Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primeval horror, a nerve shredding chiller, launching October 2025 across major platforms

One hair-raising ghostly suspense story from screenwriter / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an primeval fear when guests become victims in a fiendish conflict. Streaming this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving saga of resistance and forgotten curse that will revolutionize the horror genre this season. Helmed by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and moody suspense flick follows five teens who snap to stuck in a remote hideaway under the oppressive influence of Kyra, a haunted figure dominated by a millennia-old sacrosanct terror. Be prepared to be gripped by a big screen venture that melds intense horror with folklore, unleashing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a legendary trope in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is turned on its head when the fiends no longer form from external sources, but rather inside them. This depicts the grimmest layer of the victims. The result is a emotionally raw mental war where the story becomes a merciless struggle between virtue and vice.


In a abandoned landscape, five friends find themselves contained under the fiendish aura and infestation of a uncanny female figure. As the cast becomes paralyzed to resist her influence, detached and stalked by presences mind-shattering, they are made to endure their worst nightmares while the time ruthlessly ticks toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread deepens and associations collapse, urging each member to reconsider their self and the integrity of volition itself. The danger mount with every beat, delivering a frightening tale that connects occult fear with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to draw upon pure dread, an threat before modern man, embedding itself in emotional vulnerability, and exposing a force that peels away humanity when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra asked for exploring something beneath mortal despair. She is ignorant until the control shifts, and that evolution is deeply unsettling because it is so internal.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for worldwide release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—allowing watchers worldwide can witness this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its release of trailer #1, which has been viewed over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, delivering the story to horror fans worldwide.


Witness this unforgettable descent into hell. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to see these unholy truths about inner darkness.


For director insights, director cuts, and alerts from inside the story, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across your socials and visit the movie’s homepage.





Today’s horror tipping point: 2025 across markets stateside slate fuses primeval-possession lore, Indie Shockers, alongside brand-name tremors

From fight-to-live nightmare stories drawn from near-Eastern lore through to installment follow-ups together with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is shaping up as the richest plus blueprinted year in the past ten years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Major studios bookend the months using marquee IP, in parallel premium streamers prime the fall with fresh voices as well as ancient terrors. On another front, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is propelled by the uplift from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, distinctly in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are exacting, thus 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige fear returns

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s slate lights the fuse with a headline swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a modern-day environment. Led by Leigh Whannell 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. Slated for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Directed by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

Toward summer’s end, the Warner lot bows the concluding entry from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: throwback unease, trauma foregrounded, along with eerie supernatural rules. 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 film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The continuation widens the legend, grows the animatronic horror lineup, bridging teens and legacy players. It hits in December, pinning the winter close.

Platform Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a sealed box body horror arc featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Then there is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to 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.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, 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 menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is an astute call. No overinflated mythology. No series drag. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads 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.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Lines: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives 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, guided 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.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Emerging Currents

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror retakes ground
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Outlook: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. 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. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The forthcoming 2026 genre Year Ahead: next chapters, new stories, paired with A busy Calendar engineered for frights

Dek: The incoming terror calendar loads from the jump with a January bottleneck, before it runs through summer, and running into the holiday frame, braiding series momentum, original angles, and tactical counter-scheduling. Distributors with platforms are prioritizing mid-range economics, cinema-first plans, and influencer-ready assets that position the slate’s entries into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror’s status entering 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the dependable tool in studio lineups, a lane that can spike when it hits and still safeguard the drag when it stumbles. After the 2023 year re-taught leaders that cost-conscious genre plays can galvanize audience talk, 2024 kept energy high with buzzy auteur projects and slow-burn breakouts. The energy rolled into 2025, where legacy revivals and premium-leaning entries demonstrated there is an opening for different modes, from franchise continuations to original features that export nicely. The sum for the 2026 slate is a calendar that is strikingly coherent across the field, with obvious clusters, a pairing of household franchises and first-time concepts, and a revived emphasis on cinema windows that increase tail monetization on premium on-demand and home streaming.

Executives say the space now performs as a fill-in ace on the rollout map. Horror can bow on virtually any date, offer a clean hook for promo reels and UGC-friendly snippets, and outpace with patrons that line up on early shows and keep coming through the subsequent weekend if the release works. Coming out of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 rhythm reflects certainty in that approach. The slate starts with a loaded January window, then exploits spring through early summer for contrast, while keeping space for a autumn stretch that flows toward the Halloween frame and into post-Halloween. The program also illustrates the deeper integration of specialty arms and streaming partners that can launch in limited release, generate chatter, and move wide at the inflection point.

