers, special features, and reveals from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursed across fan hubs and visit the official website.





Horror’s watershed moment: 2025 for genre fans stateside slate interlaces ancient-possession motifs, festival-born jolts, stacked beside IP aftershocks

From survivor-centric dread grounded in ancient scripture and extending to brand-name continuations alongside focused festival visions, 2025 is shaping up as the most stratified and calculated campaign year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Top studios are anchoring the year with familiar IP, simultaneously subscription platforms load up the fall with discovery plays as well as ancestral chills. At the same time, independent banners is surfing the afterglow from a record 2024 festival run. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, but this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are disciplined, and 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

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

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s schedule kicks off the frame with a risk-forward move: a reimagined Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, instead in a current-day frame. With Leigh Whannell at the helm featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. landing in mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Helmed by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer wanes, the Warner lot sets loose the finale from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. While the template is known, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson is back, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: nostalgic menace, trauma as text, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time the stakes climb, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The next entry deepens the tale, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, courting teens and the thirty something base. It posts in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Firsts: Tight funds, wide impact

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a sealed box body horror arc pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also notable is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga led by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within 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. That is a savvy move. No bloated mythology. No canon weight. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

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

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Heritage Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Trends to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Projection: Fall saturation and a winter joker

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The oncoming genre slate: brand plays, non-franchise titles, paired with A brimming Calendar designed for screams

Dek: The emerging genre slate builds at the outset with a January traffic jam, then flows through the warm months, and straight through the festive period, mixing brand equity, inventive spins, and strategic counterplay. Studios with streamers are relying on tight budgets, theater-first strategies, and buzz-forward plans that convert the slate’s entries into four-quadrant talking points.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The horror marketplace has become the most reliable release in studio lineups, a genre that can grow when it resonates and still limit the liability when it underperforms. After 2023 signaled to strategy teams that lean-budget chillers can lead cultural conversation, 2024 sustained momentum with buzzy auteur projects and under-the-radar smashes. The tailwind translated to the 2025 frame, where returns and filmmaker-prestige bets demonstrated there is a lane for multiple flavors, from continued chapters to filmmaker-driven originals that perform internationally. The net effect for 2026 is a lineup that looks unusually coordinated across distributors, with strategic blocks, a spread of known properties and new pitches, and a refocused commitment on exhibition windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium on-demand and home streaming.

Studio leaders note the space now performs as a fill-in ace on the release plan. Horror can open on many corridors, provide a quick sell for marketing and shorts, and overperform with demo groups that come out on early shows and keep coming through the sophomore frame if the title connects. Following a work stoppage lag, the 2026 setup exhibits conviction in that equation. The year commences with a stacked January block, then uses spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while holding room for a fall corridor that pushes into Halloween and into November. The schedule also includes the greater integration of indie distributors and SVOD players that can develop over weeks, create conversation, and go nationwide at the sweet spot.

Another broad trend is IP cultivation across shared universes and legacy IP. Studio teams are not just mounting another sequel. They are working to present story carry-over with a must-see charge, whether that is a title design that announces a recalibrated tone or a ensemble decision that bridges a new installment to a foundational era. At the same time, the writer-directors behind the most anticipated originals are embracing tactile craft, special makeup and distinct locales. That interplay provides 2026 a smart balance of recognition and invention, which is why the genre exports well.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount leads early with two front-of-slate plays that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, positioning the film as both a cross-generational handoff and a back-to-basics relationship-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the artistic posture telegraphs a heritage-honoring approach without repeating the last two entries’ family thread. Expect a marketing push centered on legacy iconography, character-first teases, and a tiered teaser plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will spotlight. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will seek large awareness through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format inviting quick shifts to whatever shapes genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three specific bets. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is clean, sorrow-tinged, and concept-forward: a grieving man implements an machine companion that mutates into a killer companion. The date puts it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s campaign likely to renew odd public stunts and micro spots that hybridizes love and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates 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 leaves room for a public title to become an PR pop closer to the teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele projects are branded as must-see filmmaker statements, with a opaque teaser and a second beat that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The pre-Halloween slot gives Universal room to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has long shown that a flesh-and-blood, prosthetic-heavy style can feel prestige on a tight budget. Look for a gore-forward summer horror blast that leans into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio lines up two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, extending a proven supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is billing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both longtime followers and newcomers. The fall slot allows Sony to build assets around setting detail, and creature builds, elements that can increase premium screens and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

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 builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on immersive craft and period speech, this time focused on werewolf legend. The specialty arm has already set the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is favorable.

Platform lanes and windowing

Digital strategies for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre slate transition to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a pacing that enhances both first-week urgency and subscriber lifts in the later phase. Prime Video combines licensed titles with world buys and short theatrical plays when the data supports it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in catalog engagement, using featured rows, holiday hubs, and collection rows to keep attention on 2026 genre cume. Netflix retains agility about Netflix films and festival wins, timing horror entries tight to release and staging as events premieres with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a hybrid of precision releases and quick platforming that translates talk to trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a selective basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to buy select projects with name filmmakers or A-list packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly activity when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 track 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 angle is tight: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, retooled for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late click site stretch.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday slot to widen. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-driven genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception allows. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using select theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their membership.

Series vs standalone

By proportion, 2026 skews toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use legacy awareness. The question, as ever, is staleness. The preferred tactic is to frame each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is leading with character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French sensibility from a emerging director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the team and cast is steady enough to accelerate early sales and preview-night crowds.

Recent-year comps clarify the playbook. In 2023, a theater-first model that honored streaming windows did not prevent a parallel release from delivering when the brand was potent. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror exceeded expectations in premium formats. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel new when they change perspective and increase ambition. 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 two-step approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, enables marketing to bridge entries through cast and motif and to keep assets in-market without lulls.

Craft and creative trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 entries signal a continued bias toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that underscores unease and texture rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead features and technical spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and drives shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a self-referential reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster aesthetics and world-building, which match well navigate to this website with convention floor stunts and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel compelling. Look for trailers that highlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that play in premium auditoriums.

How the year maps out

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. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid heftier brand moves. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the mix of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Pre-summer months seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Shoulder season into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a late-September window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited plot reveals that favor idea over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and card redemption.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s algorithmic partner mutates into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem 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 ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. 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 abrasive boss fight to survive on a far-flung island as the power balance inverts and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to nightmare, shaped by Cronin’s material craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. 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 domestic haunting scenario that frames the panic through a youth’s shifting subjective view. Rating: to be announced. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that skewers present-day genre chatter and true crime fixations. Rating: rating forthcoming. 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 flares, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further widens again, with a fresh family caught in past horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A clean reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward classic survival-horror tone over action spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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-specific language and elemental menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three workable forces shape this lineup. First, production that eased or migrated in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming launches. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest shareable moments from test screenings, curated scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will share space across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, 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 stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, sound field, 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, Lined Up To Scare

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is name recognition where it counts, original vision where it matters, 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 late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, guard the secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.