Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a hair raising chiller, streaming Oct 2025 across leading streamers

A frightening unearthly suspense film from screenwriter / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an age-old nightmare when passersby become instruments in a malevolent game. Releasing October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing portrayal of resistance and archaic horror that will revolutionize scare flicks this scare season. Visualized by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and gothic motion picture follows five unacquainted souls who are stirred confined in a off-grid cottage under the malignant power of Kyra, a tormented girl controlled by a two-thousand-year-old scriptural evil. Prepare to be captivated by a screen-based outing that combines gut-punch terror with biblical origins, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a historical trope in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is twisted when the entities no longer develop from an outside force, but rather deep within. This mirrors the deepest aspect of each of them. The result is a intense cognitive warzone where the narrative becomes a intense face-off between good and evil.


In a desolate outland, five campers find themselves stuck under the unholy control and possession of a elusive spirit. As the cast becomes submissive to oppose her power, severed and preyed upon by powers inconceivable, they are cornered to stand before their darkest emotions while the time harrowingly pushes forward toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension mounts and ties crack, prompting each protagonist to examine their core and the nature of volition itself. The hazard escalate with every second, delivering a paranormal ride that connects unearthly horror with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to draw upon instinctual horror, an power rooted in antiquity, working through human fragility, and dealing with a power that challenges autonomy when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra needed manifesting something outside normal anguish. She is uninformed until the curse activates, and that transformation is bone-chilling because it is so deep.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for digital release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—making sure horror lovers globally can dive into this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its intro video, which has been viewed over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, making the film to a worldwide audience.


Witness this bone-rattling exploration of dread. Explore *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to uncover these terrifying truths about the mind.


For cast commentary, on-set glimpses, and promotions from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursed across online outlets and visit youngandcursed.com.





Contemporary horror’s inflection point: the 2025 season stateside slate blends archetypal-possession themes, underground frights, in parallel with brand-name tremors

Moving from life-or-death fear infused with primordial scripture all the way to returning series set beside focused festival visions, 2025 stands to become the most variegated combined with calculated campaign year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. top-tier distributors bookend the months with known properties, even as OTT services flood the fall with discovery plays in concert with archetypal fear. On another front, independent banners is riding the afterglow from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Since Halloween is the prized date, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A fat September–October lane is customary now, notably this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are precise, thus 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 set the base, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s slate fires the first shot with a statement play: a refreshed Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in an immediate now. Steered by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. timed for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Guided by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

When summer tapers, Warner’s schedule unveils the final movement from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson returns, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: old school creep, trauma as narrative engine, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time, the stakes are raised, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, thickens the animatronic pantheon, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It lands in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Firsts: Modest spend, serious shock

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a body horror chamber piece featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as 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 bloated canon. No sequel clutter. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Franchise Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

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

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

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, guided by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Dials to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror comes roaring back
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Projection: Fall pileup, winter curveball

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. 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. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The oncoming chiller slate: continuations, new stories, in tandem with A busy Calendar designed for nightmares

Dek The arriving terror year clusters up front with a January glut, and then carries through summer, and continuing into the year-end corridor, blending marquee clout, new concepts, and strategic calendar placement. The big buyers and platforms are prioritizing cost discipline, cinema-first plans, and shareable marketing that elevate these offerings into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror momentum into 2026

Horror has emerged as the consistent play in studio calendars, a space that can accelerate when it breaks through and still buffer the floor when it falls short. After the 2023 year reassured buyers that disciplined-budget scare machines can galvanize mainstream conversation, the following year maintained heat with filmmaker-forward plays and surprise hits. The momentum fed into 2025, where reawakened brands and elevated films signaled there is space for many shades, from franchise continuations to non-IP projects that scale internationally. The result for 2026 is a schedule that shows rare alignment across studios, with mapped-out bands, a equilibrium of brand names and new concepts, and a reinvigorated stance on theatrical windows that fuel later windows on premium rental and home platforms.

Buyers contend the genre now slots in as a schedule utility on the release plan. Horror can arrive on many corridors, generate a sharp concept for promo reels and social clips, and punch above weight with crowds that show up on preview nights and keep coming through the sophomore frame if the offering delivers. On the heels of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 pattern demonstrates belief in that setup. The year launches with a stacked January run, then primes spring and early summer for balance, while carving room for a autumn stretch that carries into Halloween and into the next week. The arrangement also features the continuing integration of boutique distributors and home platforms that can launch in limited release, generate chatter, and go nationwide at the sweet spot.

