Ancient Evil Ascends in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling feature, streaming Oct 2025 on major platforms

One chilling spiritual fright fest from cinematographer / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an long-buried dread when unrelated individuals become puppets in a malevolent conflict. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving depiction of survival and forgotten curse that will remodel horror this autumn. Directed by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and immersive motion picture follows five teens who snap to stranded in a secluded hideaway under the aggressive manipulation of Kyra, a possessed female inhabited by a time-worn biblical force. Ready yourself to be shaken by a narrative display that unites primitive horror with ancestral stories, hitting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a time-honored theme in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is reimagined when the forces no longer appear from elsewhere, but rather from their psyche. This echoes the most hidden element of the players. The result is a bone-chilling inner struggle where the emotions becomes a constant fight between right and wrong.


In a haunting wild, five figures find themselves isolated under the possessive grip and grasp of a elusive female presence. As the protagonists becomes unresisting to resist her command, detached and tormented by creatures ungraspable, they are cornered to encounter their inner demons while the time ruthlessly counts down toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion deepens and teams dissolve, pressuring each soul to reconsider their values and the idea of volition itself. The threat amplify with every minute, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that weaves together supernatural terror with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to awaken primitive panic, an evil rooted in antiquity, emerging via soul-level flaws, and examining a will that threatens selfhood when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra required summoning something beneath mortal despair. She is in denial until the control shifts, and that change is gut-wrenching because it is so deep.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for audiences beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring viewers across the world can watch this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its first preview, which has been viewed over 100K plays.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, bringing the film to horror fans worldwide.


Mark your calendar for this cinematic descent into hell. Watch *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to acknowledge these dark realities about human nature.


For featurettes, on-set glimpses, and press updates from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACMovie across social media and visit the movie portal.





Modern horror’s pivotal crossroads: the 2025 cycle U.S. calendar braids together archetypal-possession themes, festival-born jolts, plus tentpole growls

Beginning with last-stand terror steeped in near-Eastern lore and including installment follow-ups in concert with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 looks like the most variegated plus strategic year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. the big studios plant stakes across the year through proven series, in tandem digital services stack the fall with new perspectives paired with old-world menace. On the independent axis, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is drafting behind the carry from a record 2024 festival run. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, though in this cycle, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are methodical, therefore 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal Pictures kicks off the frame with a headline swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a modern-day environment. From director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. arriving mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Directed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer eases, the Warner Bros. banner drops the final chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Though the outline is tried, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re engages, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: period tinged dread, trauma as text, along with eerie supernatural rules. This time, the stakes are raised, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, builds out the animatronic fear crew, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It arrives in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Platform Plays: Economy, maximum dread

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a tight space body horror vignette starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale led by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

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, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No swollen lore. No IP hangover. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

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

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Brands: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. 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.

Dials to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror retakes ground
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

What’s Next: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The upcoming fright release year: continuations, filmmaker-first projects, together with A packed Calendar optimized for jolts

Dek: The fresh scare cycle stacks right away with a January bottleneck, from there rolls through June and July, and continuing into the late-year period, weaving legacy muscle, new concepts, and tactical calendar placement. Studios with streamers are doubling down on mid-range economics, box-office-first windows, and influencer-ready assets that convert these pictures into culture-wide discussion.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror sector has emerged as the surest release in studio slates, a space that can spike when it catches and still cushion the floor when it under-delivers. After 2023 showed executives that low-to-mid budget genre plays can own the discourse, 2024 extended the rally with filmmaker-forward plays and slow-burn breakouts. The trend extended into 2025, where reawakened brands and critical darlings demonstrated there is a market for multiple flavors, from legacy continuations to director-led originals that carry overseas. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a lineup that presents tight coordination across the field, with mapped-out bands, a blend of known properties and first-time concepts, and a tightened emphasis on cinema windows that power the aftermarket on premium home window and subscription services.

Studio leaders note the category now acts as a utility player on the release plan. The genre can launch on numerous frames, furnish a simple premise for teasers and short-form placements, and overperform with crowds that show up on preview nights and continue through the subsequent weekend if the title works. Following a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 layout indicates comfort in that equation. The calendar kicks off with a front-loaded January block, then leans on spring and early summer for alternate plays, while making space for a fall run that extends to the Halloween corridor and into early November. The program also illustrates the tightening integration of indie distributors and streamers that can platform and widen, create conversation, and go nationwide at the sweet spot.

