Mythic Evil Ascends in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled horror feature, streaming Oct 2025 across global platforms

An eerie otherworldly horror tale from scriptwriter / director Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an timeless fear when newcomers become proxies in a supernatural experiment. Hitting screens on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving account of survival and mythic evil that will redefine horror this spooky time. Crafted by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and gothic tale follows five figures who regain consciousness confined in a secluded hideaway under the sinister rule of Kyra, a troubled woman controlled by a biblical-era holy text monster. Anticipate to be hooked by a visual adventure that combines raw fear with folklore, coming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a classic pillar in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is turned on its head when the forces no longer manifest from an outside force, but rather inside them. This illustrates the malevolent corner of all involved. The result is a psychologically brutal psychological battle where the suspense becomes a merciless contest between divinity and wickedness.


In a desolate wilderness, five teens find themselves imprisoned under the sinister dominion and possession of a uncanny spirit. As the ensemble becomes incapable to oppose her will, exiled and tormented by beings mind-shattering, they are cornered to confront their core terrors while the seconds unforgivingly ticks toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension intensifies and ties implode, urging each person to challenge their personhood and the idea of liberty itself. The pressure intensify with every tick, delivering a terror ride that weaves together supernatural terror with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to dig into ancestral fear, an entity born of forgotten ages, manipulating soul-level flaws, and highlighting a curse that erodes the self when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra was about accessing something unfamiliar to reason. She is blind until the entity awakens, and that transformation is haunting because it is so emotional.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—giving fans anywhere can experience this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its original clip, which has seen over strong viewer count.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, spreading the horror to international horror buffs.


Don’t miss this gripping path of possession. Enter *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to witness these nightmarish insights about the mind.


For director insights, behind-the-scenes content, and news straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Facebook and TikTok and visit the official movie site.





Contemporary horror’s tipping point: 2025 domestic schedule blends ancient-possession motifs, art-house nightmares, stacked beside legacy-brand quakes

Spanning grit-forward survival fare suffused with old testament echoes all the way to installment follow-ups alongside cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 looks like the genre’s most multifaceted together with carefully orchestrated year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. studio powerhouses bookend the months with established lines, simultaneously platform operators load up the fall with first-wave breakthroughs as well as archetypal fear. At the same time, the independent cohort is fueled by the afterglow of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A fat September–October lane is customary now, notably this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are calculated, so 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal kicks off the frame with a big gambit: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. Guided by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. arriving mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Under Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Initial heat flags it as potent.

When summer tapers, Warner Bros. Pictures bows the concluding entry from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re engages, and the memorable motifs return: vintage toned fear, trauma as narrative engine, with ghostly inner logic. The stakes escalate here, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, bridging teens and legacy players. It arrives in December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Plays: Low budgets, big teeth

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a room scale body horror descent starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It looks like sharp programming. No overstuffed canon. No sequel clutter. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, guided by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

What to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror reemerges
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Projection: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle 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. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The coming 2026 scare calendar year ahead: follow-ups, non-franchise titles, paired with A jammed Calendar calibrated for nightmares

Dek The emerging scare slate packs immediately with a January cluster, then rolls through summer corridors, and well into the winter holidays, combining brand equity, inventive spins, and calculated counterprogramming. The big buyers and platforms are focusing on cost discipline, exclusive theatrical windows first, and influencer-ready assets that shape these releases into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This space has emerged as the most reliable lever in studio slates, a pillar that can surge when it clicks and still cushion the exposure when it falls short. After the 2023 year reassured top brass that lean-budget shockers can own the zeitgeist, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with visionary-driven titles and word-of-mouth wins. The momentum extended into the 2025 frame, where returns and elevated films signaled there is room for many shades, from series extensions to non-IP projects that scale internationally. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a calendar that is strikingly coherent across distributors, with intentional bunching, a spread of marquee IP and original hooks, and a reinvigorated commitment on release windows that drive downstream revenue on paid VOD and SVOD.

Insiders argue the genre now slots in as a schedule utility on the rollout map. Horror can launch on nearly any frame, yield a sharp concept for marketing and shorts, and outstrip with fans that turn out on first-look nights and sustain through the second frame if the offering lands. On the heels of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 layout underscores assurance in that equation. The year kicks off with a crowded January block, then leans on spring and early summer for audience offsets, while making space for a fall cadence that stretches into holiday-adjacent weekends and afterwards. The grid also features the increasing integration of specialized imprints and platforms that can stage a platform run, create conversation, and go nationwide at the proper time.

