Antediluvian Dread surfaces: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled thriller, streaming October 2025 across global platforms

This chilling occult shockfest from literary architect / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an archaic horror when guests become puppets in a fiendish maze. Dropping October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving portrayal of overcoming and age-old darkness that will revolutionize fear-driven cinema this season. Brought to life by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and shadowy thriller follows five unacquainted souls who are stirred stuck in a cut-off house under the malignant manipulation of Kyra, a central character claimed by a timeless biblical demon. Be prepared to be hooked by a big screen spectacle that combines gut-punch terror with mythic lore, releasing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a mainstay concept in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is subverted when the forces no longer emerge from elsewhere, but rather inside them. This symbolizes the shadowy corner of all involved. The result is a relentless mental war where the plotline becomes a unyielding struggle between virtue and vice.


In a forsaken landscape, five friends find themselves imprisoned under the sinister force and domination of a unknown figure. As the team becomes vulnerable to deny her curse, isolated and targeted by presences unfathomable, they are obligated to face their greatest panics while the deathwatch brutally ticks onward toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety deepens and links dissolve, pressuring each cast member to challenge their values and the foundation of freedom of choice itself. The danger escalate with every instant, delivering a scare-fueled ride that blends otherworldly suspense with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to tap into deep fear, an curse rooted in antiquity, channeling itself through mental cracks, and navigating a darkness that threatens selfhood when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra called for internalizing something deeper than fear. She is in denial until the curse activates, and that conversion is eerie because it is so emotional.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for public screening beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—providing customers no matter where they are can face this chilling supernatural event.


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 follow-through to its first trailer, which has received over strong viewer count.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, making the film to a global viewership.


Mark your calendar for this mind-warping path of possession. Watch *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to acknowledge these chilling revelations about mankind.


For director insights, production insights, and press updates directly from production, follow @YACMovie across entertainment pages and visit youngandcursed.com.





Today’s horror sea change: the year 2025 American release plan Mixes myth-forward possession, festival-born jolts, paired with Franchise Rumbles

Kicking off with last-stand terror inspired by near-Eastern lore and stretching into IP renewals plus cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 looks like the most complex along with strategic year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. top-tier distributors hold down the year through proven series, at the same time streaming platforms pack the fall with new voices paired with mythic dread. On another front, horror’s indie wing is buoyed by the echoes from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween holding the peak, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, yet in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are disciplined, accordingly 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige fear returns

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 accelerates.

Universal fires the first shot with a headline swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in a modern-day environment. From director Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. dated for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. From director Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

When summer tapers, Warner Bros. bows the concluding entry from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Even with a familiar chassis, 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.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: 70s style chill, trauma driven plotting, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This run ups the stakes, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The new chapter enriches the lore, builds out the animatronic fear crew, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It posts in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a body horror duet fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: 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 With Depth: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed by 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. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one digs into 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 film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It reads as sharp positioning. No bloated mythology. No continuity burden. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Lines: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, from Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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.

What to Watch

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

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

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Near Term Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

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

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The coming 2026 genre slate: returning titles, original films, alongside A busy Calendar tailored for goosebumps

Dek: The emerging horror year clusters up front with a January logjam, then runs through the summer months, and straight through the December corridor, combining series momentum, fresh ideas, and savvy counter-scheduling. Studios and streamers are leaning into efficient budgets, theater-first strategies, and viral-minded pushes that position these films into broad-appeal conversations.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The field has turned into the sturdy play in studio lineups, a corner that can expand when it performs and still hedge the drag when it misses. After the 2023 year reminded leaders that low-to-mid budget entries can command mainstream conversation, 2024 continued the surge with auteur-driven buzzy films and word-of-mouth wins. The run rolled into 2025, where reboots and filmmaker-prestige bets highlighted there is room for a variety of tones, from ongoing IP entries to non-IP projects that carry overseas. The aggregate for 2026 is a lineup that reads highly synchronized across players, with intentional bunching, a equilibrium of household franchises and new packages, and a renewed priority on box-office windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium video on demand and platforms.

Studio leaders note the category now works like a versatile piece on the slate. The genre can bow on almost any weekend, create a quick sell for promo reels and UGC-friendly snippets, and exceed norms with demo groups that appear on first-look nights and hold through the second weekend if the title hits. Following a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 rhythm indicates conviction in that equation. The slate rolls out with a loaded January window, then primes spring and early summer for counterweight, while keeping space for a fall corridor that carries into the fright window and beyond. The schedule also reflects the tightening integration of specialty arms and subscription services that can nurture a platform play, stoke social talk, and scale up at the strategic time.

