Antediluvian Terror Rises in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling chiller, debuting Oct 2025 across leading streamers

An eerie mystic suspense film from cinematographer / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an archaic dread when outsiders become proxies in a cursed experiment. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish portrayal of continuance and archaic horror that will reconstruct genre cinema this October. Crafted by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and moody screenplay follows five individuals who are stirred trapped in a hidden cabin under the malevolent power of Kyra, a cursed figure dominated by a legendary religious nightmare. Get ready to be absorbed by a cinematic spectacle that blends bone-deep fear with ancestral stories, debuting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a iconic theme in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is reversed when the forces no longer descend from elsewhere, but rather internally. This illustrates the malevolent dimension of every character. The result is a emotionally raw spiritual tug-of-war where the tension becomes a unyielding face-off between good and evil.


In a unforgiving backcountry, five characters find themselves stuck under the dark presence and overtake of a shadowy woman. As the survivors becomes helpless to resist her control, isolated and attacked by spirits beyond reason, they are cornered to encounter their inner demons while the time ruthlessly strikes toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion builds and alliances disintegrate, requiring each participant to challenge their identity and the structure of free will itself. The risk climb with every heartbeat, delivering a horror experience that integrates unearthly horror with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to dive into raw dread, an presence from ancient eras, filtering through our weaknesses, and questioning a spirit that erodes the self when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra demanded embodying something far beyond human desperation. She is unseeing until the evil takes hold, and that turn is deeply unsettling because it is so unshielded.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be available for streaming beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—providing streamers anywhere can watch this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its original clip, which has been viewed over massive response.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, offering the tale to global fright lovers.


Experience this haunted descent into darkness. Enter *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to experience these spiritual awakenings about inner darkness.


For behind-the-scenes access, director cuts, and reveals from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across online outlets and visit our film’s homepage.





Today’s horror Turning Point: the year 2025 U.S. calendar fuses legend-infused possession, independent shockers, plus brand-name tremors

Spanning survivor-centric dread grounded in near-Eastern lore and including legacy revivals plus sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is shaping up as the most complex paired with tactically planned year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. top-tier distributors lay down anchors with franchise anchors, at the same time OTT services stack the fall with unboxed visions set against primordial unease. Meanwhile, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is fueled by the tailwinds from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, and in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are intentional, accordingly 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

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

The top end is active. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s slate lights the fuse with a confident swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, instead in a current-day frame. Under director Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. targeting mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Guided by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial heat flags it as potent.

When summer tapers, Warner’s schedule bows the concluding entry inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. While the template is known, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re engages, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: 70s style chill, trauma explicitly handled, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This pass pushes higher, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It hits in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Offerings: Small budgets, sharp fangs

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a close quarters body horror study including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is destined for a fall landing.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Underneath: 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. Conceived 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. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

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 arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is canny scheduling. No puffed out backstory. No series drag. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

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 hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Long Running Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, from Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Trends Worth Watching

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror comes roaring back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

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

Big screen is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The new spook lineup: returning titles, original films, in tandem with A hectic Calendar tailored for nightmares

Dek: The fresh scare season clusters at the outset with a January crush, after that carries through peak season, and deep into the year-end corridor, fusing name recognition, creative pitches, and strategic offsets. Studios and platforms are focusing on lean spends, theatrical exclusivity first, and shareable marketing that transform these offerings into mainstream chatter.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The horror sector has solidified as the most reliable option in studio calendars, a pillar that can grow when it connects and still limit the floor when it fails to connect. After 2023 re-taught decision-makers that mid-range pictures can galvanize audience talk, 2024 kept energy high with director-led heat and unexpected risers. The momentum carried into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and arthouse crossovers demonstrated there is capacity for different modes, from returning installments to original features that resonate abroad. The sum for the 2026 slate is a run that is strikingly coherent across companies, with intentional bunching, a equilibrium of legacy names and first-time concepts, and a revived priority on theater exclusivity that drive downstream revenue on paid VOD and home platforms.

Schedulers say the horror lane now serves as a plug-and-play option on the schedule. The genre can debut on most weekends, deliver a simple premise for promo reels and vertical videos, and exceed norms with crowds that show up on Thursday previews and stick through the week two if the offering lands. On the heels of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 cadence demonstrates belief in that equation. The year kicks off with a loaded January block, then targets spring into early summer for alternate plays, while carving room for a fall run that carries into the fright window and afterwards. The calendar also highlights the stronger partnership of indie distributors and platforms that can develop over weeks, grow buzz, and scale up at the timely point.

