Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons antediluvian malevolence, a nightmare fueled thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on leading streamers

One blood-curdling spectral suspense film from narrative craftsman / director Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an age-old entity when strangers become subjects in a fiendish ritual. Streaming this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing tale of staying alive and primeval wickedness that will remodel fear-driven cinema this October. Helmed by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and cinematic motion picture follows five young adults who regain consciousness ensnared in a wilderness-bound hideaway under the menacing control of Kyra, a mysterious girl dominated by a legendary sacred-era entity. Brace yourself to be captivated by a audio-visual presentation that weaves together bone-deep fear with mystical narratives, arriving on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a long-standing foundation in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is reversed when the demons no longer manifest outside their bodies, but rather deep within. This depicts the haunting shade of the group. The result is a riveting internal warfare where the suspense becomes a constant fight between innocence and sin.


In a unforgiving outland, five individuals find themselves cornered under the dark force and spiritual invasion of a unknown entity. As the cast becomes vulnerable to reject her control, marooned and chased by creatures inconceivable, they are made to reckon with their soulful dreads while the doomsday meter unceasingly moves toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear deepens and relationships disintegrate, demanding each member to evaluate their existence and the foundation of free will itself. The tension accelerate with every short lapse, delivering a frightening tale that connects ghostly evil with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to draw upon pure dread, an threat that predates humanity, embedding itself in emotional vulnerability, and questioning a presence that peels away humanity when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra meant evoking something beyond human emotion. She is ignorant until the evil takes hold, and that flip is harrowing because it is so raw.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be released for on-demand beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—offering fans across the world can face this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its intro video, which has gathered over 100,000 views.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, offering the tale to thrill-seekers globally.


Join this cinematic descent into darkness. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to explore these unholy truths about human nature.


For film updates, filmmaker commentary, and reveals from the story's source, follow @YACMovie across entertainment pages and visit the official website.





Horror’s tipping point: 2025 U.S. Slate braids together Mythic Possession, art-house nightmares, paired with series shake-ups

Kicking off with pressure-cooker survival tales infused with biblical myth all the way to canon extensions and pointed art-house angles, 2025 is tracking to be the most dimensioned together with calculated campaign year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. leading studios lay down anchors with franchise anchors, even as streaming platforms pack the fall with emerging auteurs in concert with scriptural shivers. In the indie lane, horror’s indie wing is buoyed by the momentum from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. With Halloween holding the peak, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, though in this cycle, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are disciplined, which means 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The top end is active. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s schedule opens the year with a marquee bet: a refreshed Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in a modern-day environment. Directed by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. dated for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer winds down, the Warner Bros. banner releases the last chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. While the template is known, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re engages, and those signature textures resurface: old school creep, trauma driven plotting, along with eerie supernatural rules. The stakes escalate here, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The follow up digs further into canon, thickens the animatronic pantheon, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It books December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Firsts: Slim budgets, major punch

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a body horror duet fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is a calculated bet. No overstuffed canon. No franchise baggage. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Lines: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, led by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Trends to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror ascends again
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Season Ahead: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear 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 success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The approaching chiller release year: next chapters, fresh concepts, and also A brimming Calendar engineered for shocks

Dek: The current genre calendar loads from day one with a January cluster, and then carries through summer, and continuing into the holidays, balancing brand heft, new concepts, and well-timed calendar placement. The big buyers and platforms are focusing on lean spends, big-screen-first runs, and buzz-forward plans that turn these films into cross-demo moments.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The horror marketplace has established itself as the sturdy release in release strategies, a corner that can spike when it lands and still insulate the drawdown when it under-delivers. After 2023 signaled to top brass that modestly budgeted entries can drive pop culture, the following year carried the beat with signature-voice projects and word-of-mouth wins. The tailwind pushed into 2025, where resurrections and festival-grade titles demonstrated there is room for multiple flavors, from returning installments to filmmaker-driven originals that perform internationally. The sum for 2026 is a schedule that seems notably aligned across companies, with strategic blocks, a combination of familiar brands and new concepts, and a reinvigorated stance on big-screen windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium on-demand and home streaming.

Executives say the genre now acts as a plug-and-play option on the slate. Horror can debut on open real estate, offer a grabby hook for creative and UGC-friendly snippets, and exceed norms with ticket buyers that respond on previews Thursday and sustain through the second frame if the feature works. In the wake of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 cadence telegraphs confidence in that equation. The calendar launches with a crowded January stretch, then primes spring and early summer for audience offsets, while leaving room for a autumn stretch that stretches into All Hallows period and into the next week. The calendar also reflects the deeper integration of specialized labels and SVOD players that can platform a title, create conversation, and roll out at the precise moment.

