Antediluvian Terror rises: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing October 2025 on top streamers

A terrifying ghostly scare-fest from literary architect / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an long-buried malevolence when unknowns become puppets in a demonic contest. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking depiction of overcoming and archaic horror that will alter genre cinema this harvest season. Crafted by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and moody thriller follows five lost souls who suddenly rise isolated in a wooded shelter under the sinister manipulation of Kyra, a central character controlled by a millennia-old Old Testament spirit. Ready yourself to be shaken by a filmic spectacle that melds soul-chilling terror with ancestral stories, streaming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a enduring concept in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is turned on its head when the demons no longer descend externally, but rather inside them. This marks the grimmest side of the cast. The result is a enthralling inner struggle where the suspense becomes a unyielding confrontation between virtue and vice.


In a isolated wilderness, five young people find themselves cornered under the ghastly force and grasp of a unidentified female presence. As the characters becomes incapacitated to escape her influence, cut off and targeted by beings unnamable, they are thrust to face their darkest emotions while the countdown ruthlessly runs out toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia surges and connections break, compelling each member to doubt their existence and the nature of conscious will itself. The tension mount with every short lapse, delivering a nightmarish journey that combines otherworldly panic with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to extract ancestral fear, an darkness from prehistory, emerging via human fragility, and questioning a presence that forces self-examination when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra asked for exploring something beyond human emotion. She is insensitive until the possession kicks in, and that pivot is terrifying because it is so emotional.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for horror fans beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving fans everywhere can engage with this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first preview, which has collected over notable views.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, extending the thrill to a global viewership.


Be sure to catch this visceral ride through nightmares. Enter *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to witness these unholy truths about existence.


For featurettes, production news, and reveals from the creators, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across social media and visit our spooky domain.





U.S. horror’s Turning Point: 2025 U.S. release slate Mixes Mythic Possession, independent shockers, plus franchise surges

Running from survival horror saturated with old testament echoes and extending to returning series as well as pointed art-house angles, 2025 is tracking to be the genre’s most multifaceted in tandem with intentionally scheduled year in a decade.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Major studios bookend the months with franchise anchors, while digital services front-load the fall with new perspectives and archetypal fear. At the same time, the art-house flank is surfing the uplift from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and now, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are targeted, therefore 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: The Return of Prestige Fear

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 presses the advantage.

the Universal camp leads off the quarter with a marquee bet: a contemporary Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. targeting mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. From director Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

When summer tapers, Warner’s schedule sets loose the finale from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson resumes command, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: period tinged dread, trauma driven plotting, plus otherworld rules that chill. Here the stakes rise, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Finishing the tentpole list 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, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It lands in December, pinning the winter close.

Streaming Originals: Economy, maximum dread

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

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, an intimate body horror unraveling led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn starring 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 narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Authored 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 dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is canny scheduling. No heavy handed lore. No franchise baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

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, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, under Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

What to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror resurges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forecast: Autumn density and winter pivot

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

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The forthcoming 2026 genre lineup: entries, filmmaker-first projects, And A loaded Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek: The brand-new horror season lines up from the jump with a January pile-up, subsequently stretches through the warm months, and deep into the winter holidays, fusing name recognition, novel approaches, and tactical alternatives. Studio marketers and platforms are focusing on lean spends, big-screen-first runs, and buzz-forward plans that turn these films into mainstream chatter.

Horror momentum into 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the bankable tool in studio slates, a pillar that can surge when it catches and still hedge the drawdown when it under-delivers. After 2023 reassured leaders that responsibly budgeted entries can shape the zeitgeist, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with filmmaker-forward plays and word-of-mouth wins. The momentum moved into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and critical darlings highlighted there is capacity for diverse approaches, from franchise continuations to original one-offs that translate worldwide. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a slate that seems notably aligned across the major shops, with planned clusters, a spread of marquee IP and original hooks, and a recommitted emphasis on exclusive windows that drive downstream revenue on premium on-demand and home streaming.

Executives say the space now performs as a schedule utility on the release plan. The genre can debut on a wide range of weekends, supply a simple premise for promo reels and platform-native cuts, and punch above weight with audiences that lean in on advance nights and keep coming through the next pass if the film hits. Emerging from a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 layout demonstrates conviction in that engine. The calendar rolls out with a stacked January band, then turns to spring and early summer for audience offsets, while saving space for a October build that flows toward the Halloween corridor and afterwards. The grid also features the greater integration of specialty arms and home platforms that can grow from platform, ignite recommendations, and grow at the proper time.

