Age-old Dread emerges: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding chiller, rolling out October 2025 on major streaming services

This eerie supernatural shockfest from scriptwriter / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an mythic dread when unfamiliar people become proxies in a devilish conflict. Airings begin this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving account of living through and prehistoric entity that will alter the fear genre this autumn. Crafted by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and tone-heavy story follows five people who suddenly rise imprisoned in a hidden dwelling under the malignant manipulation of Kyra, a tormented girl dominated by a time-worn sacrosanct terror. Arm yourself to be seized by a big screen event that combines soul-chilling terror with mystical narratives, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a time-honored foundation in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is redefined when the malevolences no longer form from an outside force, but rather from deep inside. This portrays the deepest facet of the protagonists. The result is a intense identity crisis where the events becomes a soul-crushing clash between right and wrong.


In a bleak landscape, five souls find themselves contained under the dark influence and curse of a secretive character. As the ensemble becomes submissive to fight her curse, abandoned and hunted by terrors mind-shattering, they are confronted to reckon with their soulful dreads while the final hour coldly runs out toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust intensifies and ties collapse, demanding each survivor to challenge their self and the principle of autonomy itself. The hazard climb with every heartbeat, delivering a fear-soaked story that intertwines unearthly horror with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to uncover primitive panic, an spirit older than civilization itself, influencing emotional fractures, and examining a spirit that redefines identity when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra called for internalizing something deeper than fear. She is ignorant until the control shifts, and that evolution is terrifying because it is so close.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for home viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—ensuring watchers no matter where they are can watch this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first preview, which has seen over notable views.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, spreading the horror to fans of fear everywhere.


Tune in for this heart-stopping ride through nightmares. Enter *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to dive into these haunting secrets about the human condition.


For featurettes, set experiences, and social posts from the creators, follow @YACMovie across your favorite networks and visit the official digital haunt.





Contemporary horror’s Turning Point: 2025 in focus U.S. rollouts interlaces legend-infused possession, signature indie scares, set against franchise surges

From endurance-driven terror grounded in near-Eastern lore as well as legacy revivals in concert with acutely observed indies, 2025 is emerging as the most dimensioned together with intentionally scheduled year of the last decade.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Top studios stabilize the year using marquee IP, even as streaming platforms crowd the fall with first-wave breakthroughs paired with legend-coded dread. In the indie lane, the artisan tier is fueled by the backdraft of a peak 2024 circuit. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are surgical, therefore 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: The Return of Prestige Fear

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 accelerates.

Universal sets the tone with a big gambit: a contemporary Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, inside today’s landscape. Led by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. dated for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Guided by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial heat flags it as potent.

Toward summer’s end, the Warner lot launches the swan song from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Even with a familiar chassis, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson returns, and the tone that worked before is intact: retro dread, trauma centered writing, plus otherworld rules that chill. Here the stakes rise, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, courting teens and the thirty something base. It arrives in December, cornering year end horror.

SVOD Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a room scale body horror descent fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No bloated canon. No sequel clutter. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting 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: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, led by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Emerging Currents

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

What’s Next: Fall stack and winter swing card

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The next scare cycle: returning titles, standalone ideas, And A jammed Calendar aimed at goosebumps

Dek The emerging genre cycle builds from the jump with a January pile-up, from there unfolds through the warm months, and running into the holiday frame, weaving franchise firepower, fresh ideas, and shrewd release strategy. Studios and platforms are prioritizing responsible budgets, theater-first strategies, and buzz-forward plans that convert genre releases into all-audience topics.

How the genre looks for 2026

The horror marketplace has become the sturdy option in studio calendars, a space that can accelerate when it hits and still limit the floor when it does not. After 2023 reminded top brass that modestly budgeted chillers can lead social chatter, the following year continued the surge with auteur-driven buzzy films and slow-burn breakouts. The tailwind moved into 2025, where revived properties and awards-minded projects underscored there is a lane for varied styles, from brand follow-ups to non-IP projects that travel well. The upshot for 2026 is a slate that reads highly synchronized across the industry, with intentional bunching, a spread of established brands and original hooks, and a revived attention on release windows that fuel later windows on PVOD and SVOD.

Marketers add the genre now behaves like a swing piece on the rollout map. The genre can roll out on almost any weekend, create a tight logline for trailers and TikTok spots, and lead with viewers that show up on advance nights and keep coming through the week two if the release delivers. Post a production delay era, the 2026 layout shows comfort in that logic. The slate launches with a loaded January corridor, then uses spring and early summer for alternate plays, while holding room for a late-year stretch that runs into the fright window and afterwards. The calendar also shows the continuing integration of arthouse labels and digital platforms that can stage a platform run, grow buzz, and widen at the timely point.

