Age-old Dread stirs: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 across top streaming platforms

One spine-tingling unearthly terror film from writer / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an long-buried horror when unfamiliar people become instruments in a dark contest. Releasing October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a intense depiction of living through and ancient evil that will revamp genre cinema this October. Produced by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and shadowy thriller follows five unknowns who come to locked in a off-grid cabin under the aggressive will of Kyra, a tormented girl haunted by a ancient biblical force. Steel yourself to be drawn in by a filmic journey that melds intense horror with folklore, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a recurring pillar in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is flipped when the spirits no longer manifest beyond the self, but rather inside their minds. This represents the most terrifying shade of all involved. The result is a emotionally raw mind game where the events becomes a brutal contest between innocence and sin.


In a haunting outland, five friends find themselves trapped under the fiendish rule and control of a haunted apparition. As the protagonists becomes submissive to deny her power, severed and attacked by entities indescribable, they are made to deal with their darkest emotions while the deathwatch coldly edges forward toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion amplifies and partnerships collapse, compelling each cast member to evaluate their existence and the idea of conscious will itself. The pressure magnify with every second, delivering a fear-soaked story that weaves together demonic fright with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to uncover instinctual horror, an entity that existed before mankind, embedding itself in fragile psyche, and questioning a spirit that questions who we are when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra called for internalizing something beyond human emotion. She is ignorant until the evil takes hold, and that transition is gut-wrenching because it is so deep.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for digital release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—so that fans around the globe can experience this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its intro video, which has racked up over strong viewer count.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, delivering the story to lovers of terror across nations.


Mark your calendar for this unforgettable ride through nightmares. Confront *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to witness these fearful discoveries about the psyche.


For featurettes, special features, and alerts from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across your socials and visit the official digital haunt.





Contemporary horror’s tipping point: 2025 across markets U.S. release slate weaves old-world possession, signature indie scares, plus series shake-ups

Ranging from last-stand terror suffused with ancient scripture all the way to returning series as well as pointed art-house angles, 2025 is coalescing into the most stratified combined with intentionally scheduled year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. Major studios bookend the months with familiar IP, in parallel digital services front-load the fall with new voices paired with archetypal fear. On the festival side, horror’s indie wing is carried on the carry from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, however this time, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are targeted, as a result 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Premium dread reemerges

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s schedule leads off the quarter with a risk-forward move: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and toplined 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. timed for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Steered by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer wanes, Warner’s pipeline bows the concluding entry within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson resumes command, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: period tinged dread, trauma in the foreground, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The ante is higher this round, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The next entry deepens the tale, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It drops in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a close quarters body horror study featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Also notable is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable featuring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with 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 handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: 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 Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. 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.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. That is a savvy move. No swollen lore. No continuity burden. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

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 lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Long Running Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Trends to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror comes roaring back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theaters are a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Projection: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The 2026 Horror Year Ahead: installments, non-franchise titles, plus A brimming Calendar optimized for frights

Dek The arriving terror cycle builds right away with a January logjam, subsequently stretches through peak season, and far into the December corridor, blending legacy muscle, new voices, and savvy counterplay. Major distributors and platforms are embracing right-sized spends, exclusive theatrical windows first, and buzz-forward plans that turn horror entries into water-cooler talk.

How the genre looks for 2026

The field has solidified as the bankable counterweight in studio lineups, a segment that can accelerate when it clicks and still cushion the losses when it misses. After the 2023 year signaled to executives that disciplined-budget pictures can drive pop culture, 2024 maintained heat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and stealth successes. The tailwind carried into 2025, where revived properties and premium-leaning entries demonstrated there is a lane for multiple flavors, from continued chapters to standalone ideas that translate worldwide. The net effect for 2026 is a calendar that presents tight coordination across companies, with obvious clusters, a harmony of legacy names and untested plays, and a re-energized commitment on release windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium digital and home streaming.

Planners observe the category now operates like a swing piece on the schedule. Horror can launch on almost any weekend, generate a quick sell for promo reels and UGC-friendly snippets, and outpace with crowds that respond on opening previews and hold through the sophomore frame if the title connects. Emerging from a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 cadence demonstrates conviction in that engine. The calendar rolls out with a stacked January schedule, then plants flags in spring and early summer for audience offsets, while saving space for a October build that flows toward the Halloween corridor and afterwards. The schedule also reflects the deeper integration of arthouse labels and OTT outlets that can build gradually, stoke social talk, and move wide at the inflection point.

