Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens primeval malevolence, a hair raising feature, launching October 2025 across major platforms

One unnerving supernatural fear-driven tale from storyteller / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an age-old dread when strangers become proxies in a devilish struggle. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping narrative of living through and old world terror that will reconstruct the fear genre this ghoul season. Helmed by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and atmospheric film follows five lost souls who wake up imprisoned in a hidden dwelling under the malevolent power of Kyra, a possessed female inhabited by a millennia-old sacred-era entity. Get ready to be enthralled by a filmic ride that unites soul-chilling terror with ancestral stories, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demonic control has been a long-standing foundation in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is twisted when the monsters no longer come externally, but rather deep within. This depicts the malevolent element of each of them. The result is a emotionally raw inner struggle where the narrative becomes a perpetual tug-of-war between moral forces.


In a desolate backcountry, five teens find themselves sealed under the ghastly aura and control of a uncanny figure. As the cast becomes unresisting to evade her rule, stranded and targeted by beings inconceivable, they are obligated to encounter their worst nightmares while the clock harrowingly strikes toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear rises and alliances implode, requiring each individual to scrutinize their character and the principle of liberty itself. The threat amplify with every beat, delivering a fear-soaked story that weaves together ghostly evil with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to extract primitive panic, an spirit from prehistory, embedding itself in our fears, and testing a will that erodes the self when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra was about accessing something far beyond human desperation. She is unaware until the takeover begins, and that shift is bone-chilling because it is so visceral.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—allowing audiences from coast to coast can engage with this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its release of trailer #1, which has attracted over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, presenting the nightmare to a worldwide audience.


Mark your calendar for this unforgettable journey into fear. Join *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to witness these haunting secrets about the psyche.


For behind-the-scenes access, behind-the-scenes content, and announcements from the cast and crew, follow @YACMovie across your favorite networks and visit our film’s homepage.





U.S. horror’s watershed moment: the year 2025 American release plan braids together archetypal-possession themes, signature indie scares, plus brand-name tremors

Across survivor-centric dread grounded in primordial scripture and onward to franchise returns alongside acutely observed indies, 2025 looks like horror’s most layered paired with strategic year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. Major studios hold down the year using marquee IP, in tandem streamers stack the fall with debut heat as well as legend-coded dread. On the festival side, indie storytellers is drafting behind the momentum of 2024’s record festival wave. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, and in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are targeted, and 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige terror resurfaces

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal camp begins the calendar with an audacious swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in a clear present-tense world. From director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. set for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Directed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer winds down, Warner’s slate releases the last chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re engages, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: retrograde shiver, trauma as text, plus otherworld rules that chill. This time, the stakes are raised, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It bows in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Firsts: Slim budgets, major punch

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a sealed box body horror arc pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Written and directed 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. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces 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 overweight mythology. No series drag. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Lines: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, led by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

What to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror swings back
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival momentum becomes 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.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

The Road Ahead: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

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 mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The approaching Horror lineup: entries, filmmaker-first projects, And A loaded Calendar geared toward Scares

Dek: The brand-new genre slate crams early with a January glut, before it flows through midyear, and carrying into the festive period, combining brand equity, fresh ideas, and savvy calendar placement. Studio marketers and platforms are committing to mid-range economics, theatrical exclusivity first, and shareable marketing that position genre releases into four-quadrant talking points.

How the genre looks for 2026

The genre has shown itself to be the sturdy option in studio slates, a pillar that can surge when it clicks and still buffer the losses when it misses. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for leaders that mid-range genre plays can dominate cultural conversation, 2024 held pace with high-profile filmmaker pieces and word-of-mouth wins. The tailwind pushed into 2025, where reboots and filmmaker-prestige bets confirmed there is room for diverse approaches, from series extensions to director-led originals that travel well. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a programming that reads highly synchronized across the field, with defined corridors, a harmony of household franchises and new pitches, and a re-energized focus on exhibition windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium on-demand and home streaming.

Executives say the category now performs as a utility player on the distribution slate. The genre can debut on a wide range of weekends, deliver a clear pitch for trailers and UGC-friendly snippets, and punch above weight with crowds that arrive on Thursday previews and hold through the subsequent weekend if the picture lands. After a production delay era, the 2026 rhythm shows conviction in that engine. The year kicks off with a busy January corridor, then uses spring and early summer for contrast, while leaving room for a October build that stretches into the fright window and past Halloween. The schedule also features the increasing integration of specialized imprints and platforms that can develop over weeks, fuel WOM, and grow at the proper time.

