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

An frightening spectral nightmare movie from creator / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an mythic fear when guests become conduits in a demonic game. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving account of endurance and archaic horror that will reconstruct genre cinema this spooky time. Created by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and eerie feature follows five lost souls who find themselves sealed in a wooded lodge under the aggressive control of Kyra, a female lead dominated by a timeless sacred-era entity. Get ready to be drawn in by a visual venture that weaves together intense horror with mystical narratives, coming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a well-established fixture in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is subverted when the dark entities no longer arise from beyond, but rather internally. This symbolizes the shadowy shade of every character. The result is a intense cognitive warzone where the events becomes a soul-crushing contest between good and evil.


In a remote backcountry, five friends find themselves stuck under the unholy influence and grasp of a elusive entity. As the youths becomes unresisting to escape her influence, isolated and targeted by entities indescribable, they are thrust to acknowledge their deepest fears while the timeline without pity moves toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia builds and ties dissolve, prompting each person to challenge their existence and the principle of liberty itself. The stakes intensify with every second, delivering a chilling narrative that integrates otherworldly suspense with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to extract deep fear, an entity rooted in antiquity, embedding itself in fragile psyche, and wrestling with a presence that questions who we are when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra called for internalizing something unfamiliar to reason. She is clueless until the control shifts, and that flip is soul-crushing because it is so personal.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be available for audiences beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—delivering customers everywhere can get immersed in this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its release of trailer #1, which has received over notable views.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, spreading the horror to international horror buffs.


Be sure to catch this life-altering descent into darkness. Confront *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to confront these terrifying truths about our species.


For bonus footage, making-of footage, and reveals from the cast and crew, follow @YACFilm across platforms and visit our film’s homepage.





Today’s horror decisive shift: 2025 for genre fans U.S. Slate Mixes ancient-possession motifs, independent shockers, and tentpole growls

Across grit-forward survival fare infused with mythic scripture as well as series comebacks alongside incisive indie visions, 2025 is lining up as the most stratified in tandem with carefully orchestrated year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio majors are anchoring the year through proven series, concurrently premium streamers prime the fall with fresh voices as well as ancient terrors. Across the art-house lane, horror’s indie wing is riding the tailwinds from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are intentional, and 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige terror resurfaces

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

the Universal camp leads off the quarter with a statement play: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, inside today’s landscape. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. landing in mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Directed by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early reactions hint at fangs.

When summer tapers, the Warner lot releases the last chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. 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. Derrickson re engages, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: old school creep, trauma in the foreground, along with eerie supernatural rules. This pass pushes higher, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The next entry deepens the tale, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It opens in December, buttoning the final window.

Platform Plays: Tight funds, wide impact

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a close quarters body horror study anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. 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 an astute call. No heavy handed lore. No franchise baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. 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 bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Long Running Lines: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Emerging Currents

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

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

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Forecast: Fall pileup, winter curveball

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The oncoming chiller calendar year ahead: brand plays, standalone ideas, plus A hectic Calendar calibrated for screams

Dek The emerging scare slate packs immediately with a January cluster, and then stretches through peak season, and well into the winter holidays, fusing name recognition, untold stories, and data-minded alternatives. Studio marketers and platforms are leaning into lean spends, theatrical leads, and social-driven marketing that convert these pictures into four-quadrant talking points.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The horror sector has proven to be the surest swing in studio calendars, a category that can accelerate when it resonates and still safeguard the exposure when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year re-taught studio brass that modestly budgeted shockers can own the zeitgeist, 2024 extended the rally with signature-voice projects and sleeper breakouts. The energy carried into 2025, where reawakened brands and awards-minded projects underscored there is an opening for a variety of tones, from legacy continuations to filmmaker-driven originals that play globally. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a run that looks unusually coordinated across studios, with purposeful groupings, a harmony of legacy names and untested plays, and a reinvigorated eye on theater exclusivity that increase tail monetization on premium home window and OTT platforms.

Schedulers say the genre now slots in as a fill-in ace on the programming map. The genre can kick off on most weekends, offer a sharp concept for creative and short-form placements, and outstrip with crowds that respond on opening previews and keep coming through the follow-up frame if the movie connects. On the heels of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 setup reflects trust in that setup. The year starts with a busy January stretch, then targets spring into early summer for counterprogramming, while making space for a October build that reaches into the Halloween corridor and beyond. The schedule also underscores the stronger partnership of specialty distributors and platforms that can launch in limited release, grow buzz, and widen at the sweet spot.

