Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons ancient dread, a chilling supernatural thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on top streamers

An spine-tingling occult terror film from cinematographer / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an primordial malevolence when unknowns become instruments in a demonic conflict. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing tale of struggle and forgotten curse that will reshape genre cinema this cool-weather season. Crafted by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and atmospheric motion picture follows five characters who emerge stranded in a cut-off house under the sinister dominion of Kyra, a tormented girl consumed by a prehistoric sacred-era entity. Be prepared to be enthralled by a narrative event that integrates soul-chilling terror with folklore, arriving on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a mainstay tradition in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is challenged when the entities no longer arise from a different plane, but rather from their psyche. This illustrates the malevolent part of these individuals. The result is a riveting moral showdown where the events becomes a unyielding struggle between heaven and hell.


In a remote no-man's-land, five campers find themselves confined under the ghastly sway and haunting of a mysterious person. As the ensemble becomes vulnerable to fight her curse, disconnected and preyed upon by spirits inconceivable, they are compelled to stand before their core terrors while the countdown coldly runs out toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear deepens and partnerships fracture, coercing each participant to examine their identity and the integrity of decision-making itself. The danger mount with every tick, delivering a terror ride that harmonizes unearthly horror with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to evoke instinctual horror, an evil before modern man, filtering through mental cracks, and highlighting a force that peels away humanity when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra called for internalizing something rooted in terror. She is unseeing until the haunting manifests, and that transition is terrifying because it is so internal.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for streaming beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—providing streamers no matter where they are can be part of this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its release of trailer #1, which has seen over massive response.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, taking the terror to international horror buffs.


Tune in for this mind-warping trip into the unknown. Explore *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to acknowledge these haunting secrets about the soul.


For film updates, production insights, and alerts straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACFilm across entertainment pages and visit the official digital haunt.





Horror’s pivotal crossroads: 2025 across markets U.S. release slate weaves old-world possession, independent shockers, together with returning-series thunder

Across pressure-cooker survival tales steeped in mythic scripture all the way to brand-name continuations alongside sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is tracking to be the genre’s most multifaceted in tandem with blueprinted year in years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. the big studios hold down the year with familiar IP, as streaming platforms prime the fall with discovery plays and mythic dread. On the independent axis, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is riding the kinetic energy of a record-setting 2024 festival season. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, distinctly in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are exacting, accordingly 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The top end is active. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal banner opens the year with a confident swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a modern-day environment. Guided by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. dated for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

Toward summer’s end, the Warner lot sets loose the finale of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson is back, and those signature textures resurface: retrograde shiver, trauma as theme, and eerie supernatural logic. This run ups the stakes, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, thickens the animatronic pantheon, courting teens and the thirty something base. It hits in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a sealed box body horror arc featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: 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 From Within: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

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 looks like sharp programming. No bloated mythology. No legacy baggage. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror comes roaring back
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

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 becomes a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

The Road Ahead: Fall saturation and a winter joker

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The coming 2026 terror calendar year ahead: returning titles, filmmaker-first projects, as well as A brimming Calendar geared toward screams

Dek: The arriving terror cycle builds from the jump with a January pile-up, before it unfolds through peak season, and carrying into the year-end corridor, marrying brand equity, fresh ideas, and tactical counterweight. Studio marketers and platforms are embracing cost discipline, theatrical exclusivity first, and social-fueled campaigns that pivot the slate’s entries into culture-wide discussion.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The horror sector has proven to be the consistent swing in programming grids, a lane that can scale when it clicks and still hedge the drawdown when it underperforms. After the 2023 year proved to buyers that cost-conscious scare machines can command mainstream conversation, 2024 continued the surge with auteur-driven buzzy films and unexpected risers. The run flowed into 2025, where re-entries and filmmaker-prestige bets proved there is capacity for several lanes, from returning installments to one-and-done originals that export nicely. The upshot for 2026 is a programming that feels more orchestrated than usual across players, with intentional bunching, a equilibrium of household franchises and new packages, and a re-energized eye on cinema windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium rental and platforms.

Planners observe the horror lane now functions as a fill-in ace on the programming map. The genre can bow on almost any weekend, create a simple premise for ad units and shorts, and punch above weight with crowds that respond on previews Thursday and return through the sophomore frame if the offering connects. Following a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 rhythm telegraphs assurance in that engine. The calendar opens with a stacked January window, then plants flags in spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while reserving space for a autumn stretch that extends to spooky season and past the holiday. The program also spotlights the expanded integration of indie distributors and home platforms that can nurture a platform play, stoke social talk, and move wide at the strategic time.

