Antediluvian Terror returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising feature, bowing October 2025 on major streaming services

One bone-chilling metaphysical shockfest from scriptwriter / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an archaic entity when outsiders become puppets in a demonic ordeal. Releasing October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing tale of endurance and timeless dread that will revamp scare flicks this fall. Directed by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and emotionally thick fearfest follows five young adults who wake up stranded in a hidden cottage under the unfriendly power of Kyra, a troubled woman overtaken by a timeless Old Testament spirit. Be warned to be shaken by a motion picture experience that weaves together primitive horror with biblical origins, streaming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a legendary trope in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is reversed when the forces no longer develop outside their bodies, but rather inside them. This embodies the most terrifying part of all involved. The result is a enthralling inner struggle where the emotions becomes a unforgiving face-off between innocence and sin.


In a unforgiving outland, five characters find themselves trapped under the dark dominion and control of a unknown female figure. As the group becomes powerless to combat her rule, exiled and tormented by powers unfathomable, they are compelled to encounter their greatest panics while the seconds unceasingly draws closer toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion swells and partnerships fracture, coercing each protagonist to question their self and the notion of liberty itself. The pressure magnify with every breath, delivering a nightmarish journey that fuses spiritual fright with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to channel raw dread, an spirit rooted in antiquity, embedding itself in emotional vulnerability, and examining a will that threatens selfhood when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra meant channeling something more primal than sorrow. She is unaware until the demon emerges, and that pivot is emotionally raw because it is so close.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be released for digital release beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that fans across the world can enjoy this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its first trailer, which has attracted over a viral response.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, presenting the nightmare to scare fans abroad.


Join this haunted descent into darkness. Watch *Young & Cursed* this launch day to acknowledge these fearful discoveries about our species.


For cast commentary, special features, and promotions directly from production, follow @YACMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit our film’s homepage.





Horror’s tipping point: calendar year 2025 American release plan fuses myth-forward possession, indie terrors, in parallel with IP aftershocks

Kicking off with survivor-centric dread inspired by mythic scripture and including legacy revivals as well as surgical indie voices, 2025 is coalescing into the most complex together with deliberate year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. studio powerhouses bookend the months with franchise anchors, while SVOD players load up the fall with unboxed visions set against primordial unease. In the indie lane, horror’s indie wing is surfing the backdraft of 2024’s record festival wave. Since Halloween is the prized date, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, however this time, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are targeted, accordingly 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: The Return of Prestige Fear

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal Pictures kicks off the frame with a bold swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, instead in a current-day frame. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Slated for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Directed by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

When summer fades, the Warner Bros. banner unveils the final movement within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, 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.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: retro dread, trauma as theme, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This pass pushes higher, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It books December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Offerings: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a sealed box body horror arc including Alison Brie and 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 toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Then there is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: 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 emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, 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 threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

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 a smart play. No overstuffed canon. No canon weight. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

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

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

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Brands: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, with Francis Lawrence directing, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Signals and Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

What’s Next: 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 such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The next scare year to come: Sequels, non-franchise titles, in tandem with A jammed Calendar geared toward Scares

Dek: The fresh scare year builds at the outset with a January cluster, following that carries through the summer months, and pushing into the festive period, fusing legacy muscle, fresh ideas, and strategic counterprogramming. Studio marketers and platforms are leaning into smart costs, theatrical-first rollouts, and platform-native promos that shape genre releases into culture-wide discussion.

Horror momentum into 2026

Horror has solidified as the sturdy release in release plans, a space that can lift when it performs and still limit the downside when it doesn’t. After 2023 showed decision-makers that cost-conscious fright engines can shape social chatter, 2024 continued the surge with signature-voice projects and unexpected risers. The energy moved into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and filmmaker-prestige bets confirmed there is capacity for multiple flavors, from sequel tracks to original features that export nicely. The result for 2026 is a programming that presents tight coordination across players, with planned clusters, a blend of recognizable IP and new pitches, and a recommitted attention on release windows that increase tail monetization on premium digital rental and subscription services.

Distribution heads claim the genre now serves as a fill-in ace on the slate. The genre can roll out on nearly any frame, furnish a easy sell for previews and social clips, and outpace with fans that lean in on previews Thursday and hold through the week two if the picture delivers. In the wake of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 setup telegraphs comfort in that engine. The slate starts with a heavy January block, then exploits spring through early summer for contrast, while reserving space for a late-year stretch that pushes into Halloween and into early November. The gridline also spotlights the stronger partnership of specialized labels and digital platforms that can build gradually, stoke social talk, and move wide at the precise moment.

