Antediluvian Evil reawakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on major streaming services

One spine-tingling mystic scare-fest from creator / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an forgotten terror when unrelated individuals become tokens in a hellish struggle. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing episode of resistance and archaic horror that will transform fear-driven cinema this Halloween season. Brought to life by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and tone-heavy motion picture follows five unknowns who snap to isolated in a secluded house under the ominous sway of Kyra, a tormented girl controlled by a time-worn scriptural evil. Be warned to be gripped by a visual ride that blends visceral dread with ancestral stories, coming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a historical concept in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is twisted when the forces no longer arise from an outside force, but rather inside them. This depicts the most primal aspect of the protagonists. The result is a intense identity crisis where the emotions becomes a soul-crushing clash between good and evil.


In a haunting wild, five youths find themselves cornered under the possessive effect and possession of a shadowy person. As the protagonists becomes defenseless to reject her influence, isolated and hunted by terrors beyond comprehension, they are confronted to acknowledge their worst nightmares while the timeline relentlessly ticks onward toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia deepens and partnerships crack, pushing each individual to reflect on their self and the structure of autonomy itself. The intensity amplify with every beat, delivering a nightmarish journey that blends mystical fear with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to uncover ancestral fear, an force born of forgotten ages, emerging via fragile psyche, and exposing a entity that forces self-examination when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra asked for exploring something unfamiliar to reason. She is unseeing until the demon emerges, and that shift is shocking because it is so unshielded.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for streaming beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving fans no matter where they are can be part of this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its intro video, which has been viewed over 100,000 views.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, giving access to the movie to a global viewership.


Experience this bone-rattling journey into fear. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to see these spiritual awakenings about the soul.


For featurettes, production news, and insider scoops straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursed across online outlets and visit youngandcursed.com.





Contemporary horror’s pivotal crossroads: the 2025 cycle domestic schedule braids together biblical-possession ideas, art-house nightmares, alongside IP aftershocks

Beginning with life-or-death fear infused with near-Eastern lore through to installment follow-ups in concert with surgical indie voices, 2025 is shaping up as the most variegated along with blueprinted year in the past ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. Top studios bookend the months with franchise anchors, simultaneously streaming platforms load up the fall with discovery plays together with old-world menace. In the indie lane, independent banners is drafting behind the carry from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Since Halloween is the prized date, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The fall stretch is the proving field, however this time, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are methodical, which means 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige terror resurfaces

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s distribution arm kicks off the frame with a headline swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. From director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. targeting mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

By late summer, Warner’s slate drops the final chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: 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, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson returns, and the tone that worked before is intact: vintage toned fear, trauma explicitly handled, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This pass pushes higher, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It posts in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Firsts: Modest spend, serious shock

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a body horror duet starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led 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. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is a smart play. No heavy handed lore. No franchise baggage. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, guided by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

What to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror ascends again
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Projection: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

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

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. 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.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The new terror slate: continuations, Originals, as well as A stacked Calendar aimed at frights

Dek The fresh genre calendar stacks at the outset with a January logjam, subsequently spreads through June and July, and pushing into the holiday frame, balancing brand heft, fresh ideas, and shrewd counterweight. Major distributors and platforms are embracing mid-range economics, box-office-first windows, and social-driven marketing that convert horror entries into cross-demo moments.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror filmmaking has grown into the consistent lever in studio lineups, a vertical that can accelerate when it connects and still mitigate the exposure when it does not. After 2023 signaled to leaders that responsibly budgeted entries can shape the zeitgeist, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with signature-voice projects and quiet over-performers. The trend flowed into 2025, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers signaled there is room for diverse approaches, from sequel tracks to original features that export nicely. The takeaway for 2026 is a lineup that presents tight coordination across distributors, with mapped-out bands, a pairing of recognizable IP and fresh ideas, and a re-energized emphasis on big-screen windows that increase tail monetization on premium on-demand and digital services.

Executives say the space now behaves like a utility player on the release plan. Horror can launch on open real estate, furnish a clear pitch for spots and TikTok spots, and outstrip with viewers that show up on Thursday previews and keep coming through the follow-up frame if the movie satisfies. On the heels of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 configuration telegraphs faith in that model. The calendar launches with a weighty January lineup, then turns to spring and early summer for audience offsets, while saving space for a October build that reaches into late October and past the holiday. The program also underscores the ongoing integration of arthouse labels and subscription services that can develop over weeks, fuel WOM, and go nationwide at the proper time.

