Primordial Dread emerges: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding chiller, launching October 2025 on major streaming services

One chilling ghostly horror tale from creator / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an long-buried nightmare when guests become conduits in a dark game. Streaming on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking depiction of struggle and timeless dread that will remodel genre cinema this Halloween season. Visualized by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and claustrophobic feature follows five teens who arise stuck in a unreachable shelter under the ominous manipulation of Kyra, a haunted figure possessed by a prehistoric scriptural evil. Be warned to be gripped by a audio-visual adventure that blends instinctive fear with timeless legends, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a legendary narrative in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is radically shifted when the forces no longer originate outside their bodies, but rather inside them. This illustrates the grimmest part of the group. The result is a psychologically brutal mental war where the narrative becomes a intense tug-of-war between virtue and vice.


In a bleak wild, five young people find themselves stuck under the unholy sway and control of a secretive female figure. As the team becomes vulnerable to oppose her grasp, marooned and tormented by forces unnamable, they are pushed to confront their darkest emotions while the countdown without pause moves toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust rises and connections crack, pressuring each cast member to doubt their values and the foundation of conscious will itself. The consequences grow with every minute, delivering a scare-fueled ride that combines unearthly horror with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to explore ancestral fear, an curse that predates humanity, embedding itself in human fragility, and questioning a force that tests the soul when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra was centered on something darker than pain. She is unaware until the invasion happens, and that metamorphosis is eerie because it is so raw.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for worldwide release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving households around the globe can survive this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its first trailer, which has earned over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, extending the thrill to scare fans abroad.


Tune in for this visceral voyage through terror. Face *Young & Cursed* this launch day to survive these ghostly lessons about our species.


For sneak peeks, filmmaker commentary, and social posts via the production team, follow @YACMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit the official website.





U.S. horror’s major pivot: the 2025 season domestic schedule integrates biblical-possession ideas, signature indie scares, together with tentpole growls

Across endurance-driven terror steeped in ancient scripture to franchise returns set beside sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 appears poised to be the most dimensioned together with carefully orchestrated year in ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio majors set cornerstones with familiar IP, concurrently digital services load up the fall with first-wave breakthroughs alongside archetypal fear. On the independent axis, indie storytellers is drafting behind the tailwinds of a banner 2024 fest year. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the other windows are mapped with care. The fall stretch is the proving field, and in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are targeted, and 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: High-craft horror returns

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s slate lights the fuse with a marquee bet: a contemporary Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a crisp modern milieu. From director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. dated for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Helmed by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

At summer’s close, Warner’s schedule releases the last chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. While the template is known, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re teams, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: vintage toned fear, trauma as theme, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. Here the stakes rise, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The new chapter enriches the lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, speaking to teens and older millennials. It lands in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streamer Exclusives: Modest spend, serious shock

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a room scale body horror descent led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy 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. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is canny scheduling. No overinflated mythology. No continuity burden. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

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

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

What to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror ascends again
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Laurels convert to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. 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.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The next spook Year Ahead: installments, universe starters, together with A jammed Calendar calibrated for chills

Dek: The new terror calendar builds in short order with a January wave, from there stretches through the summer months, and well into the holiday stretch, blending franchise firepower, fresh ideas, and well-timed offsets. Studios and streamers are focusing on smart costs, theater-first strategies, and social-driven marketing that pivot the slate’s entries into all-audience topics.

The genre’s posture for 2026

This space has established itself as the predictable lever in release strategies, a lane that can surge when it performs and still cushion the liability when it underperforms. After 2023 reassured buyers that mid-range fright engines can command the zeitgeist, the following year held pace with festival-darling auteurs and quiet over-performers. The run translated to the 2025 frame, where re-entries and filmmaker-prestige bets highlighted there is a market for a spectrum, from legacy continuations to director-led originals that perform internationally. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a lineup that feels more orchestrated than usual across companies, with mapped-out bands, a blend of brand names and original hooks, and a refocused priority on release windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium digital and subscription services.

