Antediluvian Terror rises: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing Oct 2025 on major streaming services

One eerie otherworldly suspense story from author / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an age-old curse when outsiders become instruments in a demonic experiment. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving tale of endurance and old world terror that will remodel genre cinema this autumn. Guided by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and shadowy thriller follows five unacquainted souls who regain consciousness isolated in a far-off structure under the malevolent dominion of Kyra, a tormented girl occupied by a biblical-era scriptural evil. Prepare to be captivated by a filmic outing that melds instinctive fear with arcane tradition, premiering on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a well-established fixture in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is subverted when the presences no longer manifest externally, but rather through their own souls. This echoes the shadowy layer of the victims. The result is a emotionally raw psychological battle where the tension becomes a intense contest between heaven and hell.


In a haunting terrain, five young people find themselves cornered under the possessive influence and spiritual invasion of a elusive person. As the cast becomes helpless to break her influence, disconnected and tormented by forces indescribable, they are thrust to reckon with their raw vulnerabilities while the clock without pause ticks toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear surges and partnerships shatter, requiring each participant to evaluate their core and the idea of volition itself. The hazard mount with every minute, delivering a cinematic nightmare that integrates supernatural terror with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to dive into basic terror, an curse that predates humanity, working through psychological breaks, and navigating a force that strips down our being when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra needed manifesting something outside normal anguish. She is uninformed until the control shifts, and that metamorphosis is deeply unsettling because it is so visceral.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—delivering watchers anywhere can witness this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its original clip, which has racked up over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, taking the terror to thrill-seekers globally.


Make sure to see this gripping ride through nightmares. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to survive these ghostly lessons about the mind.


For featurettes, extra content, and announcements from the cast and crew, follow @YACMovie across platforms and visit our film’s homepage.





Contemporary horror’s inflection point: 2025 across markets domestic schedule interlaces archetypal-possession themes, microbudget gut-punches, stacked beside franchise surges

From fight-to-live nightmare stories saturated with mythic scripture all the way to series comebacks and pointed art-house angles, 2025 is shaping up as the most dimensioned and calculated campaign year in recent memory.

Call it full, but it is also focused. top-tier distributors hold down the year through proven series, in parallel digital services prime the fall with emerging auteurs alongside legend-coded dread. On the festival side, the artisan tier is drafting behind the echoes from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The fall stretch is the proving field, yet in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are calculated, as a result 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Premium genre swings back

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal Pictures begins the calendar with a big gambit: a modernized Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. Steered by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. dated for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Guided by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with 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. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

When summer fades, Warner Bros. sets loose the finale from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. While the template is known, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: vintage toned fear, trauma foregrounded, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The bar is raised this go, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The return delves further into myth, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It hits in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Platform Plays: Modest spend, serious shock

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a two hander body horror spiral featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is virtually assured for fall.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. 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.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a clever angle. No bloated mythology. No brand fatigue. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, guided by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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.

Key Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror ascends again
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Outlook: Fall stack and winter swing card

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The oncoming Horror Year Ahead: returning titles, non-franchise titles, in tandem with A jammed Calendar designed for chills

Dek The new genre calendar stacks up front with a January pile-up, then unfolds through peak season, and far into the holiday stretch, mixing legacy muscle, creative pitches, and strategic counterplay. Distributors with platforms are focusing on cost discipline, theatrical leads, and short-form initiatives that position these pictures into broad-appeal conversations.

How the genre looks for 2026

The field has solidified as the predictable release in release plans, a category that can surge when it breaks through and still insulate the drag when it misses. After the 2023 year re-taught strategy teams that low-to-mid budget entries can drive the zeitgeist, the following year carried the beat with festival-darling auteurs and surprise hits. The upswing carried into 2025, where re-entries and prestige plays demonstrated there is capacity for different modes, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that perform internationally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a programming that appears tightly organized across players, with intentional bunching, a combination of household franchises and first-time concepts, and a tightened stance on exhibition windows that feed downstream value on PVOD and home streaming.

Executives say the category now works like a swing piece on the schedule. Horror can launch on almost any weekend, create a tight logline for trailers and vertical videos, and overperform with demo groups that line up on Thursday nights and stick through the second frame if the title fires. After a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 cadence demonstrates conviction in that approach. The calendar launches with a loaded January lineup, then leans on spring and early summer for balance, while keeping space for a fall run that carries into holiday-adjacent weekends and into the next week. The gridline also spotlights the continuing integration of arthouse labels and subscription services that can grow from platform, build word of mouth, and expand at the timely point.