A further high-level trend is IP stewardship across shared universes and veteran brands. Major shops are not just greenlighting another sequel. They are setting up brand continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a brandmark that indicates a tonal shift or a lead change that ties a next entry to a classic era. At the meanwhile, the auteurs behind the marquee originals are prioritizing tactile craft, on-set effects and concrete locations. That convergence hands the 2026 slate a strong blend of trust and unexpected turns, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

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

Paramount defines the early cadence with two prominent titles that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the heart, signaling it as both a legacy handover and a classic-mode character piece. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the directional approach signals a memory-charged framework without recycling the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Count on a promo wave stacked with brand visuals, first-look character reveals, and a trailer cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is theatrical through 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 paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will play up. As a summer alternative, this one will pursue four-quadrant chatter through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format inviting quick reframes to whatever shapes horror talk that spring.

Universal has three separate plays. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is tidy, somber, and concept-forward: a grieving man brings home an digital partner that grows into a lethal partner. The date places it at the front of a thick month, with the Universal machine likely to recreate viral uncanny stunts and brief clips that blurs affection and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a branding reveal to become an headline beat closer to the debut look. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele titles are set up as marquee events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second trailer wave that define feel without revealing the concept. The prime October weekend creates space for Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has consistently shown that a gnarly, practical-effects forward strategy can feel big on a efficient spend. Frame it as a red-band summer horror hit that centers overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio places two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, maintaining a evergreen supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is billing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both fans and first-timers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build assets around environmental design, and practical creature work, elements that can accelerate premium screens and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by immersive craft and textual fidelity, this time steeped in lycan lore. Focus Features has already set the date for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is supportive.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s genre entries head to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a tiered path that elevates both opening-weekend urgency and sub growth in the back half. Prime Video will mix library titles with world buys and select theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library pulls, using editorial spots, fright rows, and featured rows to keep attention on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix films and festival buys, timing horror entries on shorter runways and coalescing around arrivals with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a dual-phase of limited theatrical footprints and swift platform pivots that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has shown appetite to secure select projects with name filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation spikes.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 sequence 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 moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, upgraded for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late-season weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through select festivals if the cut is ready, then working the holiday dates to increase reach. That positioning has delivered for elevated genre with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception warrants. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using mini theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Series vs standalone

By skew, the 2026 slate leans toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap legacy awareness. The caveat, as ever, is audience fatigue. The standing approach is to pitch each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is foregrounding character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-accented approach from a new voice. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the team and cast is comforting enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Past-three-year patterns announce the plan. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept clean windows did not obstruct a parallel release from succeeding when the brand was powerful. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror over-performed in premium large format. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they pivot perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters shot consecutively, creates space for marketing to bridge entries through character web and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without pause points.

Creative tendencies and craft

The creative meetings behind this slate hint at a continued emphasis on in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that underscores aura and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in deep-dive features and technical spotlights before rolling out a teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and gathers shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-referential reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster aesthetics and world-building, which favor booth activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel compelling. Look for trailers that spotlight pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that shine in top rooms.

Calendar cadence

January is packed. 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 atmospheric change-up amid heftier brand moves. 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 serious, but the spread of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Late winter and spring stage summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now supports 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 lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Back half into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a opaque tease strategy and limited information drops that elevate concept over story.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can play the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the my review here studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday card usage.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s digital partner escalates into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss struggle to survive on a isolated island as the control dynamic inverts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to nightmare, based on Cronin’s practical effects and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting narrative that plays with the horror of a child’s unreliable impressions. Rating: TBA. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

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 satire sequel that needles in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fixations. Rating: pending. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 surges, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a different family caught in returning horrors. Rating: pending. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward true survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: pending. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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 antique diction and elemental fear. Rating: undetermined. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. 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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three hands-on forces inform this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or re-slotted in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and compressed schedules. 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 overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify shareable moments from test screenings, curated scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can control a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will line up across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 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 capitalize on those pockets. 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, disciplined footprints, 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 surface detail, acoustics, and imagery 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 Promising 2026

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is recognizable IP where it plays, auteur intent where it matters, 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 late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, keep secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.