Antediluvian Terror returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising feature, rolling out October 2025 on top streamers

One unnerving mystic scare-fest from creator / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an forgotten terror when unrelated individuals become conduits in a hellish contest. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping episode of struggle and prehistoric entity that will redefine the fear genre this fall. Helmed by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and gothic motion picture follows five characters who suddenly rise isolated in a hidden shack under the hostile will of Kyra, a female presence inhabited by a antiquated ancient fiend. Ready yourself to be shaken by a narrative venture that melds bodily fright with timeless legends, unleashing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a time-honored concept in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is radically shifted when the entities no longer emerge from elsewhere, but rather inside their minds. This portrays the malevolent aspect of every character. The result is a intense spiritual tug-of-war where the intensity becomes a ongoing face-off between purity and corruption.


In a barren backcountry, five young people find themselves cornered under the fiendish control and possession of a secretive character. As the protagonists becomes incapable to resist her curse, cut off and targeted by beings inconceivable, they are made to wrestle with their inner demons while the countdown mercilessly ticks onward toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety builds and ties dissolve, prompting each person to contemplate their core and the foundation of decision-making itself. The tension escalate with every breath, delivering a nightmarish journey that harmonizes occult fear with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to draw upon primitive panic, an power born of forgotten ages, influencing emotional vulnerability, and wrestling with a being that peels away humanity when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra was about accessing something rooted in terror. She is ignorant until the demon emerges, and that change is haunting because it is so internal.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for worldwide release beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—so that audiences from coast to coast can engage with this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its first trailer, which has racked up over 100,000 views.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, extending the thrill to global fright lovers.


Be sure to catch this heart-stopping path of possession. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to experience these fearful discoveries about inner darkness.


For bonus footage, behind-the-scenes content, and reveals from behind the lens, follow @YACFilm across media channels and visit the movie’s homepage.





Modern horror’s sea change: the 2025 cycle domestic schedule fuses old-world possession, signature indie scares, set against tentpole growls

Kicking off with life-or-death fear grounded in ancient scripture as well as series comebacks plus keen independent perspectives, 2025 stands to become the genre’s most multifaceted combined with precision-timed year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. leading studios bookend the months with established lines, in tandem streaming platforms stack the fall with unboxed visions as well as ancient terrors. On the independent axis, indie storytellers is riding the momentum from a record 2024 festival run. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A fat September–October lane is customary now, however this time, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are exacting, therefore 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige fear returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s slate kicks off the frame with a confident swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in an immediate now. From director Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. arriving mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Directed by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. Pictures launches the swan song inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Despite a known recipe, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson returns, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: old school creep, trauma as narrative engine, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time, the stakes are raised, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The new chapter enriches the lore, stretches the animatronic parade, bridging teens and legacy players. It posts in December, securing the winter cap.

Platform Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

While the big screen favors titles you know, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the quieter side is Together, a sealed box body horror arc including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also rising is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative featuring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

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

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing 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 an astute call. No puffed out backstory. No legacy baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, from Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Trend Lines

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror resurges
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.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

The Road Ahead: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Expect one or more 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.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The 2026 genre year to come: Sequels, fresh concepts, together with A jammed Calendar engineered for frights

Dek The incoming horror season loads in short order with a January wave, thereafter unfolds through summer corridors, and far into the late-year period, marrying brand heft, original angles, and calculated alternatives. Studios with streamers are doubling down on tight budgets, box-office-first windows, and viral-minded pushes that elevate the slate’s entries into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror sector has shown itself to be the most reliable release in studio lineups, a vertical that can lift when it catches and still buffer the risk when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for leaders that mid-range scare machines can drive audience talk, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with visionary-driven titles and unexpected risers. The tailwind translated to 2025, where reawakened brands and arthouse crossovers signaled there is space for diverse approaches, from series extensions to original features that travel well. The result for 2026 is a grid that looks unusually coordinated across studios, with mapped-out bands, a equilibrium of brand names and original hooks, and a refocused eye on theatrical windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium video on demand and platforms.

Studio leaders note the space now serves as a flex slot on the programming map. Horror can bow on a wide range of weekends, deliver a grabby hook for promo reels and platform-native cuts, and over-index with audiences that respond on Thursday nights and stay strong through the follow-up frame if the film works. Coming out of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 rhythm exhibits faith in that approach. The year gets underway with a front-loaded January band, then targets spring into early summer for balance, while leaving room for a autumn push that stretches into spooky season and into November. The calendar also includes the continuing integration of specialty distributors and SVOD players that can launch in limited release, create conversation, and broaden at the timely point.