An added macro current is brand curation across connected story worlds and classic IP. The studios are not just producing another next film. They are seeking to position story carry-over with a premium feel, whether that is a graphic identity that indicates a refreshed voice or a casting move that reconnects a upcoming film to a original cycle. At the alongside this, the visionaries behind the headline-grabbing originals are prioritizing tactile craft, real effects and site-specific worlds. That pairing provides 2026 a solid mix of trust and invention, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount sets the tone early with two high-profile releases that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the core, steering it as both a handoff and a origin-leaning character study. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the directional approach announces a legacy-leaning angle without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run built on brand visuals, early character teases, and a trailer cadence aimed at late fall. Distribution is theatrical 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 in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will spotlight. As a summer relief option, this one will drive wide appeal through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format enabling quick turns to whatever defines genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three specific strategies. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is straightforward, sorrow-tinged, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man brings home an synthetic partner that turns into a deadly partner. The date sets it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s campaign likely to bring back viral uncanny stunts and short-form creative that melds love and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a official title to become an PR pop closer to the opening teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. His entries are positioned as creative events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second trailer wave that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The late-month date opens a lane to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has proven that a in-your-face, in-camera leaning mix can feel deluxe on a middle budget. Look for a grime-caked summer horror blast that leans hard into offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio sets two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, continuing a proven supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is calling a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both diehards and novices. The fall slot offers Sony space to build campaign pieces around environmental design, and creature effects, elements that can lift PLF interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror built on rigorous craft and archaic language, this time steeped in lycan lore. The distributor has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is robust.

Digital platform strategies

Platform tactics for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s slate transition to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a sequence that optimizes both initial urgency and viewer acquisition in the later phase. Prime Video continues to mix third-party pickups with worldwide entries and short theatrical plays when the data points to it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in back-catalog play, using in-app campaigns, genre hubs, and collection rows to lengthen the tail on aggregate take. Netflix keeps options open about own-slate titles and festival pickups, locking in horror entries closer to launch and positioning as event drops drops with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a hybrid of selective theatrical runs and accelerated platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a situational basis. The platform has signaled readiness to buy select projects with recognized filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for retention when the genre conversation builds.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 slate with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is no-nonsense: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, refined for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the fall weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday dates to broaden. That positioning has shown results for auteur horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception prompts. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using limited theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subs.

IP versus fresh ideas

By share, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on fan equity. The potential drawback, as ever, is diminishing returns. The practical approach is to market each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is leading with relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French sensibility from a emerging director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and auteur plays keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the deal build is comforting enough to build pre-sales and early previews.

Comps from the last three years help explain the template. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that held distribution windows did not hamper a dual release from winning when the brand was powerful. In 2024, art-forward horror exceeded expectations in premium large format. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they rotate perspective and scale the storytelling. 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot in tandem, enables marketing to interlace chapters through personae and themes and to keep assets alive without lulls.

Craft and creative trends

The shop talk behind the 2026 entries forecast a continued bias toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that emphasizes texture and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in trade spotlights and artisan spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that elevates tone over story, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and drives shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta reframe that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster realization and design, which fit with convention activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel compelling. Look for trailers that foreground pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that play in premium auditoriums.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is heavy. 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 foggy reset amid heavier IP. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the mix of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Post-January through spring build the summer base. Scream 7 lands February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into 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 light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Late summer into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil follows September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a minimalist tease strategy and limited plot reveals that center concept over reveals.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card redemption.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s AI companion escalates into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot 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 finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 fight to survive on a desolate island as the pecking order flips and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to menace, rooted in Cronin’s hands-on craft and quiet 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 home-set haunting premise that toys with the dread of a child’s uncertain POV. Rating: TBA. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A comic send-up that teases today’s horror trends and true crime fascinations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 erupts, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further extends again, with a young family lashed to past horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: TBD. Production: underway. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and ancient menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a big-screen run before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three grounded forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that eased or recalendared in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest clippable moments from test screenings, select scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

A this website fourth factor is programming math. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can command a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will compete across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to work those windows. January could easily deliver the first 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, smart allocations, 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, audio design, and visual design 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 Strong 2026 Horizon

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is name recognition where it counts, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, lock the reveals, and let the chills sell the seats.