Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes ancient dread, a bone chilling horror feature, rolling out October 2025 across major platforms

An unnerving metaphysical thriller from cinematographer / director Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an timeless nightmare when unknowns become vehicles in a cursed ritual. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking account of staying alive and archaic horror that will reimagine the fear genre this Halloween season. Directed by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and immersive cinema piece follows five individuals who are stirred stranded in a remote house under the malevolent command of Kyra, a young woman overtaken by a ancient holy text monster. Arm yourself to be immersed by a visual outing that melds gut-punch terror with mythic lore, unleashing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a recurring pillar in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is inverted when the monsters no longer descend externally, but rather from their core. This portrays the most primal facet of the victims. The result is a emotionally raw spiritual tug-of-war where the story becomes a ongoing tug-of-war between virtue and vice.


In a bleak outland, five souls find themselves trapped under the ominous force and haunting of a enigmatic spirit. As the companions becomes vulnerable to combat her curse, cut off and targeted by entities indescribable, they are obligated to encounter their darkest emotions while the final hour coldly pushes forward toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease intensifies and friendships crack, requiring each individual to examine their existence and the foundation of volition itself. The tension magnify with every heartbeat, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that connects unearthly horror with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to evoke core terror, an threat that existed before mankind, feeding on soul-level flaws, and questioning a curse that redefines identity when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra called for internalizing something deeper than fear. She is ignorant until the entity awakens, and that turn is bone-chilling because it is so personal.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for on-demand beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—allowing subscribers across the world can enjoy this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its intro video, which has collected over a viral response.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, extending the thrill to horror fans worldwide.


Make sure to see this mind-warping exploration of dread. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to see these nightmarish insights about the mind.


For behind-the-scenes access, on-set glimpses, and alerts from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across entertainment pages and visit the movie portal.





Current horror’s inflection point: 2025 for genre fans U.S. calendar integrates biblical-possession ideas, underground frights, in parallel with series shake-ups

Across grit-forward survival fare infused with scriptural legend through to IP renewals in concert with surgical indie voices, 2025 is shaping up as horror’s most layered plus deliberate year in the past ten years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. the big studios hold down the year via recognizable brands, concurrently streaming platforms load up the fall with first-wave breakthroughs set against scriptural shivers. Across the art-house lane, festival-forward creators is carried on the kinetic energy of a banner 2024 fest year. As Halloween stays the prime week, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and now, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are exacting, thus 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s distribution arm sets the tone with a bold swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a sharp contemporary setting. From director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. timed for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Eli Craig directs starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer wanes, Warner Bros. Pictures unveils the final movement from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Even with a familiar chassis, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Scott Derrickson again directs, and those signature textures resurface: retro dread, trauma as narrative engine, along with eerie supernatural rules. This pass pushes higher, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It hits in December, buttoning the final window.

Digital Originals: Economy, maximum dread

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a body horror chamber piece led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also rising is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative featuring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via 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 mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Written and helmed 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 dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within 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. That is a savvy move. No overstuffed canon. No series drag. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. 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 tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Series Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

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

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, led by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Trends Worth Watching

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Big screen is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Projection: Fall crush plus winter X factor

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. 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 success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The 2026 spook cycle: entries, original films, alongside A stacked Calendar Built For chills

Dek The arriving terror cycle builds from the jump with a January logjam, thereafter unfolds through summer corridors, and well into the December corridor, blending legacy muscle, new voices, and shrewd counterweight. Studios and platforms are focusing on lean spends, theatrical leads, and social-driven marketing that convert genre releases into national conversation.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has turned into the steady swing in studio lineups, a vertical that can lift when it breaks through and still hedge the drawdown when it fails to connect. After 2023 signaled to executives that low-to-mid budget scare machines can steer social chatter, 2024 sustained momentum with auteur-driven buzzy films and sleeper breakouts. The trend moved into the 2025 frame, where reboots and awards-minded projects signaled there is appetite for varied styles, from continued chapters to standalone ideas that translate worldwide. The result for 2026 is a roster that seems notably aligned across the field, with purposeful groupings, a combination of marquee IP and new concepts, and a sharpened focus on cinema windows that power the aftermarket on PVOD and SVOD.

Schedulers say the horror lane now acts as a versatile piece on the release plan. Horror can bow on most weekends, supply a tight logline for spots and social clips, and overperform with moviegoers that respond on first-look nights and stay strong through the next pass if the picture delivers. Post a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 cadence signals comfort in that approach. The slate kicks off with a loaded January schedule, then plants flags in spring and early summer for alternate plays, while clearing room for a autumn stretch that reaches into holiday-adjacent weekends and past the holiday. The map also underscores the deeper integration of specialized imprints and streaming partners that can platform and widen, stoke social talk, and expand at the strategic time.