Marketers add the horror lane now operates like a flex slot on the rollout map. Horror can debut on open real estate, furnish a tight logline for spots and short-form placements, and over-index with ticket buyers that come out on advance nights and keep coming through the next pass if the picture pays off. Following a production delay era, the 2026 rhythm reflects trust in that dynamic. The year launches with a heavy January block, then targets spring into early summer for counterweight, while clearing room for a fall corridor that extends to the fright window and beyond. The schedule also includes the greater integration of specialty distributors and platforms that can platform and widen, spark evangelism, and go nationwide at the inflection point.

An added macro current is series management across linked properties and legacy franchises. Studio teams are not just mounting another entry. They are seeking to position brand continuity with a specialness, whether that is a logo package that flags a refreshed voice horror or a casting pivot that ties a incoming chapter to a original cycle. At the meanwhile, the directors behind the most anticipated originals are prioritizing on-set craft, physical gags and vivid settings. That combination yields 2026 a solid mix of brand comfort and invention, which is what works overseas.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount leads early with two marquee bets that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the focus, marketing it as both a legacy handover and a heritage-centered character-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the creative stance points to a throwback-friendly approach without looping the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Expect a marketing push driven by classic imagery, intro reveals, and a tease cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will lean on. As a summer contrast play, this one will go after wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format allowing quick updates to whatever defines the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three unique releases. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tight, soulful, and big-hook: a grieving man brings home an digital partner that grows into a lethal partner. The date lines it up at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s campaign likely to recreate viral uncanny stunts and short reels that mixes intimacy and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a official title to become an event moment closer to the debut look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s pictures are sold as signature events, with a hinting teaser and a later creative that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date gives Universal room to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has established that a gritty, makeup-driven method can feel premium on a lean spend. Look for a gore-forward summer horror charge that spotlights international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio deploys two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, holding a dependable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is selling as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both longtime followers and general audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build promo materials around canon, and practical creature work, elements that can amplify format premiums and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by obsessive craft and textual fidelity, this time exploring werewolf lore. The label has already locked the day for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is strong.

Where the platforms fit in

Windowing plans in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s genre slate move to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a ordering that expands both FOMO and subscriber lifts in the downstream. Prime Video continues to mix licensed content with international acquisitions and select theatrical runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library engagement, using featured rows, seasonal hubs, and editorial rows to extend momentum on overall cume. Netflix stays nimble about in-house releases and festival acquisitions, securing horror entries tight to release and elevating as drops drops with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a hybrid of selective theatrical runs and short jumps to platform that translates talk to trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a discrete basis. The platform has indicated interest to buy select projects with award winners or A-list packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for platform stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

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 appeal is uncomplicated: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, recalibrated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the back half.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then working the Christmas window 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 likely scenario is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception prompts. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using mini theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their membership.

Legacy titles versus originals

By number, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit name recognition. The challenge, as ever, is diminishing returns. The pragmatic answer is to sell each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is leading with character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a European tilt from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the team and cast is anchored enough to spark pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Recent-year comps announce the model. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that maintained windows did not block a same-day experiment from performing when the brand was trusted. In 2024, art-forward horror punched above its weight in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they shift POV and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, allows marketing to tie installments through character web and themes and to continue assets in field without dead zones.

How the films are being made

The shop talk behind the upcoming entries indicate a continued preference for tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that centers mood and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in trade spotlights and department features before rolling out a tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and sparks shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta pivot that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature execution and sets, which align with booth activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that elevate pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that sing on PLF.

The schedule at a glance

January is loaded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid heftier brand moves. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the palette of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth endures.

Pre-summer months set up the summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with fan warmth. 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 sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Back half into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited asset reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card burn.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s digital partner escalates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises 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 returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a shimmering 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 demanding boss push to survive on a remote island as the power dynamic upends and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to fright, driven by Cronin’s physical craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting scenario that channels the fear through a preteen’s uneven inner lens. Rating: TBD. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A parody reboot that teases current genre trends and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBD. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites erupts, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further widens again, with a fresh family tethered to ancient dread. Rating: forthcoming. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A new start designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on true survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in progress. 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 language and elemental dread. Rating: TBD. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three pragmatic forces structure this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or reshuffled in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming releases. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work turnkey scare beats from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Calendar math also matters. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can control a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will share space across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

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

The dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where lean-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, aural design, and camera work 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 Is Well Positioned

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand equity where it matters, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shocks sell the seats.