An added macro current is legacy care across interlocking continuities and established properties. Major shops are not just making another return. They are looking to package lineage with a sense of event, whether that is a typeface approach that suggests a new vibe or a ensemble decision that reconnects a next entry to a classic era. At the alongside this, the filmmakers behind the eagerly awaited originals are leaning into material texture, special makeup and place-driven backdrops. That alloy produces the 2026 slate a healthy mix of assurance and shock, which is why the genre exports well.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount fires first with two big-ticket bets that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the heart, presenting it as both a relay and a heritage-centered character-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the artistic posture hints at a classic-referencing angle without recycling the last two entries’ family thread. Count on a promo wave fueled by franchise iconography, early character teases, and a tiered teaser plan targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reawakens 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 centerpiece the campaign will play up. As a summer alternative, this one will pursue mainstream recognition through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick redirects to whatever shapes the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three differentiated projects. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is efficient, loss-driven, and big-hook: a grieving man brings home an digital partner that grows into a lethal partner. The date lines it up at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s campaign likely to recreate viral uncanny stunts and short reels that mixes intimacy and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a proper title to become an marketing beat closer to the teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s pictures are framed as creative events, with a concept-forward tease and a second wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The spooky-season slot lets the studio to lead 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, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has long shown that a tactile, in-camera leaning aesthetic can feel cinematic on a lean spend. Position this as a viscera-heavy summer horror blast that centers global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio places two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, carrying a dependable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is billing as a clean-slate approach 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 well-defined brief to serve both players and curious audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign pieces around narrative world, and monster aesthetics, elements that can stoke deluxe auditorium demand and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror built on immersive craft and historical speech, this time driven by werewolf stories. The company has already set the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is favorable.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s horror titles head to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a stair-step that amplifies both week-one demand and sign-up momentum in the Get More Info late-window. Prime Video interleaves licensed titles with international acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in deep cuts, using in-app campaigns, holiday hubs, and programmed rows to increase tail value on the horror cume. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix originals and festival pickups, securing horror entries tight to release and elevating as drops drops with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a hybrid of selective theatrical runs and accelerated platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a discrete basis. The platform has indicated interest to buy select projects with acclaimed directors or A-list packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for monthly activity when the genre conversation ramps.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 track with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is tight: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, reimagined for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a cinema-first plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the autumn weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then working the Christmas window to go wider. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-driven genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception justifies. Keep an eye on 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 together, using small theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By skew, 2026 leans toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use brand equity. The caveat, as ever, is fatigue. The pragmatic answer is to brand each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is emphasizing character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is promising a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a Francophone tone from a ascendant talent. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the assembly is assuring enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and Thursday previews.

Comparable trends from recent years help explain the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that held distribution windows did not obstruct a parallel release from delivering when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror surged in large-format rooms. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they change perspective and increase ambition. 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 linked-chapter plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, gives leeway to marketing to link the films through personae and themes and to continue assets in field without pause points.

Behind-the-camera trends

The director conversations behind these films telegraph a continued preference for real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that emphasizes creep and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for textured sound 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 first look that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and creates shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta refresh that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature design and production design, which are ideal for convention activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel necessary. Look for trailers that center pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that land in big rooms.

How the year maps out

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

Pre-summer months prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges 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 unleashes ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can play 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 moved through premium slots.

End of summer through fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a transitional slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited plot reveals that elevate concept over story.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s AI companion grows into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her demanding boss fight to survive on a remote island as the power dynamic upends and paranoia creeps in. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to horror, rooted in Cronin’s on-set craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting setup that threads the dread through a little one’s uneven subjective view. Rating: TBA. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

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 satirical comeback that riffs on of-the-moment horror beats and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBA. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 spreads, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new household linked to old terrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survivalist horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBD. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: TBA. Production: continuing. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 era-accurate language and elemental fear. Rating: undetermined. 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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three practical forces inform this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shuffled in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage repeatable beats from test screenings, select scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will jostle across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

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

The dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where value-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 quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, disciplined footprints, 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 grain, acoustics, and image-making that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand gravity where needed, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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 late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, guard the secrets, and let the shocks sell the seats.