A further high-level trend is IP cultivation across interlocking continuities and storied titles. Big banners are not just pushing another chapter. They are seeking to position lineage with a premium feel, whether that is a brandmark that broadcasts a refreshed voice or a casting pivot that reconnects a upcoming film to a heyday. At the concurrently, the helmers behind the eagerly awaited originals are favoring physical effects work, makeup and prosthetics and distinct locales. That interplay affords 2026 a confident blend of home base and novelty, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount sets the tone early with two spotlight plays that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the center, marketing it as both a passing of the torch and a origin-leaning character-first story. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the narrative stance hints at a legacy-leaning angle without replaying the last two entries’ family thread. A campaign is expected fueled by legacy iconography, early character teases, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm targeting late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off 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 as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will play up. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will seek wide appeal through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format inviting quick pivots to whatever owns horror talk that spring.

Universal has three defined projects. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is efficient, grief-rooted, and premise-first: a grieving man adopts an virtual partner that evolves into a fatal companion. The date nudges it to the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s campaign likely to reprise eerie street stunts and micro spots that hybridizes affection and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a name unveil to become an event moment closer to the teaser. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele projects are framed as director events, with a teaser that holds back and a later creative that define feel without revealing the concept. The late-October frame offers Universal room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a visceral, hands-on effects method can feel elevated on a lean spend. Look for a gore-forward summer horror shock that leans hard into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio mounts two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, maintaining a consistent supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is billing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both core fans and newcomers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build materials around lore, and monster design, elements that can drive PLF interest and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by rigorous craft and textual fidelity, this time exploring werewolf lore. The specialty arm has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is positive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform tactics for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal titles flow to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a cadence that expands both initial urgency and trial spikes in the later phase. Prime Video combines licensed content with world buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in catalog discovery, using editorial spots, seasonal hubs, and curated strips to prolong the run on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps flexible about originals and festival deals, finalizing horror entries closer to launch and coalescing around launches with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a one-two of targeted theatrical exposure and prompt platform moves that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a selective basis. The platform has been willing to secure select projects with top-tier auteurs or star packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly engagement when the genre conversation builds.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 arc with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is simple: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, upgraded for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the fall weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday slot to open out. That positioning has been successful for arthouse horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception allows. Look 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 together, using precision theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their community.

Brands and originals

By tilt, 2026 leans in favor of the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use brand equity. The caveat, as ever, is staleness. The practical approach is to brand each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is emphasizing character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a European tilt from a ascendant talent. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the deal build is recognizable enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and early previews.

Recent comps illuminate the template. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that kept clean windows did not prevent a dual release from working when the brand was trusted. In 2024, auteur craft horror surged in large-format rooms. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they angle differently 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 paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, permits marketing to interlace chapters through character and theme and to maintain a flow of assets without pause points.

Behind-the-camera trends

The filmmaking conversations behind these films foreshadow a continued tilt toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that centers texture and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in feature stories and department features before rolling out a first look that withholds plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and sparks shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta recalibration that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster realization and design, which align with con floor moments and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel definitive. Look for trailers that elevate precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that explode in larger rooms.

Annual flow

January is jammed. Universal’s 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 moody palate cleanser amid marquee brands. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the tone spread opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth endures.

Q1 into Q2 build the summer base. Scream 7 opens February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s 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 sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can win 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 rolled through premiums.

Shoulder season into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-October slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited asset reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

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 meet a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s machine mate evolves into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: this website TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss push to survive on a desolate island as the chain of command turns and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to menace, grounded in Cronin’s practical craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting premise that twists the dread of a child’s fragile senses. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-supported and celebrity-led ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A parody return that pokes at hot-button genre motifs and true crime fascinations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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: forthcoming. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a young family anchored to returning horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: closely held. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing. 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-specific language and ancient menace. Rating: TBA. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why this year, why now

Three practical forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or reshuffled in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined 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, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage repeatable beats from test screenings, curated scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, making room for genre entries that can control a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will cluster across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

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

The surprise-hit pursuit 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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sound, and imagery 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, Ready To Roar

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is franchise muscle where it helps, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, protect the mystery, and let the chills sell the seats.