Primeval Horror Stirs in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked horror feature, streaming Oct 2025 on leading streamers

A chilling paranormal horror tale from writer / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an timeless dread when newcomers become conduits in a satanic struggle. Releasing October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful tale of struggle and ancient evil that will revolutionize fear-driven cinema this cool-weather season. Directed by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and gothic thriller follows five lost souls who are stirred ensnared in a hidden shack under the sinister influence of Kyra, a female lead haunted by a antiquated Old Testament spirit. Get ready to be enthralled by a motion picture experience that merges visceral dread with arcane tradition, unleashing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a classic fixture in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is reversed when the monsters no longer appear outside their bodies, but rather within themselves. This symbolizes the most terrifying dimension of the cast. The result is a psychologically brutal internal warfare where the events becomes a ongoing fight between righteousness and malevolence.


In a bleak landscape, five individuals find themselves marooned under the evil dominion and spiritual invasion of a haunted figure. As the cast becomes submissive to break her manipulation, severed and chased by unknowns ungraspable, they are obligated to acknowledge their deepest fears while the seconds ruthlessly runs out toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread rises and ties fracture, requiring each cast member to examine their character and the structure of volition itself. The intensity intensify with every instant, delivering a scare-fueled ride that connects paranormal dread with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to tap into raw dread, an curse beyond recorded history, influencing our fears, and exposing a entity that strips down our being when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra was about accessing something rooted in terror. She is in denial until the spirit seizes her, and that flip is gut-wrenching because it is so internal.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for public screening beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—making sure users anywhere can survive this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its initial teaser, which has attracted over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, extending the thrill to horror fans worldwide.


Don’t miss this visceral path of possession. Face *Young & Cursed* this launch day to acknowledge these nightmarish insights about human nature.


For exclusive trailers, filmmaker commentary, and insider scoops from the creators, follow @YACMovie across your favorite networks and visit our film’s homepage.





Horror’s tipping point: calendar year 2025 U.S. Slate melds biblical-possession ideas, underground frights, stacked beside Franchise Rumbles

Moving from grit-forward survival fare steeped in mythic scripture and including series comebacks set beside surgical indie voices, 2025 is lining up as the most variegated combined with calculated campaign year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio powerhouses set cornerstones via recognizable brands, in parallel streamers saturate the fall with discovery plays as well as scriptural shivers. At the same time, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is drafting behind the momentum of a peak 2024 circuit. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, though in this cycle, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are targeted, as a result 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s schedule lights the fuse with a bold swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a modern-day environment. Directed by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. dated for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. From director Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer wanes, Warner’s pipeline rolls out the capstone inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

After that, The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: vintage toned fear, trauma as theme, along with eerie supernatural rules. Here the stakes rise, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The follow up digs further into canon, thickens the animatronic pantheon, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It opens in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Firsts: Low budgets, big teeth

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a two hander body horror spiral starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: 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 Underneath: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by 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 threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No swollen lore. No franchise baggage. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Franchise Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives 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, with Francis Lawrence directing, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trends to Watch

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror resurges
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Forecast: Fall pileup, winter curveball

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

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The new fright Year Ahead: returning titles, standalone ideas, plus A busy Calendar calibrated for goosebumps

Dek: The incoming terror slate crowds from the jump with a January glut, subsequently rolls through summer corridors, and well into the holidays, balancing brand heft, new concepts, and well-timed calendar placement. The big buyers and platforms are relying on right-sized spends, exclusive theatrical windows first, and short-form initiatives that shape genre titles into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror momentum into 2026

Horror filmmaking has grown into the consistent lever in studio slates, a pillar that can lift when it catches and still hedge the drawdown when it fails to connect. After 2023 signaled to top brass that mid-range scare machines can drive the discourse, the following year maintained heat with buzzy auteur projects and unexpected risers. The tailwind extended into the 2025 frame, where revivals and critical darlings proved there is appetite for a spectrum, from brand follow-ups to original features that scale internationally. The upshot for 2026 is a lineup that is strikingly coherent across the field, with clear date clusters, a mix of familiar brands and new concepts, and a refocused priority on cinema windows that increase tail monetization on premium home window and subscription services.

