Age-old Terror Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding supernatural thriller, premiering Oct 2025 on major streaming services

One terrifying mystic terror film from scriptwriter / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an primordial entity when strangers become subjects in a demonic ritual. Available October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching narrative of survival and mythic evil that will redefine fear-driven cinema this scare season. Produced by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and eerie suspense flick follows five people who come to caught in a secluded house under the sinister manipulation of Kyra, a young woman haunted by a timeless Old Testament spirit. Ready yourself to be hooked by a cinematic event that combines soul-chilling terror with ancient myths, hitting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a time-honored pillar in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is redefined when the monsters no longer arise from an outside force, but rather from within. This embodies the most primal shade of the players. The result is a intense cognitive warzone where the events becomes a perpetual contest between light and darkness.


In a barren terrain, five figures find themselves sealed under the possessive effect and spiritual invasion of a mysterious female presence. As the protagonists becomes vulnerable to break her rule, isolated and followed by terrors unimaginable, they are driven to battle their core terrors while the hours unceasingly moves toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension escalates and partnerships collapse, urging each person to reflect on their true nature and the concept of autonomy itself. The hazard intensify with every fleeting time, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that combines otherworldly suspense with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to explore elemental fright, an curse rooted in antiquity, embedding itself in mental cracks, and wrestling with a being that challenges autonomy when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra required summoning something far beyond human desperation. She is blind until the entity awakens, and that transformation is haunting because it is so emotional.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for audiences beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—giving watchers no matter where they are can get immersed in this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its release of trailer #1, which has earned over strong viewer count.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, giving access to the movie to scare fans abroad.


Mark your calendar for this haunted path of possession. Stream *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to see these chilling revelations about the psyche.


For sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes content, and announcements from the story's source, follow @YACFilm across platforms and visit our film’s homepage.





U.S. horror’s inflection point: the year 2025 U.S. release slate blends primeval-possession lore, indie terrors, in parallel with series shake-ups

Ranging from pressure-cooker survival tales suffused with biblical myth through to legacy revivals plus sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is shaping up as the most complex paired with strategic year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. top-tier distributors bookend the months with familiar IP, concurrently streaming platforms crowd the fall with fresh voices alongside scriptural shivers. Meanwhile, the art-house flank is propelled by the carry of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, yet in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are targeted, therefore 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Premium dread reemerges

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal banner leads off the quarter with a marquee bet: a reconceived Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a sharp contemporary setting. Directed by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. Slated for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Steered by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer wanes, Warner’s schedule sets loose the finale within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. While the template is known, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Scott Derrickson is back, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: retro dread, trauma as theme, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time the stakes climb, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The return delves further into myth, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It opens in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Originals: Economy, maximum dread

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a two hander body horror spiral 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 lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable led by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is a clever angle. No overinflated mythology. No continuity burden. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

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

Trend Lines

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

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

Platform originals gain bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn density and winter pivot

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The new fright calendar year ahead: brand plays, universe starters, and also A loaded Calendar geared toward screams

Dek: The arriving terror year crams in short order with a January crush, then extends through summer corridors, and deep into the winter holidays, combining brand equity, inventive spins, and calculated counterprogramming. The big buyers and platforms are relying on responsible budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and buzz-forward plans that shape these films into cross-demo moments.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the surest release in release plans, a vertical that can grow when it clicks and still mitigate the downside when it fails to connect. After 2023 reassured top brass that low-to-mid budget fright engines can command the discourse, the following year kept energy high with signature-voice projects and unexpected risers. The carry flowed into 2025, where resurrections and filmmaker-prestige bets demonstrated there is a lane for varied styles, from continued chapters to standalone ideas that resonate abroad. The result for the 2026 slate is a roster that seems notably aligned across the major shops, with planned clusters, a balance of marquee IP and original hooks, and a recommitted emphasis on exclusive windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium digital rental and home platforms.

Buyers contend the genre now performs as a wildcard on the slate. The genre can arrive on most weekends, provide a sharp concept for teasers and TikTok spots, and outpace with crowds that appear on opening previews and keep coming through the sophomore frame if the release pays off. Following a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 layout exhibits confidence in that approach. The calendar gets underway with a heavy January block, 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 beyond. The schedule also reflects the ongoing integration of arthouse labels and OTT outlets that can stage a platform run, create conversation, and scale up at the timely point.