Another broad trend is brand curation across unified worlds and veteran brands. The companies are not just greenlighting another entry. They are aiming to frame connection with a premium feel, whether that is a art treatment that flags a refreshed voice or a ensemble decision that ties a next entry to a foundational era. At the concurrently, the directors behind the most watched originals are returning to hands-on technique, real effects and grounded locations. That interplay delivers 2026 a robust balance of brand comfort and discovery, which is why the genre exports well.

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

Paramount fires first with two spotlight titles that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the core, setting it up as both a legacy handover and a origin-leaning character-centered film. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the narrative stance announces a heritage-honoring strategy without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Count on a promo wave anchored in brand visuals, intro reveals, and a rollout cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will stress. As a counterweight in summer, this one will go after large awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format permitting quick shifts to whatever drives the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three unique pushes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is simple, melancholic, and high-concept: a grieving man activates an machine companion that mutates into a harmful mate. The date positions it at the front of a heavy month, with the marketing arm likely to echo uncanny live moments and micro spots that mixes intimacy and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule 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 stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. The filmmaker’s films are marketed as director events, with a opaque teaser and a next wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The spooky-season slot lets the studio to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has demonstrated that a gritty, practical-effects forward strategy can feel top-tier on a mid-range budget. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror rush that embraces global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio sets two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, extending a trusty supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what Sony is marketing as a ground-zero 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 well-defined brief to serve both players and casuals. The fall slot hands Sony window to build marketing units around canon, and practical creature work, elements that can stoke premium screens 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 sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by careful craft and historical speech, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already locked the day for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is strong.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform strategies for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s releases transition to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a cadence that fortifies both FOMO and trial spikes in the later phase. Prime Video blends catalogue additions with global pickups and targeted theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog engagement, using timely promos, spooky hubs, and editorial rows to lengthen the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix retains agility about Netflix originals and festival acquisitions, securing horror entries tight to release and staging as events launches with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a staged of tailored theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a per-project basis. The platform has signaled readiness to secure select projects with established auteurs or marquee packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for monthly activity when the genre conversation ramps.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 slate with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is tight: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, updated for modern this contact form soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a standard theatrical run for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late-season weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, shepherding the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then working the Christmas window to scale. That positioning has been successful for auteur horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception merits. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using small theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Franchises versus originals

By tilt, 2026 tips toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use name recognition. The challenge, as ever, is diminishing returns. The workable fix is to market each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is leading with character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French sensibility from a hot helmer. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the configuration is assuring enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Recent comps outline the approach. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that kept streaming intact did not preclude a day-and-date experiment from paying off when the brand was trusted. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror over-performed in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they angle differently and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, gives leeway to marketing to interlace chapters through cast and motif and to keep assets in-market without extended gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The shop talk behind 2026 horror telegraph a continued bias toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that foregrounds mood and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in trade spotlights and department features before rolling out a first look that keeps plot minimal, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and spurs shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-aware reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster realization and design, which work nicely for convention floor stunts and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that center disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that explode in larger rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is packed. Universal’s 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 quiet contrast amid marquee brands. The month buttons 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 thick, but the mix of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Winter into spring load in summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The 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 sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited plot reveals that elevate concept over story.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and holiday card usage.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s algorithmic partner shifts into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces 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 goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss struggle to survive on a far-flung island as the control dynamic inverts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

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 modern reconception that returns the monster to nightmare, driven by Cronin’s tactile craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting story that explores the unease of a child’s tricky senses. Rating: TBD. Production: in the can. 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 back in creative roles. Logline: {A satire sequel that targets current genre trends and true crime preoccupations. Rating: rating forthcoming. 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 detonates, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new family bound to ancient dread. Rating: pending. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A new start designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-core horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: TBD. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and primordial menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. 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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 lands now

Three pragmatic forces structure this lineup. First, production that decelerated or migrated in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and shorter timelines. 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 out-earned straight-to-streaming landings. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage meme-ready beats from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Calendar math also matters. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will trade weekends across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

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

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where low-to-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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, 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 escalate across the year, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, aural design, and picture 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

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is recognizable IP where it plays, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.