A second macro trend is legacy care across brand ecosystems and legacy IP. The players are not just mounting another next film. They are shaping as connection with a premium feel, whether that is a title treatment that signals a tonal shift or a cast configuration that threads a new installment to a foundational era. At the simultaneously, the helmers behind the eagerly awaited originals are embracing practical craft, on-set effects and specific settings. That alloy hands 2026 a smart balance of assurance and shock, which is the formula for international play.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount marks the early tempo with two prominent moves that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the front, marketing it as both a handoff and a heritage-centered character-focused installment. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance hints at a throwback-friendly bent without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive stacked with recognizable motifs, initial cast looks, and a tease cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will foreground. As a summer contrast play, this one will hunt wide buzz through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format allowing quick reframes to whatever dominates trend lines that spring.

Universal has three separate entries. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is efficient, sorrow-tinged, and premise-first: a grieving man sets up an machine companion that turns into a harmful mate. The date sets it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s marketing likely to bring back creepy live activations and quick hits that interweaves attachment and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a final title to become an marketing beat closer to the first trailer. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s pictures are presented as must-see filmmaker statements, with a opaque teaser and a second beat that define feel without revealing the concept. The late-month date opens a lane to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has established that a gnarly, in-camera leaning approach can feel cinematic on a middle budget. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror charge that emphasizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio mounts two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, preserving a steady supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where this contact form the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is positioning as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both loyalists and novices. The fall slot provides the studio time to build artifacts around narrative world, and practical creature work, elements that can drive IMAX and PLF uptake and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by immersive craft and textual fidelity, this time orbiting lycan myth. The specialty arm has already locked the day for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is robust.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform plans for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal titles transition to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a ordering that maximizes both debut momentum and subscriber lifts in the back half. Prime Video stitches together third-party pickups with global originals and targeted theatrical runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library curation, using seasonal hubs, fright rows, and collection rows to stretch the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix stays opportunistic about in-house releases and festival acquisitions, finalizing horror entries near launch and elevating as drops launches with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a tiered of targeted cinema placements and swift platform pivots that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a selective basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to buy select projects with top-tier auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation heats up.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is structuring 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 proposition is no-nonsense: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, modernized 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. Cineverse has suggested a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then leveraging the Christmas window to broaden. That positioning has proved effective for filmmaker-first horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception encourages. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using small theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their audience.

Franchises versus originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on legacy awareness. The challenge, as ever, is brand wear. The preferred tactic is to position each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is spotlighting character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-tinted vision from a emerging director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects add air. 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, puts Rachel McAdams into a island survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the cast-creatives package is known enough to build pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Past-three-year patterns clarify the model. In 2023, a exclusive window model that kept streaming intact did not deter a hybrid test from hitting when the brand was compelling. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror rose in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they reframe POV and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues 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 produced back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to interlace chapters through character arcs and themes and to keep assets in-market without long gaps.

Creative tendencies and craft

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the upcoming entries hint at a continued shift toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that foregrounds texture and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and medieval diction, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and gathers shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta pivot that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster realization and design, which align with booth activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel must-have. Look for trailers that foreground fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that explode in larger rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is packed. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid big-brand pushes. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the tone spread makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Early-year through spring load in summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late-season stretch leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a bridge slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a peekaboo tease plan and limited previews that prioritize concept over plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card redemption.

Title snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s digital partner mutates into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

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 face a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. 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 tough boss try to survive on a remote island as the power balance tilts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to menace, based on Cronin’s material craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting setup that leverages the horror of a child’s unreliable perceptions. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-financed and toplined eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that targets contemporary horror memes and true crime fixations. Rating: to be announced. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 detonates, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a fresh family tethered to older hauntings. Rating: forthcoming. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for pure survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: TBA. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: awaiting classification. 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 time-true diction and elemental fear. Rating: undetermined. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the moment is 2026

Three hands-on forces shape this lineup. First, production that slowed or reshuffled in 2024 click to read more needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more measured 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 releases. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, select scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Calendar math also matters. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, freeing space for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, 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 sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 work those windows. 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, 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 stack through the year, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The see here 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, soundscape, 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 defined. There is brand equity where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.