Mythic Evil emerges: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding chiller, launching October 2025 on top streamers

A unnerving paranormal suspense story from creator / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an mythic malevolence when passersby become proxies in a cursed ritual. Streaming on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking episode of struggle and forgotten curse that will remodel scare flicks this spooky time. Directed by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and shadowy fearfest follows five strangers who regain consciousness imprisoned in a off-grid dwelling under the unfriendly rule of Kyra, a central character controlled by a time-worn biblical force. Ready yourself to be hooked by a motion picture experience that combines raw fear with folklore, dropping on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a iconic element in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is subverted when the forces no longer originate from elsewhere, but rather from within. This marks the grimmest part of each of them. The result is a edge-of-seat mind game where the story becomes a brutal contest between divinity and wickedness.


In a unforgiving forest, five young people find themselves marooned under the dark rule and domination of a unknown female figure. As the ensemble becomes incapacitated to escape her curse, abandoned and followed by entities impossible to understand, they are thrust to reckon with their raw vulnerabilities while the deathwatch brutally winds toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety swells and associations crack, urging each individual to contemplate their values and the notion of liberty itself. The threat rise with every beat, delivering a fear-soaked story that fuses otherworldly suspense with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to channel basic terror, an darkness older than civilization itself, feeding on fragile psyche, and navigating a spirit that dismantles free will when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra required summoning something deeper than fear. She is in denial until the takeover begins, and that metamorphosis is haunting because it is so visceral.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing audiences anywhere can survive this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its release of trailer #1, which has gathered over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, exporting the fear to fans of fear everywhere.


Be sure to catch this mind-warping trip into the unknown. Stream *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to explore these unholy truths about the mind.


For behind-the-scenes access, production news, and updates straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across your favorite networks and visit our film’s homepage.





Modern horror’s sea change: calendar year 2025 domestic schedule blends ancient-possession motifs, independent shockers, plus IP aftershocks

Running from pressure-cooker survival tales infused with old testament echoes through to legacy revivals paired with pointed art-house angles, 2025 is lining up as the most complex plus deliberate year in the past ten years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. studio majors hold down the year with familiar IP, simultaneously OTT services load up the fall with emerging auteurs and scriptural shivers. At the same time, the artisan tier is propelled by the tailwinds of 2024’s record festival wave. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and now, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are intentional, accordingly 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: High-craft horror returns

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the base, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s pipeline starts the year with a big gambit: a contemporary Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a clear present-tense world. Guided by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. landing in mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Helmed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early reactions hint at fangs.

When summer tapers, the Warner lot releases the last chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Even if the pattern is recognizable, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re boards, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: vintage toned fear, trauma driven plotting, and a cold supernatural calculus. This time the stakes climb, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The next entry deepens the tale, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, reaching teens and game grownups. It posts in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Firsts: Economy, maximum dread

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. 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 thirties set vampire folk saga fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. That is a savvy move. No overweight 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 and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, guided by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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 pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror returns
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Projection: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The coming 2026 chiller season: Sequels, new stories, and also A busy Calendar engineered for chills

Dek: The upcoming horror slate lines up in short order with a January pile-up, then spreads through the mid-year, and continuing into the December corridor, mixing legacy muscle, new concepts, and savvy counterprogramming. The big buyers and platforms are betting on efficient budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and buzz-forward plans that convert these offerings into cross-demo moments.

How the genre looks for 2026

This space has proven to be the sturdy swing in distribution calendars, a genre that can scale when it lands and still safeguard the liability when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year reminded buyers that responsibly budgeted pictures can dominate cultural conversation, the following year extended the rally with signature-voice projects and unexpected risers. The trend moved into 2025, where revivals and festival-grade titles made clear there is an opening for diverse approaches, from legacy continuations to fresh IP that perform internationally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a calendar that shows rare alignment across players, with planned clusters, a mix of legacy names and new packages, and a renewed attention on theater exclusivity that enhance post-theatrical value on premium video on demand and SVOD.

Buyers contend the genre now serves as a swing piece on the grid. The genre can kick off on many corridors, furnish a grabby hook for teasers and social clips, and over-index with demo groups that come out on advance nights and hold through the second weekend if the film fires. In the wake of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 mapping exhibits conviction in that logic. The slate kicks off with a loaded January window, then plants flags in spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while carving room for a fall run that extends to the fright window and beyond. The grid also highlights the stronger partnership of specialized labels and digital platforms that can nurture a platform play, fuel WOM, and grow at the timely point.