Another broad trend is IP stewardship across shared universes and veteran brands. The players are not just turning out another continuation. They are moving to present lineage with a headline quality, whether that is a art treatment that signals a reframed mood or a casting choice that threads a fresh chapter to a heyday. At the very same time, the helmers behind the most buzzed-about originals are championing tactile craft, physical gags and vivid settings. That interplay hands 2026 a strong blend of recognition and shock, which is why the genre exports well.

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

Paramount defines the early cadence with two headline bets that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the front, positioning the film as both a handoff and a foundation-forward character-focused installment. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture conveys a memory-charged approach without looping the last two entries’ sibling arc. Anticipate a campaign rooted in iconic art, character spotlights, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will feature. As a summer relief option, this one will drive broad awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format permitting quick switches to whatever rules trend lines that spring.

Universal has three separate bets. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is elegant, sorrow-tinged, and easily pitched: a grieving man activates an intelligent companion that escalates into a murderous partner. The date slots it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the studio’s marketing likely to iterate on creepy live activations and micro spots that interweaves longing and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a official title to become an event moment closer to the initial tease. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. The filmmaker’s films are marketed as director events, with a opaque teaser and a subsequent trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween runway offers Universal room to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has proven that a tactile, physical-effects centered mix can feel deluxe on a controlled budget. Frame it as a splatter summer horror shot that maximizes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio sets two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, holding a consistent supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is billing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both longtime followers and general audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build assets around lore, and monster aesthetics, elements that can boost format premiums and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror built on careful craft and dialect, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus Features has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform strategies for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre slate window into copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a stair-step that amplifies both week-one demand and viewer acquisition in the after-window. Prime Video stitches together catalogue additions with global pickups and select theatrical runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in archive usage, using seasonal hubs, spooky hubs, and editorial rows to keep attention on lifetime take. Netflix keeps options open about first-party entries and festival snaps, locking in horror entries toward the drop and elevating as drops drops with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a two-step of targeted cinema placements and rapid platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a per-project basis. The platform has shown appetite to buy select projects with award winners or marquee packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for monthly engagement when the genre conversation builds.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 lane with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is straightforward: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, upgraded for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, Young & Cursed with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a theatrical rollout for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the back half.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the year-end corridor to open out. That positioning has helped for auteur horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception warrants. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using limited runs to stir evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Brands and originals

By skew, 2026 tips toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit name recognition. The challenge, as ever, is overexposure. The standing approach is to package each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is emphasizing character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a European tilt from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and talent-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the assembly is familiar enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and early previews.

Recent comps illuminate the template. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that kept clean windows did not prevent a dual release from thriving when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror hit big in PLF. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they angle differently and raise the stakes. 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters shot consecutively, gives leeway to marketing to interlace chapters through character and theme and to keep materials circulating without extended gaps.

How the films are being made

The director conversations behind the upcoming entries suggest a continued preference for hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that spotlights creep and texture rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft spotlights before rolling out a tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and gathers shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta refresh that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature work and production design, which fit with convention floor stunts and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that highlight disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that land in big rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is crowded. Universal’s 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 atmospheric change-up amid macro-brand pushes. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the menu of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Early-year through spring load in summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can deliver 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 run their PLF course.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a bridge slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a slow-reveal plan and limited teasers that favor idea over plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card spend.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s essence. 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 widowed man’s algorithmic partner mutates into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively 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 comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 prickly boss work to survive on a lonely island as the power balance of power swivels and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to fright, shaped by Cronin’s physical craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 home-set haunting piece that channels the fear through a minor’s wavering point of view. Rating: TBD. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-financed and name-above-title eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that satirizes modern genre fads and true crime fascinations. Rating: to be announced. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further reopens, with a unlucky family bound to past horrors. Rating: TBD. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A new start designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBA. Production: in progress. 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 time-true diction and primordial menace. Rating: pending. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three workable forces shape this lineup. First, production that stalled or shuffled in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming drops. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage repeatable beats from test screenings, select scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, 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 tonal lanes of horror will share space 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 pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 modest-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 press those advantages. 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. 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.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sound, and visual design 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

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand gravity where needed, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, hold the mystery, and let the gasps sell the seats.