A companion trend is brand curation across connected story worlds and heritage properties. Studios are not just mounting another next film. They are seeking to position connection with a sense of event, whether that is a title treatment that signals a re-angled tone or a talent selection that threads a new installment to a foundational era. At the in tandem, the creative teams behind the top original plays are favoring physical effects work, makeup and prosthetics and site-specific worlds. That convergence produces the 2026 slate a smart balance of comfort and novelty, which is what works overseas.

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

Paramount marks the early tempo with two spotlight pushes that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the heart, framing it as both a relay and a heritage-centered character-centered film. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach hints at a throwback-friendly approach without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected rooted in heritage visuals, first-look character reveals, and a trailer cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will stress. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will generate broad awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format enabling quick pivots to whatever defines the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three unique projects. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is straightforward, tragic, and concept-forward: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that turns into a deadly partner. The date puts it at the front of a stacked January, with the studio’s marketing likely to echo strange in-person beats and brief clips that blurs affection and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a proper title to become an fan moment closer to the initial promo. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele titles are presented as marquee events, with a concept-forward tease and a second beat that shape mood without giving away the concept. The late-October frame gives the studio room to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has shown that a blood-soaked, hands-on effects style can feel prestige on a moderate cost. Expect a grime-caked summer horror charge that pushes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio launches two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, continuing a steady supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is marketing as a clean-slate approach 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 new audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build promo materials around setting detail, and creature work, elements that can boost premium booking interest and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror defined by historical precision and period language, this time steeped in lycan lore. The specialty arm has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is positive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Windowing plans in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s slate shift to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a sequence that boosts both week-one demand and sign-up momentum in the late-window. Prime Video balances outside acquisitions with global originals and limited runs in theaters when the data supports it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library curation, using prominent placements, genre hubs, and collection rows to keep attention on aggregate take. Netflix keeps flexible about original films and festival deals, scheduling horror entries with shorter lead times and turning into events rollouts with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a laddered of selective theatrical runs and speedy platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a selective basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to board select projects with award winners or name-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation peaks.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 corridor with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is simple: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, retooled for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a theatrical rollout for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the fall weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then working the year-end corridor to move out. That positioning has proved effective for arthouse horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception drives. Keep an eye on 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 in concert, using precision theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By number, 2026 tips toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on name recognition. The potential drawback, as ever, is audience fatigue. The standing approach is to frame each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is underscoring character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-flavored turn from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the cast-creatives package is steady enough to accelerate early sales and first-night audiences.

Comparable trends from recent years make sense of the template. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that respected streaming windows did not deter a parallel release from working when the brand was compelling. In 2024, precision craft horror hit big in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they shift POV 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 linked-chapter plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to bridge entries through character arcs and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without long breaks.

Production craft signals

The shop talk behind 2026 horror hint at a continued tilt toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that leans on tone and tension rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for textured sound and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in deep-dive features and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a first look that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta inflection that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature work and production design, which favor booth activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel definitive. Look for trailers that highlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that explode in larger rooms.

Month-by-month map

January is jammed. SOULM8TE see here 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 atmospheric change-up amid heftier brand moves. The month finishes 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 legit, but the tone spread affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Late winter and spring tee up summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads 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 comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

August into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited plot reveals that center concept over reveals.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and holiday card usage.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s artificial companion becomes something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie 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: Done with U.S. run set. 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 abrasive boss try to survive on a cut-off island as the control dynamic shifts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to menace, based on Cronin’s material craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 home-set haunting story that routes the horror through a minor’s uneven perspective. Rating: forthcoming. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house 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 comic send-up that riffs on hot-button genre motifs and true crime fascinations. Rating: undetermined. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a unlucky family entangled with returning horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A clean reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-core horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBD. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and primal menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026, why now

Three practical forces structure this lineup. First, production that decelerated or rearranged in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming drops. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine shareable moments from test screenings, precision scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Calendar math also matters. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will cluster across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

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 deep PLF penetration 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where modest-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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, 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 maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sound, 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, Lined Up To Scare

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand heft where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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, edit tight trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the shocks sell the seats.