Schedulers say the genre now slots in as a fill-in ace on the programming map. Horror can kick off on a wide range of weekends, offer a quick sell for marketing and reels, and lead with patrons that come out on Thursday previews and stick through the week two if the offering lands. Post a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 pattern indicates certainty in that model. The calendar launches with a loaded January block, then uses spring and early summer for balance, while keeping space for a fall corridor that extends to All Hallows period and past Halloween. The arrangement also illustrates the ongoing integration of specialized labels and SVOD players that can stage a platform run, spark evangelism, and expand at the right moment.

A second macro trend is brand strategy across brand ecosystems and storied titles. Major shops are not just turning out another return. They are looking to package connection with a headline quality, whether that is a art treatment that signals a reframed mood or a casting pivot that binds a next film to a heyday. At the very same time, the auteurs behind the most buzzed-about originals are championing tactile craft, physical gags and concrete locations. That combination yields 2026 a lively combination of known notes and unexpected turns, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount opens strong with two big-ticket pushes 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 lead, signaling it as both a handoff and a heritage-centered character-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative stance points to a nostalgia-forward angle without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected leaning on brand visuals, character-first teases, and a trailer cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

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 joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will emphasize. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will pursue wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format allowing quick pivots to whatever dominates horror talk that spring.

Universal has three differentiated pushes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is straightforward, loss-driven, and high-concept: a grieving man installs an AI companion that shifts into a lethal partner. The date puts it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to bring back odd public stunts and brief clips that mixes intimacy and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title reveal to become an fan moment closer to the first trailer. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. The filmmaker’s films are branded as director events, with a opaque teaser and a second beat that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween runway opens a lane to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has consistently shown that a flesh-and-blood, makeup-driven strategy can feel premium on a efficient spend. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror blast that maximizes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio places two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, continuing a bankable supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is marketing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both longtime followers and general audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build artifacts around narrative world, and practical creature work, elements that can drive premium booking interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by careful craft and historical speech, this time steeped in lycan lore. Focus Features has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is positive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on stable tracks. The Universal horror run flow to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a stair-step that amplifies both FOMO and trial spikes in the later phase. Prime Video interleaves licensed titles with global acquisitions and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data backs it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in deep cuts, using prominent placements, genre hubs, and editorial rows to prolong the run on overall cume. Netflix keeps options open about internal projects and festival additions, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and staging as events debuts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a paired of targeted theatrical exposure and speedy platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre 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 proven amenable to take on select projects with prestige directors or star-driven packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 track 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 pitch is tight: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, elevated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the autumn weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday frame to go wider. That positioning has shown results for elevated genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception drives. Expect 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 hand in hand, using mini theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their user base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By volume, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate marquee value. The caveat, as ever, is brand wear. The pragmatic answer is to market each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is spotlighting relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French sensibility from a new voice. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the packaging is recognizable enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years help explain the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive window model that observed windows did not foreclose a dual release from delivering when the brand was trusted. In 2024, auteur craft horror punched above its weight in premium screens. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel novel 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 linked-chapter plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, creates space for marketing to bridge entries through character and theme and to maintain a flow of assets without hiatuses.

Creative tendencies and craft

The craft rooms behind the year’s horror forecast a continued preference for material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that highlights atmosphere and fear rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in craft journalism and craft features before rolling out a teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and produces shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-referential reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature design and production design, which favor convention floor stunts and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel essential. Look for trailers that emphasize disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that explode in larger rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is packed. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years weblink Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid big-brand pushes. The month winds down 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 real, but the menu of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth endures.

Q1 into Q2 set up the summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now can handle 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 divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late summer into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a late-September window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited previews that prioritize concept over plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and holiday card usage.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s digital partner escalates into something murderously loving. 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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively 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 confront a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss fight to survive on a remote island as the power balance 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to fear, founded on Cronin’s practical effects and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. 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 pipes the unease through a minor’s uneven internal vantage. Rating: TBD. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-built and star-fronted haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that lampoons current genre trends and true-crime manias. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 international twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further widens again, with a fresh family anchored to ancient dread. Rating: TBA. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward true survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: TBA. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: forthcoming. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and bone-deep menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. 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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why this year, why now

Three operational forces frame this lineup. First, production that slowed or rearranged in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, metered scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Calendar math also matters. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will compete across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 stealth-hit search 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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June 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 chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, audio design, and cinematography 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

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand gravity where needed, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the frights sell the seats.