Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites mythic darkness, a chilling horror thriller, landing October 2025 on premium platforms

One bone-chilling mystic fright fest from screenwriter / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an prehistoric malevolence when unknowns become subjects in a supernatural ritual. Premiering October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing episode of living through and mythic evil that will remodel fear-driven cinema this ghoul season. Brought to life by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and shadowy thriller follows five people who awaken ensnared in a cut-off structure under the ominous influence of Kyra, a mysterious girl claimed by a prehistoric holy text monster. Steel yourself to be captivated by a screen-based experience that combines intense horror with biblical origins, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demonic control has been a historical element in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is inverted when the fiends no longer descend externally, but rather inside them. This depicts the deepest side of every character. The result is a gripping moral showdown where the intensity becomes a brutal confrontation between heaven and hell.


In a barren wilderness, five individuals find themselves trapped under the malevolent control and control of a elusive figure. As the group becomes vulnerable to combat her dominion, marooned and attacked by presences mind-shattering, they are compelled to face their inner horrors while the deathwatch brutally moves toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread grows and ties shatter, compelling each soul to doubt their existence and the notion of volition itself. The pressure accelerate with every minute, delivering a paranormal ride that integrates supernatural terror with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to dive into elemental fright, an force that existed before mankind, emerging via emotional vulnerability, and questioning a spirit that redefines identity when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra asked for exploring something darker than pain. She is unseeing until the demon emerges, and that transformation is bone-chilling because it is so personal.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for audience access beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—offering fans anywhere can witness this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its original promo, which has pulled in over six-figure audience.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, delivering the story to lovers of terror across nations.


Mark your calendar for this heart-stopping fall into madness. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this launch day to confront these dark realities about human nature.


For sneak peeks, making-of footage, and promotions from the story's source, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Facebook and TikTok and visit the movie’s homepage.





The horror genre’s sea change: 2025 for genre fans U.S. rollouts fuses myth-forward possession, microbudget gut-punches, stacked beside franchise surges

Across endurance-driven terror rooted in primordial scripture as well as series comebacks set beside incisive indie visions, 2025 is shaping up as the most complex paired with calculated campaign year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. the big studios bookend the months with established lines, in parallel SVOD players load up the fall with debut heat and ancestral chills. On the festival side, the art-house flank is carried on the kinetic energy of 2024’s record festival wave. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, yet in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are intentional, thus 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige terror resurfaces

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 deepens the push.

the Universal banner leads off the quarter with a headline swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a sharp contemporary setting. Under director Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. set for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Directed by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

When summer tapers, the Warner lot bows the concluding entry of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re teams, and those signature textures resurface: retro dread, trauma driven plotting, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The stakes escalate here, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The follow up digs further into canon, broadens the animatronic terror cast, reaching teens and game grownups. It drops in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Offerings: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a close quarters body horror study including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Next comes Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a clever angle. No overstuffed canon. No franchise baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy IP: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, from Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Emerging Currents

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror comes roaring back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

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

Badges become bargaining chips
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forecast: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The upcoming chiller release year: follow-ups, Originals, in tandem with A packed Calendar calibrated for frights

Dek: The fresh terror cycle lines up from the jump with a January logjam, thereafter unfolds through the summer months, and deep into the holiday stretch, combining name recognition, untold stories, and data-minded counter-scheduling. Studios and streamers are embracing mid-range economics, theater-first strategies, and influencer-ready assets that frame horror entries into national conversation.

How the genre looks for 2026

This space has emerged as the steady swing in studio slates, a pillar that can lift when it catches and still buffer the drag when it under-delivers. After 2023 proved to leaders that cost-conscious shockers can dominate the national conversation, 2024 continued the surge with festival-darling auteurs and unexpected risers. The energy extended into 2025, where re-entries and elevated films highlighted there is appetite for a variety of tones, from ongoing IP entries to standalone ideas that export nicely. The combined impact for 2026 is a schedule that looks unusually coordinated across the industry, with obvious clusters, a balance of household franchises and new packages, and a recommitted commitment on theatrical windows that fuel later windows on premium home window and streaming.

Studio leaders note the genre now operates like a fill-in ace on the calendar. Horror can launch on numerous frames, offer a easy sell for ad units and reels, and outpace with ticket buyers that lean in on first-look nights and sustain through the week two if the film delivers. Post a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 setup exhibits belief in that setup. The year rolls out with a weighty January stretch, then plants flags in spring and early summer for alternate plays, while clearing room for a fall corridor that pushes into Halloween and into the next week. The layout also shows the continuing integration of indie distributors and OTT outlets that can platform and widen, stoke social talk, and roll out at the sweet spot.