An added macro current is brand strategy across connected story worlds and legacy IP. Studios are not just releasing another entry. They are looking to package story carry-over with a premium feel, whether that is a brandmark that indicates a recalibrated tone or a casting choice that ties a incoming chapter to a early run. At the same time, the auteurs behind the top original plays are celebrating material texture, in-camera effects and site-specific worlds. That blend offers the 2026 slate a robust balance of assurance and newness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

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

Paramount plants an early flag with two headline entries that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the heart, presenting it as both a baton pass and a classic-mode character-first story. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative posture hints at a roots-evoking approach without rehashing the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Watch for a push driven by franchise iconography, initial cast looks, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm timed to late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will spotlight. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will chase mass reach through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format fitting quick pivots to whatever leads the social talk that spring.

Universal has three specific lanes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is straightforward, grief-rooted, and logline-clear: a grieving man installs an synthetic partner that shifts into a murderous partner. The date slots it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with the Universal machine likely to recreate viral uncanny stunts and short-form creative that interweaves affection and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a official title to become an headline beat closer to the teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele titles are framed as signature events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a later creative that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor gives the studio room to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has shown that a flesh-and-blood, practical-first treatment can feel cinematic on a efficient spend. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror surge that emphasizes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio launches two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, maintaining a reliable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is billing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both loyalists and casuals. The fall slot offers Sony space to build materials around universe detail, and practical creature work, elements that can accelerate IMAX and PLF uptake and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by obsessive craft and textual fidelity, this time focused on werewolf legend. The specialty arm has already set the date for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is strong.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform plans for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s genre entries shift to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a pacing that optimizes both week-one demand and subscriber lifts in the back half. Prime Video interleaves third-party pickups with world buys and select theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in catalog engagement, using curated hubs, seasonal hubs, and featured rows to keep attention on 2026 genre cume. Netflix retains agility about Netflix films and festival wins, securing horror entries closer to launch and eventizing drops with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a one-two of tailored theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on my review here a curated basis. The platform has signaled readiness to purchase select projects with established auteurs or star packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation builds.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is curating a 2026 pipeline with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is straightforward: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, elevated 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 signaled a standard theatrical run for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late-season weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then deploying the year-end corridor to expand. That positioning has served the company well for elevated genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception drives. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using small theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Series vs standalone

By count, 2026 is weighted toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit marquee value. The potential drawback, as ever, is overexposure. The preferred tactic is to brand each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is emphasizing relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a Francophone tone from a rising filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the deal build is steady enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Recent-year comps outline the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that maintained windows did not deter a day-and-date experiment from delivering when the brand was robust. In 2024, art-forward horror popped in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel new when they shift POV 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, enables marketing to connect the chapters through protagonists and motifs and to keep assets in-market without long breaks.

Technique and craft currents

The craft conversations behind the 2026 entries forecast a continued tilt toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that foregrounds aura and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in feature stories and technical spotlights before rolling out a preview that leans on mood over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and gathers shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta recalibration that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature work and production design, which align with con floor moments and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel essential. Look for trailers that underscore pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that play this content in premium auditoriums.

Release calendar overview

January is busy. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid larger brand plays. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the palette of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth sticks.

Late winter and spring load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late-season stretch leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with 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 signal that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

Embedded title notes

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s machine mate evolves into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

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 run into a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: gothic-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 hard-edged boss battle to survive on a far-flung island as the power dynamic upends and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to horror, rooted in Cronin’s on-set craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting chiller that filters its scares through a kid’s unsteady inner lens. Rating: pending. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A spoof revival that teases hot-button genre motifs and true-crime manias. Rating: pending. Production: production booked 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 bursts, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a another family snared by past horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A restart designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survivalist horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBD. Production: moving forward. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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 time-true diction and raw menace. Rating: TBD. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 and why now

Three operational forces define this lineup. First, production that paused or reshuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and tighter 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, select scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will coexist across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 underdog chase 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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, 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 cadence and diversity. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play 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 bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, audio design, and visuals 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 Robust 2026 On Deck

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand equity where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the gasps sell the seats.