A reinforcing pattern is brand strategy across unified worlds and classic IP. The players are not just rolling another next film. They are shaping as lore continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a brandmark that broadcasts a new vibe or a star attachment that anchors a new installment to a original cycle. At the same time, the visionaries behind the marquee originals are returning to material texture, makeup and prosthetics and specific settings. That alloy yields the 2026 slate a robust balance of brand comfort and discovery, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount defines the early cadence with two marquee moves that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, signaling it as both a relay and a classic-mode character-driven entry. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance conveys a roots-evoking campaign without looping the last two entries’ sisters thread. Count on a promo wave centered on brand visuals, first images of characters, and a tease cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also dusts off 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 as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will spotlight. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will hunt wide buzz through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick adjustments to whatever shapes the discourse that spring.

Universal has three differentiated lanes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is elegant, somber, and premise-first: a grieving man purchases an machine companion that evolves into a dangerous lover. The date positions it at the front of a front-loaded month, with the studio’s marketing likely to echo uncanny-valley stunts and quick hits that threads affection and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a title drop to become an teaser payoff closer to the early tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s work are treated as marquee events, with a mystery-first teaser and a second beat that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-October frame affords Universal to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work 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 is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has proven that a in-your-face, makeup-driven treatment can feel big on a mid-range budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror shock that pushes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio deploys two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, continuing a trusty supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is marketing as a new take 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 general audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build campaign creative around canon, and creature builds, elements that can amplify PLF interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by textural authenticity and textual fidelity, this time circling werewolf lore. The specialty arm has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is warm.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform windowing in 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre entries move to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ladder that elevates both week-one demand and sign-up spikes in the later phase. Prime Video pairs licensed films with cross-border buys and limited runs in theaters when the data points to it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in back-catalog play, using curated hubs, holiday hubs, and staff picks to sustain interest on aggregate take. Netflix remains opportunistic about original films and festival pickups, slotting horror entries with shorter lead times and coalescing around rollouts with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a dual-phase of limited theatrical footprints and quick platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has signaled readiness to secure select projects with established auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for monthly activity when the genre conversation spikes.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 pipeline with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is straightforward: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, retooled for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the year-end corridor to broaden. That positioning has proved effective for prestige horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception encourages. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using mini theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their audience.

Brands and originals

By weight, the 2026 slate bends toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate name recognition. The question, as ever, is diminishing returns. The practical approach is to pitch each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is leading with character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French sensibility from a ascendant talent. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and director-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the team and cast is familiar enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Past-three-year patterns frame the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that maintained windows did not hamper a day-and-date experiment from working when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror over-performed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they angle differently and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters shot in tandem, allows marketing to connect the chapters through personae and themes and to leave creative active without hiatuses.

Production craft signals

The filmmaking conversations behind these films telegraph a continued tilt toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that spotlights mood and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and era-correct language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft coverage before rolling out a atmospheric tease that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and generates shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta reframe that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will live or die on creature and environment design, which are ideal for convention floor stunts and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel compelling. Look for trailers that elevate hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that shine in top rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is loaded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the tonal variety lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Q1 into Q2 set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now supports 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 divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Back half into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a bridge slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited advance reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift card usage.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s DNA. 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 digital partner becomes something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem 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 goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 difficult boss scramble to survive on a far-flung island as the chain of command swivels and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to dread, anchored by Cronin’s hands-on craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. 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 piece that pipes the unease through a child’s unsteady personal vantage. Rating: pending. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult 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 skewers hot-button genre motifs and true crime fixations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming slated 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 detonates, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a different family anchored to old terrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A clean reboot designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-core horror over action spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: closely held. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in progress. 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 era-accurate language and raw menace. Rating: pending. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026, why now

Three operational forces inform this lineup. First, production that downshifted or shifted in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more structured 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 drops. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate social-ready stingers click site from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

The slot calculus is real. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will cluster across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where lean-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 capitalize on those pockets. 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 movies 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.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal 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 austere, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, tight deployments, 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, audio design, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand heft where it matters, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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.