A second macro trend is franchise tending across ongoing universes and established properties. The players are not just rolling another return. They are aiming to frame lineage with a specialness, whether that is a graphic identity that indicates a new vibe or a talent selection that reconnects a new entry to a classic era. At the same time, the directors behind the most anticipated originals are celebrating real-world builds, physical gags and concrete locations. That pairing offers the 2026 slate a healthy mix of recognition and newness, which is what works overseas.

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

Paramount fires first with two big-ticket pushes that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the heart, setting it up as both a legacy handover and a classic-mode relationship-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the tonal posture suggests a legacy-leaning campaign without looping the last two entries’ sisters thread. Count on a promo wave leaning on classic imagery, character previews, and a staggered trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will stress. As a summer alternative, this one will seek wide buzz through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format supporting quick switches to whatever owns pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three specific lanes. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is tight, heartbroken, and high-concept: a grieving man installs an AI companion that shifts into a killer companion. The date lines it up at the front of a thick month, with marketing at Universal likely to renew off-kilter promo beats and short-cut promos that interweaves love and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be 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 creates space for a public title to become an event moment closer to the early tease. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s releases Source are presented as filmmaker events, with a mystery-first teaser and a subsequent trailers that signal tone without plot the concept. The late-month date offers Universal room to dominate 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, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has established that a gnarly, in-camera leaning style can feel cinematic on a middle budget. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror shock that pushes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio lines up two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, extending a dependable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is calling a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both players and general audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build artifacts around canon, and creature effects, elements that can fuel format premiums and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror defined by historical precision and historical speech, this time focused on werewolf legend. Focus’s team has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is supportive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform plans for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal titles head to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a sequence that enhances both first-week urgency and platform bumps in the later window. Prime Video blends licensed films with cross-border buys and limited runs in theaters when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library curation, using timely promos, horror hubs, and programmed rows to sustain interest on the annual genre haul. Netflix remains opportunistic about originals and festival buys, locking in horror entries closer to launch and eventizing arrivals with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a paired of precision theatrical plays and swift platform pivots that turns chatter to conversion. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a curated basis. The platform has been willing to pick up select projects with top-tier auteurs or name-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly activity when the genre conversation peaks.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is curating a 2026 slate with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is no-nonsense: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, upgraded for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday dates to expand. That positioning has shown results for prestige horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception encourages. Anticipate 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 hand in hand, using mini theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their user base.

Brands and originals

By number, 2026 is weighted toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage name recognition. The trade-off, as ever, is diminishing returns. The preferred tactic is to present each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is spotlighting character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French sensibility from a buzzed-about director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a crash-survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the deal build is steady enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Rolling three-year comps announce the template. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that observed windows did not hamper a parallel release from paying off when the brand was robust. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror punched above its weight in premium formats. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they shift POV and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters shot consecutively, builds a path for marketing to thread films through cast and motif and to leave creative active without extended gaps.

Production craft signals

The director conversations behind the see here 2026 entries suggest a continued turn toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that spotlights atmosphere and fear rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and era-correct language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in deep-dive features and technical spotlights before rolling out a tease that withholds plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and sparks shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta recalibration that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature and environment design, which play well in expo activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel essential. Look for trailers that foreground hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that sing on PLF.

The schedule at a glance

January is busy. 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 brooding contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the palette of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth persists.

Q1 into Q2 seed summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a early fall window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a opaque tease strategy and limited pre-release reveals that favor idea over plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card use.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s AI companion mutates into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

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 confront a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: mood-led 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 tough boss fight to survive on a rugged island as the power dynamic shifts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to terror, shaped by Cronin’s physical craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting story that manipulates the unease of a child’s shaky senses. Rating: rating pending. Production: fully shot. Positioning: major-studio and star-led eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that riffs on today’s horror trends and true crime preoccupations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: principal photography set 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 breaks out, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further opens again, with a fresh family linked to residual nightmares. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A clean reboot designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-core horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: not yet rated. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBA. Production: underway. 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 time-true diction and raw menace. Rating: TBD. 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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why this year, why now

Three hands-on forces shape this lineup. First, production that stalled or rearranged in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine turnkey scare beats from test screenings, precision scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

The slot calculus is real. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can command a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will jostle across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where value-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 work those windows. 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.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, acoustics, and image-making 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

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is franchise muscle where it helps, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shocks sell the seats.