Primordial Evil rises: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling supernatural thriller, landing Oct 2025 on major streaming services

An bone-chilling otherworldly fear-driven tale from literary architect / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an forgotten entity when unknowns become vehicles in a supernatural experiment. Airings begin this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a intense saga of overcoming and prehistoric entity that will remodel terror storytelling this spooky time. Crafted by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and gothic feature follows five strangers who are stirred trapped in a wilderness-bound cottage under the menacing rule of Kyra, a possessed female dominated by a antiquated sacred-era entity. Be prepared to be gripped by a big screen venture that melds bodily fright with timeless legends, coming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a enduring theme in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is challenged when the monsters no longer arise from elsewhere, but rather inside them. This portrays the malevolent aspect of every character. The result is a enthralling internal warfare where the conflict becomes a unyielding struggle between righteousness and malevolence.


In a remote natural abyss, five youths find themselves marooned under the fiendish sway and possession of a enigmatic female figure. As the ensemble becomes helpless to break her power, cut off and attacked by creatures ungraspable, they are forced to reckon with their core terrors while the deathwatch harrowingly ticks toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust grows and teams implode, forcing each soul to doubt their personhood and the nature of free will itself. The pressure rise with every fleeting time, delivering a frightening tale that marries otherworldly panic with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to dive into primal fear, an evil that predates humanity, operating within fragile psyche, and dealing with a darkness that forces self-examination when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra called for internalizing something far beyond human desperation. She is clueless until the demon emerges, and that flip is bone-chilling because it is so raw.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for audiences beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—giving subscribers anywhere can be part of this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its original promo, which has garnered over 100K plays.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, extending the thrill to global fright lovers.


Mark your calendar for this haunted path of possession. Stream *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to explore these fearful discoveries about the mind.


For film updates, filmmaker commentary, and reveals from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across social media and visit the movie portal.





Today’s horror inflection point: 2025 in focus U.S. Slate melds archetypal-possession themes, festival-born jolts, stacked beside Franchise Rumbles

Beginning with survival horror infused with scriptural legend and stretching into brand-name continuations paired with surgical indie voices, 2025 stands to become the genre’s most multifaceted as well as precision-timed year since the mid-2010s.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. major banners stabilize the year with established lines, while premium streamers front-load the fall with unboxed visions together with old-world menace. In the indie lane, indie storytellers is buoyed by the tailwinds of a record-setting 2024 festival season. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A fat September–October lane is customary now, distinctly in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are surgical, which means 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The majors are assertive. If 2024 set the base, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s distribution arm starts the year with a risk-forward move: a reimagined Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, instead in a current-day frame. Guided by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. arriving mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Under Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer wanes, the Warner lot bows the concluding entry of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Next is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re boards, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: vintage toned fear, trauma driven plotting, and a cold supernatural calculus. This pass pushes higher, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, reaching teens and game grownups. It books December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Digital Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a room scale body horror descent fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend with Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. 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.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It looks like sharp programming. No overinflated mythology. No continuity burden. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy IP: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. 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, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Trend Lines

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror ascends again
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

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
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Near Term 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 like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The next chiller release year: follow-ups, Originals, plus A hectic Calendar tailored for jolts

Dek The brand-new horror slate builds early with a January traffic jam, from there unfolds through June and July, and far into the holiday stretch, fusing series momentum, inventive spins, and tactical offsets. The major players are focusing on tight budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and short-form initiatives that convert these offerings into water-cooler talk.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

Horror has turned into the sturdy option in studio slates, a vertical that can expand when it breaks through and still mitigate the exposure when it fails to connect. After 2023 re-taught buyers that modestly budgeted entries can dominate the zeitgeist, 2024 extended the rally with director-led heat and quiet over-performers. The carry moved into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and elevated films demonstrated there is appetite for diverse approaches, from brand follow-ups to one-and-done originals that scale internationally. The end result for 2026 is a programming that appears tightly organized across distributors, with obvious clusters, a balance of household franchises and new packages, and a re-energized attention on exclusive windows that drive downstream revenue on premium video on demand and streaming.

Marketers add the space now acts as a wildcard on the rollout map. The genre can launch on numerous frames, provide a sharp concept for previews and short-form placements, and punch above weight with demo groups that arrive on Thursday previews and keep coming through the week two if the film fires. Post a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 configuration exhibits confidence in that model. The year opens with a crowded January corridor, then leans on spring and early summer for contrast, while holding room for a autumn stretch that reaches into spooky season and into early November. The grid also shows the increasing integration of arthouse labels and streaming partners that can build gradually, build word of mouth, and roll out at the strategic time.