A notable top-line trend is brand strategy across shared universes and heritage properties. The studios are not just making another continuation. They are setting up ongoing narrative with a heightened moment, whether that is a typeface approach that indicates a recalibrated tone or a casting choice that reconnects a upcoming film to a early run. At the parallel to that, the filmmakers behind the most anticipated originals are returning to in-camera technique, makeup and prosthetics and specific settings. That fusion hands 2026 a smart balance of home base and surprise, which is why the genre exports well.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount leads early with two big-ticket projects that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the center, presenting it as both a cross-generational handoff and a rootsy character study. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the authorial approach signals a legacy-leaning angle without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Count on a promo wave leaning on iconic art, character-first teases, and a tease cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

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 reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will spotlight. As a summer contrast play, this one will build mainstream recognition through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format making room for quick switches to whatever drives horror talk that spring.

Universal has three unique strategies. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is elegant, loss-driven, and commercial: a grieving man adopts an digital partner that becomes a murderous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a competition-heavy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to replay eerie street stunts and bite-size content that mixes romance and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a proper title to become an event moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele projects are treated as marquee events, with a mystery-first teaser and a later creative that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween runway allows Universal to command 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 is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has consistently shown that a tactile, on-set effects led strategy can feel prestige on a middle budget. Expect a hard-R summer horror shot that leans hard into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio launches two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, maintaining a reliable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is billing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both players and newcomers. The fall slot allows Sony to build promo materials around setting detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can boost deluxe auditorium demand and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror defined by careful craft and textual fidelity, this time orbiting lycan myth. The company has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Where the platforms fit in

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s slate move to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a ordering that optimizes both initial urgency and trial spikes in the post-theatrical. Prime Video will mix acquired titles with global acquisitions and select theatrical runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library engagement, using featured rows, genre hubs, and staff picks to maximize the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays nimble about own-slate titles and festival wins, dating horror entries with shorter lead times and making event-like rollouts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a hybrid of targeted cinema placements and accelerated platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to navigate here direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a situational basis. The platform has indicated interest to board select projects with award winners or star packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for sustained usage when the genre conversation ramps.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 runway with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is straightforward: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, elevated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has positioned a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the autumn weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then pressing the year-end corridor to go wider. That positioning has proved effective for director-led genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception encourages. Plan 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 hand in hand, using targeted theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their community.

Franchise entries versus originals

By weight, the 2026 slate leans toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness franchise value. The challenge, as ever, is audience fatigue. The practical approach is to sell each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is foregrounding character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-flavored turn from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a survival chiller premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the bundle is comforting enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Past-three-year patterns help explain the strategy. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that maintained windows did not deter a hybrid test from performing when the brand was sticky. In 2024, auteur craft horror popped in premium formats. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel new when they rotate perspective and elevate scope. 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 filmed consecutively, enables marketing to connect the chapters through character arcs and themes and to keep materials circulating without long gaps.

Behind-the-camera trends

The filmmaking conversations behind the 2026 entries forecast a continued lean toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that highlights texture and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in craft journalism and craft spotlights before rolling out a tease that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for red-band excess, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and sparks shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta-horror reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster work and world-building, which lend themselves to expo activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel must-have. Look for trailers that center pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that shine in top rooms.

Month-by-month map

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 quiet contrast amid heftier brand moves. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the tonal variety creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth spreads.

Pre-summer months set up the summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

End of summer through fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a transitional slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a slow-reveal plan and limited teasers that center concept over reveals.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse 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 is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s virtual companion grows into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. 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 difficult boss push to survive on a lonely island as the hierarchy flips and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to horror, built on Cronin’s tactile craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 family-home haunting scenario that plays with the dread of a child’s wobbly perspective. Rating: not yet rated. Production: picture-locked. 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 spoof revival that teases in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime buzz. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 flares, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further reopens, with a unlucky family tethered to long-buried horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A reboot designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on classic survival-horror tone over action-centric bombast. Rating: not yet rated. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: forthcoming. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and primal menace. Rating: TBA. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three nuts-and-bolts forces shape this lineup. First, production that paused or re-sequenced in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming drops. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine meme-ready 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 performs.

Another factor is the scheduling math. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, making room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will coexist across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

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

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

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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 pattern and spread. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value 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 justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, aural design, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Promising 2026

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand equity where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, guard the secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.