An added macro current is brand management across connected story worlds and established properties. The players are not just pushing another installment. They are working to present lineage with a premium feel, whether that is a title design that announces a re-angled tone or a lead change that binds a next entry to a early run. At the alongside this, the writer-directors behind the most buzzed-about originals are leaning into material texture, practical gags and vivid settings. That convergence offers 2026 a lively combination of familiarity and shock, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

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

Paramount plants an early flag with two marquee plays that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the lead, angling it as both a cross-generational handoff and a classic-mode character-first story. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach indicates a throwback-friendly angle without recycling the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Anticipate a campaign rooted in heritage visuals, first-look character reveals, and a tiered teaser plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will stress. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will pursue wide appeal through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format enabling quick turns to whatever leads the conversation that spring.

Universal has three separate plays. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is clean, soulful, and commercial: a grieving man purchases an intelligent companion that escalates into a murderous partner. The date slots it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s promo team likely to reprise strange in-person beats and brief clips that mixes intimacy and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a name unveil to become an teaser payoff closer to the early tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. His entries are branded as auteur events, with a this page teaser that reveals little and a subsequent trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor offers Universal room to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a gnarly, on-set effects led style can feel deluxe on a efficient spend. Position this as a grime-caked summer horror shot that centers offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio rolls out two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, keeping a reliable supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is calling a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both devotees and general audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build artifacts around narrative world, and creature effects, elements that can amplify premium format interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in obsessive craft and archaic language, this time driven by werewolf stories. The company has already locked the day for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is glowing.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform plans for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre slate feed copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a stair-step that fortifies both launch urgency and platform bumps in the tail. Prime Video continues to mix outside acquisitions with global pickups and limited runs in theaters when the data signals it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in deep cuts, using timely promos, genre hubs, and editorial rows to extend momentum on aggregate take. Netflix keeps flexible about own-slate titles and festival deals, scheduling horror entries with shorter lead times and elevating as drops debuts with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a two-step of tailored theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that translates talk to trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has shown a willingness to pick up select projects with name filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for platform stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 sequence with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is clear: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, modernized for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the October weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday slot to broaden. That positioning has served the company well for arthouse horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception supports. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using targeted theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Franchises versus originals

By tilt, 2026 favors the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on franchise value. The risk, as ever, is brand erosion. The workable fix is to brand each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is leading with relationship and legacy 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 carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated 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 precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the assembly is familiar enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

The last three-year set make sense of the plan. In 2023, a theater-first model that preserved streaming windows did not his comment is here obstruct a hybrid test from hitting when the brand was compelling. In 2024, auteur craft horror surged in large-format rooms. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they pivot perspective and increase ambition. 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 back-to-back plan, with chapters shot in tandem, builds a path for marketing to connect the chapters through character and theme and to leave creative active without dead zones.

Technique and craft currents

The creative meetings behind the year’s horror suggest a continued turn toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that emphasizes aura and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft features before rolling out a tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and drives shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-referential reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature execution and sets, which fit with fan conventions and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel key. Look for trailers that spotlight fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that land in premium houses.

From winter to holidays

January is jammed. 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 foggy reset amid heftier brand moves. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the menu of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth spreads.

February through May prime the summer. Scream 7 arrives 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 nurtures big openers. Universal’s 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 sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can connect 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 rolled through premiums.

Late-season stretch leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder season window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited disclosures that trade in concept over detail.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card use.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s synthetic partner mutates into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

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 run into a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: aura-driven 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 difficult boss try to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance of power turns and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to menace, rooted in Cronin’s in-camera craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting setup that teases the terror of a child’s inconsistent POV. Rating: rating pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-crafted and headline-actor led ghost thriller.

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 parody return that teases hot-button genre motifs and true crime fervors. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: cameras due to roll 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 breaks out, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a new family caught in older hauntings. Rating: undetermined. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A clean reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on true survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: pending. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: closely held. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and primal menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. 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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the moment is 2026

Three pragmatic forces organize this lineup. First, production that downshifted or reshuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming landings. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on turnkey scare beats from test screenings, metered scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, clearing runway for genre entries that can seize a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will trade weekends across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. 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 sleeper chase 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit 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 icy, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, aural 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 Is Well Positioned

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is IP strength where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the gasps sell the seats.