A notable top-line trend is brand curation across shared universes and legacy franchises. Major shops are not just making another chapter. They are setting up brand continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a title treatment that suggests a new tone or a casting choice that ties a latest entry to a initial period. At the meanwhile, the helmers behind the eagerly awaited originals are doubling down on tactile craft, real effects and grounded locations. That blend hands the 2026 slate a robust balance of familiarity and novelty, which is how the genre sells abroad.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount leads early with two front-of-slate pushes that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, signaling it as both a relay and a back-to-basics relationship-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance suggests a classic-referencing mode without rehashing the last two entries’ sisters thread. Expect a marketing push centered on classic imagery, first-look character reveals, and a trailer cadence timed to 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 back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will emphasize. As a counterweight in summer, this one will build mainstream recognition through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format making room for quick shifts to whatever rules the social talk that spring.

Universal has three defined entries. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is clean, sorrow-tinged, and easily pitched: a grieving man purchases an synthetic partner that shifts into a fatal companion. The date places it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s marketing likely to revisit strange in-person beats and short-form creative that mixes devotion and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a name unveil to become an PR pop closer to the opening teaser. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. His projects are framed as event films, with a minimalist tease and a follow-up trailer set that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date creates space for Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, have a peek here 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has established that a visceral, prosthetic-heavy strategy can feel top-tier on a mid-range budget. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror surge that leans hard into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio rolls out two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, sustaining a reliable supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what this content the studio is positioning as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both devotees and casuals. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign pieces around world-building, and creature design, elements that can fuel IMAX and PLF uptake and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by meticulous craft and period language, this time exploring werewolf lore. The label has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is supportive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform windowing in 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal titles head to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a sequence that elevates both FOMO and platform bumps in the post-theatrical. Prime Video continues to mix licensed content with worldwide buys and limited runs in theaters when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in catalog engagement, using prominent placements, October hubs, and featured rows to extend momentum on lifetime take. Netflix keeps options open about in-house releases and festival additions, timing horror entries on shorter runways and making event-like releases with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a one-two of tailored theatrical exposure and rapid platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a situational basis. The platform has shown appetite to buy select projects with acclaimed directors or star-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 corridor with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is clear: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, updated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then working the holiday slot to go wider. That positioning has paid off for auteur horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception drives. Anticipate 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 as partners, using precision theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Balance of brands and originals

By count, 2026 leans in favor of the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use household recognition. The risk, as ever, is audience fatigue. The preferred tactic is to frame each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is emphasizing relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-inflected take from a buzzed-about director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the bundle is known enough to drive advance ticketing and early previews.

Recent-year comps make sense of the model. In 2023, a exclusive window model that kept clean windows did not deter a hybrid test from succeeding when the brand was big. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror outperformed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they shift POV and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to interlace chapters through character web and themes and to leave creative active without pause points.

How the look and feel evolve

The craft rooms behind these films indicate a continued preference for real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that emphasizes tone and tension rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in long-lead press and technical spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and gathers shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta-horror reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster aesthetics and world-building, which play well in convention activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel key. Look for trailers that elevate fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that land in premium houses.

From winter to holidays

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 heftier brand moves. The month ends 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 real, but the mix of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Q1 into Q2 load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can win 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 rolled through premiums.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a late-September window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited teasers that favor idea over plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday card usage.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s digital partner grows into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. 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 try to survive on a remote island as the pecking order shifts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

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 renewed vision that returns the monster to chill, founded on Cronin’s tactile craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting chiller that twists the horror of a child’s fragile perceptions. Rating: pending. Production: finished. Positioning: major-studio and A-list fronted eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that satirizes current genre trends and true crime preoccupations. Rating: undetermined. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 global twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further extends again, with a another family caught in residual nightmares. Rating: forthcoming. 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: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-driven horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: to be announced. 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 time-true diction and elemental fear. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three operational forces frame this lineup. First, production that stalled or shuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more strategic 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 dumps. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify social-ready stingers from test screenings, managed scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Another factor is the scheduling math. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, clearing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will coexist across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, 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 cost-efficient genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to work those windows. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a banquet, 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 gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, efficient screen counts, my company and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, acoustics, and image-making that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Promising 2026

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand equity where it matters, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the chills sell the seats.