An added macro current is legacy care across interlocking continuities and established properties. Major shops are not just turning out another continuation. They are shaping as brand continuity with a occasion, whether that is a graphic identity that signals a reframed mood or a casting choice that threads a fresh chapter to a foundational era. At the in tandem, the directors behind the most watched originals are returning to physical effects work, in-camera effects and vivid settings. That mix produces 2026 a solid mix of comfort and newness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount establishes early momentum with two prominent releases that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a handoff and a foundation-forward character piece. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance suggests a memory-charged framework without looping the last two entries’ sibling arc. Anticipate a campaign anchored in iconic art, character spotlights, and a tiered teaser plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

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 reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will emphasize. As a counterweight in summer, this one will hunt wide buzz through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format allowing quick shifts to whatever leads the social talk that spring.

Universal has three clear plays. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is straightforward, melancholic, and concept-forward: a grieving man activates an synthetic partner that mutates into a deadly partner. The date positions it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with the marketing arm likely to renew strange in-person beats and short-cut promos that mixes devotion and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a title reveal to become an teaser payoff closer to the opening teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele titles are presented as event films, with a teaser that holds back and a subsequent trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The late-October frame opens a lane to lead 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, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has established that a gritty, in-camera leaning approach can feel top-tier on a controlled budget. Frame it as a splatter summer horror shot that emphasizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio sets two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, continuing a evergreen supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is calling a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both core fans and newcomers. The fall slot gives Sony time to build promo materials around canon, and monster aesthetics, elements that can stoke premium booking 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 builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by rigorous craft and textual fidelity, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus Features has already locked the day for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is strong.

Platform lanes and windowing

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s slate feed copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a tiered path that elevates both debut momentum and sub growth in the post-theatrical. Prime Video balances licensed films with worldwide entries and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data points to it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library curation, using featured rows, spooky hubs, and featured rows to prolong the run on 2026 genre cume. Netflix plays opportunist about first-party entries and festival buys, finalizing horror entries closer to drop and elevating as drops rollouts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a one-two of tailored theatrical exposure and rapid platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has shown a willingness to buy select projects with accomplished filmmakers or star packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for retention when the genre conversation surges.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 arc with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is simple: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, recalibrated for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a standard theatrical run for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the fall weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, managing the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then pressing the Christmas corridor to increase reach. That positioning has helped for filmmaker-driven genre with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception drives. Be ready for 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 as a pair, using small theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Brands and originals

By number, 2026 is weighted toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness household recognition. The concern, as ever, is fatigue. The near-term solution is to market each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is emphasizing character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-inflected take from a emerging director. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and auteur plays deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the cast-creatives package is recognizable enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Rolling three-year comps make sense of the plan. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that preserved streaming windows did not obstruct a day-date try from hitting when the brand was potent. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror popped in PLF. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they alter lens and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward 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 consecutively, permits marketing to thread films through character spine and themes and to leave creative active without dead zones.

How the films are being made

The shop talk behind the year’s horror hint at a continued turn toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that elevates grain and menace rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft spotlights before rolling out a tease that elevates tone over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and spurs shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a self-referential reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature and environment design, which are ideal for convention floor stunts and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel key. Look for trailers that spotlight precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that benefit on big speakers.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is busy. 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 atmospheric change-up amid macro-brand pushes. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the spread of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Early-year through spring load in summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The 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 spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

August 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 transitional slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited previews that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold 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 carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s algorithmic partner becomes something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human 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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. 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 tough boss work to survive on a lonely island as the power balance of power shifts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to menace, built on Cronin’s physical craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting setup that manipulates the chill of a child’s unreliable senses. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-financed and celebrity-led supernatural 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 send-up revival that pokes at present-day genre chatter and true-crime buzz. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 erupts, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a young family tethered to residual nightmares. Rating: TBA. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward pure survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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-faithful speech and primal menace. Rating: TBD. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the moment is 2026

Three practical forces inform this lineup. First, production that decelerated or recalendared in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify social-ready stingers from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can capture a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The dark-horse hunt 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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June click site provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, 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 hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, acoustics, and image-making that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is name recognition where it counts, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, protect the mystery, and let the screams sell the seats.