A companion trend is IP stewardship across interlocking continuities and long-running brands. Big banners are not just making another chapter. They are shaping as lineage with a marquee sheen, whether that is a brandmark that telegraphs a refreshed voice or a talent selection that reconnects a new entry to a original cycle. At the in tandem, the helmers behind the high-profile originals are celebrating tactile craft, in-camera effects and location-forward worlds. That blend gives the 2026 slate a vital pairing of home base and freshness, which is what works overseas.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount leads early with two front-of-slate entries that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the front, signaling it as both a relay and a DNA-forward character-centered film. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative posture signals a throwback-friendly campaign without rehashing the last two entries’ family thread. Expect a marketing push anchored in signature symbols, character previews, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

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 set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will lean on. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will chase general-audience talk through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick turns to whatever rules pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three unique plays. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is crisp, somber, and concept-forward: a grieving man purchases an algorithmic mate that mutates into a deadly partner. The date slots it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s campaign likely to revisit strange in-person beats and snackable content that threads love and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a official title to become an attention spike closer to the debut look. 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 books October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s work are positioned as auteur events, with a concept-forward tease and a follow-up trailer set that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween runway opens a lane to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has established that a gnarly, in-camera leaning approach can feel prestige on a lean spend. Position this as a red-band summer horror shot that embraces foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio deploys two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, carrying a dependable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has reslotted 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 restarts in what Sony is presenting as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both longtime followers and newcomers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign creative around environmental design, and monster aesthetics, elements that can amplify premium screens and convention buzz.

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 carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on this content historical precision and language, this time circling werewolf lore. The imprint has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is enthusiastic.

How the platforms plan to play it

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal titles feed copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a tiered path that enhances both week-one demand and viewer acquisition in the later phase. Prime Video combines outside acquisitions with cross-border buys and brief theater runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library pulls, using curated hubs, spooky hubs, and curated rows to lengthen the tail on the horror cume. Netflix retains agility about internal projects and festival buys, confirming horror entries on shorter runways and eventizing go-lives with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a one-two of targeted theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a selective basis. The platform has been willing to invest in select projects with prestige directors or marquee packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation intensifies.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is curating a 2026 track with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is simple: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, recalibrated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a big-screen first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the September weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday frame to increase reach. That positioning has proved effective for director-led genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception drives. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using precision theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subs.

IP versus fresh ideas

By share, the 2026 slate bends toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate household recognition. The watch-out, as ever, is overexposure. The pragmatic answer is to pitch each entry as a new angle. Paramount is emphasizing character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-flavored turn from a emerging director. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the deal build is assuring enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Recent comps outline the approach. In 2023, a theater-first model that kept streaming intact did not prevent a parallel release from winning when the brand was sticky. In 2024, director-craft horror popped in PLF. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they rotate perspective and raise the stakes. 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, provides the means for marketing to thread films through protagonists and motifs and to keep materials circulating without dead zones.

How the look and feel evolve

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind this slate foreshadow a continued turn toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that emphasizes grain and menace get redirected here rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in craft journalism and department features before rolling out a mood teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and earns shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta refresh that centers an original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature execution and sets, which play well in con floor moments and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that emphasize disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that benefit on big speakers.

Month-by-month map

January is stacked. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 click to read more Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid big-brand pushes. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the variety of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late Q1 and spring tee up summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into 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 lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies 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 Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a transitional slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a slow-reveal plan and limited pre-release reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift card usage.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s core. 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 sorrowing man’s intelligent companion evolves into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially 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 goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 scramble to survive on a isolated island as the chain of command inverts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to chill, rooted in Cronin’s on-set craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting piece that mediates the fear via a minor’s unreliable subjective lens. Rating: TBA. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal 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 satirical comeback that lampoons today’s horror trends and true crime fascinations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production booked 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 global twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a different family tethered to past horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survivalist horror over action fireworks. Rating: to be announced. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: undetermined. 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-precise speech and bone-deep menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026, why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces drive this lineup. First, production that decelerated or reshuffled in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and pared-down timelines. 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 activate clippable moments from test screenings, select scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

A fourth factor is programming math. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can command a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. 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 Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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. Anticipate a robust 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a smorgasbord, 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 somber, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions 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 steady Thursday pops, 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, soundcraft, and visual design 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 Shapes Up Strong

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand heft where it matters, original vision 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, deliver taut trailers, keep the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.