A reinforcing pattern is IP cultivation across ongoing universes and classic IP. The studios are not just releasing another entry. They are working to present continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a graphic identity that flags a refreshed voice or a casting pivot that binds a next film to a original cycle. At the simultaneously, the creative leads behind the most watched originals are championing practical craft, practical gags and location-forward worlds. That convergence gives the 2026 slate a strong blend of trust and discovery, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount defines the early cadence with two marquee moves that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the heart, marketing it as both a legacy handover and a foundation-forward character-centered film. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the narrative stance suggests a heritage-honoring approach without repeating the last two entries’ family thread. Count on a promo wave anchored in legacy iconography, first images of characters, and a tease cadence aimed at late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will feature. As a summer contrast play, this one will go after four-quadrant chatter through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format fitting quick shifts to whatever defines pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three unique entries. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is efficient, soulful, and commercial: a grieving man purchases an intelligent companion that unfolds into a fatal companion. The date positions it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s promo team likely to echo odd public stunts and short-cut promos that threads devotion and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a final title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first look. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. The filmmaker’s films are marketed as must-see filmmaker statements, with a opaque teaser and a subsequent trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot lets the studio to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a flesh-and-blood, in-camera leaning mix can feel high-value on a moderate cost. Look for a gore-forward summer horror shock that pushes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio deploys two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, maintaining a dependable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is marketing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both loyalists and casuals. The fall slot affords Sony time to build artifacts around environmental design, and monster design, elements that can accelerate format premiums and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror built on careful craft and archaic language, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus Features has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

How the platforms plan to play it

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on well-known grooves. The Universal horror run transition to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a cadence that fortifies both FOMO and sub growth in the back half. Prime Video combines licensed content with global originals and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in archive usage, using curated hubs, horror hubs, and handpicked rows to extend momentum on the 2026 genre total. Netflix plays opportunist about internal projects and festival pickups, securing horror entries tight to release and elevating as drops drops with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a one-two of targeted theatrical exposure and prompt platform moves that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a selective basis. The platform has been willing to purchase select projects with accomplished filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for sustained usage when the genre conversation swells.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 slate with two brand-forward moves. 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 mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, reimagined for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a cinema-first plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn stretch.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday corridor to broaden. That positioning has delivered for arthouse horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception prompts. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using limited runs to seed evangelism that fuels their membership.

Known brands versus new stories

By share, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use name recognition. The challenge, as ever, is overexposure. The near-term solution is to sell each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is underscoring character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a European tilt from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects bring the oxygen. 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 marooned survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the deal build is recognizable enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

The last three-year set frame the playbook. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that kept streaming intact did not hamper a same-day experiment from thriving when the brand was robust. In 2024, art-forward horror punched above its weight in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they angle differently and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, lets marketing to connect the chapters through character and theme and to hold creative in the market without pause points.

Creative tendencies and craft

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind these films telegraph a continued move toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that spotlights atmosphere and fear rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft journalism and technical spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that leans on mood over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and spurs shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta-horror reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature and environment design, which work nicely for fan conventions and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel must-have. Look for trailers that spotlight precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in premium houses.

The schedule at a glance

January is jammed. 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 headline IP. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the palette of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth persists.

Late Q1 and spring tee up summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends check over here that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Late summer into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a early fall window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited disclosures that center concept over reveals.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card redemption.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s digital partner escalates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges 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 returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: ambience-forward adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss fight to survive on a isolated island as the power balance flips and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 in the vault in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to fright, built on Cronin’s on-set craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. 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 in-home haunting story that twists the terror of a child’s mercurial interpretations. Rating: TBD. Production: in the can. Positioning: major-studio and marquee-led spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A parody return that skewers contemporary horror memes and true-crime manias. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites erupts, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further extends again, with a another family caught in residual nightmares. Rating: TBA. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on true survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: forthcoming. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBD. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and bone-deep menace. Rating: pending. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026 and why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces shape this lineup. First, production that eased or shifted in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and condensed timelines. 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine turnkey scare beats from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can lead a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will compete across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on 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 track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where value-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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, optimized footprints, 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 surface detail, sonics, and cinematography 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 evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand heft where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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, edit tight trailers, guard the secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.