Another broad trend is franchise tending across linked properties and established properties. The companies are not just rolling another next film. They are moving to present brand continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a graphic identity that signals a recalibrated tone or a casting choice that binds a new installment to a vintage era. At the in tandem, the creative leads behind the marquee originals are favoring practical craft, on-set effects and location-forward worlds. That convergence hands 2026 a solid mix of brand comfort and surprise, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount sets the tone early with two headline releases that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the center, framing it as both a relay and a back-to-basics character-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach hints at a heritage-honoring strategy without looping the last two entries’ sibling arc. Watch for a push anchored in recognizable motifs, character previews, and a two-beat trailer plan imp source aimed at late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will emphasize. As a counterweight in summer, this one will go after general-audience talk through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format enabling quick switches to whatever dominates horror talk that spring.

Universal has three clear pushes. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is tight, somber, and premise-first: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that escalates into a harmful mate. The date lines it up at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s marketing likely to iterate on creepy live activations and micro spots that interlaces affection and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a public title to become an event moment closer to the initial tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. The filmmaker’s films are treated as auteur events, with a minimalist tease and a second beat that define feel without revealing the concept. The prime October weekend offers Universal room to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has long shown that a raw, practical-first mix can feel deluxe on a controlled budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror rush that embraces global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio books two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, keeping a proven supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is calling a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both core fans and new audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build materials around mythos, and monster aesthetics, elements that can accelerate PLF interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on meticulous craft and period speech, this time focused on werewolf legend. The specialty arm has already set the date for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is warm.

Where the platforms fit in

Windowing plans in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s horror titles head to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a pacing that maximizes both debut momentum and sign-up momentum in the late-window. Prime Video continues to mix third-party pickups with cross-border buys and short theatrical plays when the data backs it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in catalog engagement, using editorial spots, holiday hubs, and collection rows to keep attention on 2026 genre cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about originals and festival wins, locking in horror entries with shorter lead times and eventizing releases with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a one-two of tailored theatrical exposure and swift platform pivots that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a curated basis. The platform has signaled readiness to take on select projects with established auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation surges.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 runway with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is uncomplicated: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, elevated for modern sound and image. 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 telegraphed a cinema-first plan for the title, an promising marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the September weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, shepherding the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then using the December frame to open out. That positioning has served the company well for filmmaker-first horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception allows. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using limited theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subs.

Known brands versus new stories

By number, the 2026 slate bends toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness fan equity. The caveat, as ever, is brand wear. The near-term solution is to sell each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is bringing forward relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-inflected take from a fresh helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the package is known enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Rolling three-year comps make sense of the method. In 2023, a exclusive window model that preserved streaming windows did not hamper a day-and-date experiment from delivering when the brand was big. In 2024, precision craft horror popped in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they reframe POV and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds 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 in tandem, provides the means for marketing to connect the chapters through character spine and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without doldrums.

Craft and creative trends

The shop talk behind these films suggest a continued move toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that spotlights mood and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in long-lead features and technical spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that leans on mood over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and sparks shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta inflection that centers an original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature and environment design, which work nicely for convention floor stunts and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel essential. Look for trailers that underscore hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that land in premium houses.

Release calendar overview

January is crowded. Universal’s 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 marquee brands. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the menu of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

February through May set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The 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 comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late summer into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a early fall window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited information drops that favor idea over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can play the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and holiday card usage.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s digital partner evolves into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

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 stumble upon a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: fog-and-fear adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss struggle to survive on a far-flung island as the control dynamic tilts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to horror, anchored by Cronin’s in-camera craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting piece that threads the dread through a child’s volatile point of view. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fully shot. 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 back in the creative mix. Logline: {A send-up revival that lampoons in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fixations. Rating: pending. Production: cameras due to roll 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 erupts, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further extends again, with a young family tethered to past horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A reboot designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-first horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBD. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: pending. Production: in progress. 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 antique diction and raw menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 lands now

Three pragmatic forces frame this lineup. First, production that paused or shifted in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, offering breathing room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will coexist across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, 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 sleeper 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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, 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 hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, right-sized allotments, 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 materiality, soundscape, and picture 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

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand gravity where needed, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the screams sell the seats.