A reinforcing pattern is IP cultivation across ongoing universes and established properties. The players are not just producing another follow-up. They are setting up threaded continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a title presentation that announces a re-angled tone or a casting move that binds a next entry to a foundational era. At the simultaneously, the creative teams behind the headline-grabbing originals are leaning into in-camera technique, makeup and prosthetics and vivid settings. That combination delivers 2026 a confident blend of assurance and shock, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount plants an early flag with two marquee bets that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the center, positioning the film as both a passing of the torch and a return-to-roots character study. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the directional approach signals a roots-evoking treatment without rehashing the last two entries’ sibling arc. Watch for a push centered on recognizable motifs, first images of characters, and a two-beat trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will feature. As a summer counter-slot, this one will build general-audience talk through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format enabling quick turns to whatever leads horror talk that spring.

Universal has three clear releases. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tidy, tragic, and easily pitched: a grieving man activates an machine companion that mutates into a fatal companion. The date nudges it to the front of a competition-heavy month, with the marketing arm likely to replay uncanny-valley stunts and snackable content that melds affection and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a proper title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first look. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. His projects are treated as auteur events, with a minimalist tease and a second beat that define feel without revealing the concept. The prime October weekend opens a lane to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate 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 helms, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has made clear that a gnarly, practical-first aesthetic can feel big on a mid-range budget. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror rush that leans hard into international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio lines up two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, carrying a consistent supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is positioning as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both diehards and curious audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build promo materials around world-building, and monster design, elements that can boost large-format demand and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by textural authenticity and linguistic texture, this time exploring werewolf lore. The label has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is robust.

How the platforms plan to play it

Digital strategies for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre slate flow to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a ladder that amplifies both week-one demand and subscription bumps in the later window. Prime Video will mix library titles with global originals and short theatrical plays when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library pulls, using in-app campaigns, holiday hubs, and collection rows to lengthen the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix stays opportunistic about original films and festival buys, timing horror entries tight to release and staging as events premieres with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a one-two of precision theatrical plays and accelerated platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a per-project basis. The platform has shown a willingness to purchase select projects with accomplished filmmakers or star packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation builds.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 track with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is uncomplicated: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, upgraded for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a big-screen first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late stretch.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, curating the rollout through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then working the December frame to move out. That positioning has paid off for arthouse horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception justifies. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from 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 membership.

Known brands versus new stories

By proportion, the 2026 slate tips toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit fan equity. The question, as ever, is viewer burnout. The workable fix is to present each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is underscoring character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-accented approach from a ascendant talent. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and visionary-led titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a crash-survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the packaging is familiar enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years help explain the template. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that respected streaming windows did not hamper a same-day experiment from winning when the brand was strong. In 2024, director-craft horror outperformed in premium large format. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they pivot perspective and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, lets marketing to connect the chapters through character and theme and to continue assets in field without extended gaps.

Behind-the-camera trends

The creative meetings behind the year’s horror foreshadow a continued turn toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that spotlights tone and tension rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in craft journalism and craft features before rolling out a atmospheric tease that elevates tone over story, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and earns shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-referential reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will hit or weblink miss on creature execution and sets, which lend themselves to convention floor stunts and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that elevate disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that explode in larger rooms.

Release calendar overview

January is heavy. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid marquee brands. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the tonal variety affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth persists.

Q1 into Q2 load in summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into 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 playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

August and September into October leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a late-September window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a slow-reveal plan and limited disclosures that prioritize concept over plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card redemption.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s AI companion grows into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: atmospheric 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 unyielding boss struggle to survive on a far-flung island as the chain of command turns and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. 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 to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to fright, built on Cronin’s practical craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting piece that manipulates the panic of a child’s shaky interpretations. Rating: TBA. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-built and star-fronted spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A parody return that skewers of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fervors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 surges, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a unlucky family caught in lingering terrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A restart designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: pending. Production: continuing. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on antique diction and bone-deep menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three hands-on forces shape this lineup. First, production that paused or rearranged in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and compressed 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine clippable moments from test screenings, managed scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will compete across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

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

The search for sleepers continues in Q1, where midrange-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 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. 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.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, 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 keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, audio design, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand heft where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, guard the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.