A notable top-line trend is legacy care across interlocking continuities and established properties. The studios are not just mounting another chapter. They are aiming to frame lore continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title treatment that indicates a new tone or a star attachment that ties a next entry to a classic era. At the in tandem, the writer-directors behind the most buzzed-about originals are championing tactile craft, physical gags and vivid settings. That combination hands the 2026 slate a robust balance of assurance and freshness, which is how the films export.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount sets the tone early with two high-profile titles that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the spine, steering it as both a cross-generational handoff and a origin-leaning character-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative stance conveys a heritage-honoring mode without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Watch for a push built on franchise iconography, first-look character reveals, and a staggered trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

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 back together, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will foreground. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will generate wide appeal through social-friendly gags, 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 digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is elegant, somber, and concept-forward: a grieving man brings home an virtual partner that becomes a deadly partner. The date positions it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the studio’s marketing likely to iterate on creepy live activations and bite-size content that interlaces intimacy and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a branding reveal to become an headline beat closer to the early tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His projects are presented as marquee events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a later trailer push that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-month date creates space for Universal to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has shown that a in-your-face, prosthetic-heavy style can feel high-value on a disciplined budget. Expect a blood-and-grime summer horror surge that leans into international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio launches two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, keeping a steady supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is describing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both loyalists and first-timers. The fall slot gives Sony time to build artifacts around universe detail, and creature design, elements that can increase premium format interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror defined by historical precision and dialect, this time set against lycan legends. Focus’s team has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is positive.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform windowing in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s horror titles move have a peek here to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a structure that amplifies both opening-weekend urgency and trial spikes in the late-window. Prime Video combines licensed films with global acquisitions and limited runs in theaters when the data points to it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library engagement, using seasonal hubs, seasonal hubs, and featured rows to stretch the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix stays opportunistic about in-house releases and festival pickups, slotting horror entries with shorter lead times and elevating as drops premieres with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a tiered of tailored theatrical exposure and prompt platform moves that turns chatter to conversion. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to invest in select projects with recognized filmmakers or star packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for monthly engagement when the genre conversation surges.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 corridor with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is clean: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, elevated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a traditional cinema play for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas window to move out. That positioning has proved effective for auteur horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception allows. Be ready for 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 small theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their subs.

Known brands versus new stories

By volume, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap cultural cachet. The potential drawback, as ever, is overexposure. The near-term solution is to sell each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is foregrounding core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-flavored turn from a emerging director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched 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 Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the cast-creatives package is assuring enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and preview-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the plan. In 2023, a theater-first model that preserved streaming windows did not obstruct a day-date try from paying off when the brand was potent. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror popped in premium large format. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reframe POV and raise the stakes. 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters filmed consecutively, lets marketing to thread films through character web and themes and to keep assets in-market without long breaks.

Creative tendencies and craft

The creative meetings behind this slate telegraph a continued tilt toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that elevates texture and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and medieval diction, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in craft journalism and craft features before rolling out a initial teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at gross-out texture, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta-horror reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature and environment design, which are ideal for convention floor stunts and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel essential. Look for trailers that foreground hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that land in premium houses.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is crowded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid marquee brands. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the mix of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Q1 into Q2 set up the summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Shoulder season into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited asset reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and holiday gift-card burn.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s digital partner escalates into something perilously amorous. 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a mutable 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 severe boss work to survive on a lonely island as the power balance of power shifts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to menace, built on Cronin’s physical craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting tale that interrogates the terror of a child’s mercurial interpretations. Rating: pending. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-supported and name-above-title 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 current genre trends and true-crime buzz. Rating: to be announced. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites spreads, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a fresh family lashed to long-buried horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward classic survival-horror tone over set-piece spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: TBA. Production: underway. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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 language and primordial menace. Rating: pending. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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

Why this year, why now

Three workable forces define this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or shifted in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and tighter schedules. 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 outperformed straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work bite-size scare clips from test screenings, select scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

The slot calculus is real. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can lead a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will compete across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run 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 shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, sonics, and camera work 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, Lined Up To Scare

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is IP strength where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, guard the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.