A notable top-line trend is brand strategy across shared IP webs and classic IP. Major shops are not just producing another return. They are trying to present story carry-over with a headline quality, whether that is a title presentation that signals a refreshed voice or a lead change that ties a upcoming film to a original cycle. At the simultaneously, the creative teams behind the headline-grabbing originals are doubling down on real-world builds, practical effects and location-forward worlds. That alloy gives 2026 a confident blend of recognition and shock, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

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

Paramount opens strong with two high-profile entries 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 role and Neve Campbell back at the front, steering it as both a relay and a foundation-forward character piece. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach signals a legacy-leaning strategy without replaying the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Look for a marketing run anchored in brand visuals, first images of characters, and a tease cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

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 back on screen, 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 summer contrast play, this one will drive wide appeal through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick adjustments to whatever rules the social talk that spring.

Universal has three specific lanes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is tight, somber, and commercial: a grieving man adopts an algorithmic mate that evolves into a deadly partner. The date positions it at the front of a packed window, with marketing at Universal likely to revisit strange in-person beats and quick hits that interweaves intimacy and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a public title to become an event moment closer to the early tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His projects are framed as event films, with a hinting teaser and a second wave of trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot affords Universal to fill 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has made clear that a raw, prosthetic-heavy execution can feel top-tier on a tight budget. Position this as a blood-and-grime summer horror jolt that centers foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio launches two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, carrying a steady supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is billing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both core fans and new audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build campaign creative around narrative world, and practical creature work, elements that can drive IMAX and PLF uptake and convention buzz.

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 maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by immersive craft and period language, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus’s team has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is positive.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform windowing in 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s slate window into copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a ladder that expands both launch urgency and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video stitches together third-party pickups with global originals and targeted theatrical runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library engagement, using curated hubs, genre hubs, and featured rows to prolong the run on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps optionality about in-house releases and festival deals, dating horror entries tight to release and positioning as event drops launches with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a dual-phase of targeted cinema placements and quick platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a curated basis. The platform has indicated interest to secure select projects with top-tier auteurs or name-led packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for sustained usage when the genre conversation peaks.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is curating a 2026 track with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is clean: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, recalibrated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the late-season weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, escorting the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then working the Christmas corridor to go wider. That positioning has served the company well for arthouse horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception allows. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using small theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By tilt, the 2026 slate favors the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on fan equity. The challenge, as ever, is staleness. The near-term solution is to market each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is emphasizing relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-tinted vision from a rising filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and director-driven movies titles add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a crash-survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the assembly is steady enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Rolling three-year comps announce the playbook. In 2023, a theater-first model that maintained windows did not obstruct a parallel release from paying off when the brand was robust. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror outperformed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they rotate perspective and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters produced back-to-back, allows marketing to interlace chapters through personae and themes and to keep materials circulating without pause points.

Technique and craft currents

The craft conversations behind these films suggest a continued preference for in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that spotlights grain and menace rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and era-true language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft coverage before rolling out a first look that leans on mood over plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and spurs shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a self-referential reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster aesthetics and world-building, which play well in expo activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel essential. Look for trailers that accent surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that shine in top rooms.

How the year maps out

January is jammed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid macro-brand pushes. The month wraps 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 credible, but the tonal variety makes lanes for each, Young & Cursed and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Early-year through spring load in summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The 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 spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late summer into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a late-September window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a opaque tease strategy and limited teasers that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can play the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor great post to read has done this before, platforming carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and holiday gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s artificial companion escalates into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: gothic-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 battle to survive on a uninhabited island as the pecking order upends and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to nightmare, shaped by Cronin’s on-set craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting tale that refracts terror through a child’s flickering perspective. Rating: forthcoming. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A genre lampoon that riffs on hot-button genre motifs and true crime fixations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: filming slated 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 surges, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a different family bound to old terrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A clean reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in classic survival-horror tone over action fireworks. Rating: not yet rated. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: closely held. Rating: pending. Production: advancing. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 historical diction and ancient menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 and why now

Three practical forces organize this lineup. First, production that downshifted or rearranged in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify clippable moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, making room for genre entries that can capture a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play 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 wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, tight deployments, 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, audio design, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Ready To Roar

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand power where it counts, new vision where it lands, 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-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, protect the mystery, and let the chills sell the seats.