Another broad trend is franchise tending across linked properties and classic IP. The players are not just pushing another chapter. They are seeking to position story carry-over with a must-see charge, whether that is a logo package that signals a new vibe or a star attachment that bridges a fresh chapter to a vintage era. At the concurrently, the creative teams behind the top original plays are embracing in-camera technique, makeup and prosthetics and specific settings. That fusion hands 2026 a smart balance of recognition and novelty, which is how the films export.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount opens strong with two high-profile pushes that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the front, framing it as both a legacy handover and a foundation-forward character-first story. Production is active in Atlanta, and the directional approach suggests a memory-charged mode without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive built on classic imagery, character-first teases, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm aimed at late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will feature. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will build mass reach through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format fitting quick turns to whatever drives horror talk that spring.

Universal has three defined entries. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is crisp, loss-driven, and easily pitched: a grieving man implements an have a peek here AI companion that turns into a murderous partner. The date puts it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to bring back uncanny live moments and snackable content that interlaces devotion and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a proper title to become an earned moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s releases are marketed as creative events, with a teaser that holds back and a later trailer push that shape mood without giving away the concept. The spooky-season slot creates space for Universal to fill 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has consistently shown that a raw, physical-effects centered aesthetic can feel elevated on a disciplined budget. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror shock that pushes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio rolls out two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, maintaining a evergreen supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is framing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both players and novices. The fall slot lets Sony to build artifacts around lore, and practical creature work, elements that can accelerate premium screens and fandom activation.

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 advances Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in immersive craft and archaic language, this time circling werewolf lore. The specialty arm has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is strong.

Where the platforms fit in

Windowing plans in 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s genre slate window into copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a sequence that maximizes both launch urgency and platform bumps in the after-window. Prime Video stitches together licensed content with global acquisitions and limited cinema engagements when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library curation, using editorial spots, Halloween hubs, and featured rows to maximize the tail on overall cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about first-party entries and festival pickups, securing horror entries with shorter lead times and positioning as event drops launches with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a dual-phase of tailored theatrical exposure and swift platform pivots that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has proven amenable to secure select projects with accomplished filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation heats up.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 slate with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is uncomplicated: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, elevated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a standard theatrical run for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the late stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then using the holiday corridor to broaden. That positioning has paid off for filmmaker-first horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception supports. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using boutique theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their membership.

Series vs standalone

By number, the 2026 slate favors the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate franchise value. The trade-off, as ever, is viewer burnout. The standing approach is to market each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is centering character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-flavored turn from a buzzed-about director. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the packaging is assuring enough to build pre-sales and early previews.

Comparable trends from recent years clarify the approach. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that respected streaming windows did not deter a parallel release from performing when the brand was sticky. In 2024, art-forward horror outperformed in PLF. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they rotate perspective and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to connect the chapters through cast and motif and to maintain a flow of assets without extended gaps.

Craft and creative trends

The director conversations behind the 2026 entries point to a continued turn toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that leans on aura and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in long-lead press and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and drives shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a self-referential reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature execution and sets, which match well with booth activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel must-have. Look for trailers that highlight razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that work in PLF.

Annual flow

January is full. 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 somber counterpoint amid big-brand pushes. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the menu of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth persists.

Early-year through spring load in summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps 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 jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights 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 Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-October slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited advance reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and holiday gift-card burn.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s intelligent companion turns into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

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 be swallowed by a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 severe boss work to survive on a lonely island as the power dynamic tilts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to horror, built on Cronin’s tactile craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting story that pipes the unease through a young child’s shifting POV. Rating: TBA. 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 involved creatively again. Logline: {A comic send-up that pokes at modern genre fads and true-crime obsessions. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new household tethered to lingering terrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-core horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: undetermined. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: TBD. Production: moving forward. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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 primordial menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three workable forces structure this lineup. First, production that eased or re-sequenced in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming placements. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest bite-size scare clips from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will share space across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, 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 his comment is here 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where midrange-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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, 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 sequence upward, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, sound field, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is franchise muscle where it helps, fresh vision where it counts, 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-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the gasps sell the seats.