Antediluvian Evil returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising horror feature, bowing Oct 2025 on leading streamers

An bone-chilling supernatural nightmare movie from cinematographer / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an timeless force when guests become pawns in a diabolical contest. Dropping October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing story of overcoming and primeval wickedness that will revolutionize terror storytelling this autumn. Visualized by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and atmospheric cinema piece follows five people who snap to locked in a hidden house under the hostile grip of Kyra, a female lead controlled by a antiquated biblical force. Prepare to be gripped by a cinematic adventure that weaves together raw fear with ancient myths, dropping on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a long-standing concept in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is inverted when the dark entities no longer emerge outside their bodies, but rather inside them. This represents the most terrifying facet of the cast. The result is a bone-chilling emotional conflict where the plotline becomes a brutal conflict between innocence and sin.


In a barren forest, five souls find themselves contained under the possessive dominion and possession of a obscure character. As the survivors becomes vulnerable to fight her grasp, exiled and preyed upon by creatures beyond comprehension, they are forced to reckon with their emotional phantoms while the time ruthlessly strikes toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease grows and connections erode, demanding each character to reflect on their values and the structure of self-determination itself. The hazard intensify with every instant, delivering a scare-fueled ride that weaves together paranormal dread with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to uncover basic terror, an presence that existed before mankind, operating within emotional fractures, and wrestling with a evil that strips down our being when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra meant channeling something unfamiliar to reason. She is oblivious until the demon emerges, and that pivot is deeply unsettling because it is so visceral.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for on-demand beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving users worldwide can face this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its original clip, which has gathered over a viral response.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, making the film to viewers around the world.


Make sure to see this unforgettable journey into fear. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to experience these fearful discoveries about the psyche.


For film updates, production insights, and announcements from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursed across fan hubs and visit the movie’s homepage.





Current horror’s Turning Point: 2025 for genre fans U.S. calendar Mixes myth-forward possession, signature indie scares, paired with tentpole growls

Running from last-stand terror suffused with mythic scripture to returning series together with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 appears poised to be the genre’s most multifaceted plus carefully orchestrated year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. Top studios lay down anchors by way of signature titles, while premium streamers pack the fall with new perspectives alongside old-world menace. On the festival side, the art-house flank is buoyed by the kinetic energy of a banner 2024 fest year. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, yet in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are precise, therefore 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s pipeline begins the calendar with a bold swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in a modern-day environment. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. dated for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer wanes, Warner Bros. Pictures bows the concluding entry from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

After that, The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: nostalgic menace, trauma centered writing, plus otherworld rules that chill. Here the stakes rise, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, grows the animatronic horror lineup, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It bows in December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Originals: Economy, maximum dread

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

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

More contained by design is Together, a close quarters body horror study with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable with Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No bloated mythology. No continuity burden. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. 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 one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

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

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Franchise Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

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

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, led by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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.

Key Trends

Mythic dread mainstreams
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 ascends again
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Season Ahead: Fall stack and winter swing card

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The oncoming terror release year: follow-ups, non-franchise titles, in tandem with A hectic Calendar calibrated for shocks

Dek The arriving horror season loads from day one with a January logjam, thereafter unfolds through summer, and running into the festive period, balancing series momentum, novel approaches, and tactical alternatives. Studio marketers and platforms are doubling down on tight budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and viral-minded pushes that transform genre titles into cross-demo moments.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The genre has turned into the surest counterweight in studio lineups, a category that can grow when it hits and still protect the downside when it stumbles. After 2023 showed greenlighters that lean-budget chillers can lead mainstream conversation, the following year sustained momentum with signature-voice projects and word-of-mouth wins. The carry carried into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and prestige plays made clear there is an opening for different modes, from returning installments to director-led originals that perform internationally. The aggregate for 2026 is a roster that shows rare alignment across studios, with mapped-out bands, a pairing of household franchises and fresh ideas, and a reinvigorated commitment on release windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium rental and home streaming.

Planners observe the space now behaves like a versatile piece on the rollout map. Horror can launch on almost any weekend, generate a easy sell for spots and platform-native cuts, and punch above weight with audiences that appear on advance nights and hold through the next pass if the picture pays off. After a production delay era, the 2026 mapping indicates conviction in that approach. The calendar opens with a weighty January schedule, then exploits spring through early summer for counterweight, while saving space for a autumn stretch that flows toward spooky season and past Halloween. The grid also reflects the greater integration of indie distributors and platforms that can platform and widen, grow buzz, and grow at the strategic time.

A parallel macro theme is brand strategy across interlocking continuities and legacy franchises. Major shops are not just making another next film. They are looking to package ongoing narrative with a sense of event, whether that is a title design that announces a fresh attitude or a casting pivot that ties a incoming chapter to a heyday. At the alongside this, the filmmakers behind the marquee originals are prioritizing tactile craft, on-set effects and specific settings. That convergence offers 2026 a confident blend of assurance and freshness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount establishes early momentum with two high-profile releases that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the spine, setting it up as both a baton pass and a DNA-forward character-driven entry. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a heritage-honoring approach without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected stacked with iconic art, initial cast looks, and a trailer cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will double down on. As a summer relief option, this one will go after wide buzz through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format supporting quick reframes to whatever owns genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three discrete projects. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is simple, sorrow-tinged, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man activates an virtual partner that mutates into a deadly partner. The date puts it at the front of a packed window, with the studio’s marketing likely to mirror odd public stunts and snackable content that fuses intimacy and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a title drop to become an earned moment closer to the first look. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. The filmmaker’s films are marketed as auteur events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second wave of trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The pre-Halloween slot gives Universal room to lead 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 commands, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has shown that a visceral, practical-effects forward mix can feel big on a disciplined budget. Look for a hard-R summer horror surge that leans hard into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio places two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, continuing a trusty supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is marketing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both franchise faithful and new audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build campaign pieces around mythos, and monster aesthetics, elements that can lift format premiums and fan-culture participation.

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

Where the platforms fit in

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s releases transition to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a sequence that elevates both FOMO and viewer acquisition in the back half. Prime Video pairs licensed titles with international acquisitions and limited cinema engagements when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in archive usage, using timely promos, seasonal hubs, and programmed rows to stretch the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix films and festival additions, finalizing horror entries near their drops and staging as events go-lives with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a hybrid of targeted cinema placements and speedy platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has signaled readiness to purchase select projects with accomplished filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 sequence with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is clean: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, reimagined for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the back half.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, managing the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then working the holiday dates to increase reach. That positioning has paid off for elevated genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception justifies. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using precision theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their community.

IP versus fresh ideas

By proportion, the 2026 slate tips toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use cultural cachet. The question, as ever, is brand wear. The near-term solution is to frame each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is foregrounding character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a European tilt from a buzzed-about director. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the configuration is familiar enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years illuminate the plan. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that kept clean windows did not hamper a parallel release from paying off when the brand was robust. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror punched above its weight in premium large format. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they shift POV and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, creates space for marketing to relate entries through relationships and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without dead zones.

Technique and craft currents

The production chatter behind this slate point to a continued tilt toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that foregrounds grain and menace rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft features before rolling out a tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for red-band excess, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and generates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a self-referential reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will live or die on monster work and world-building, which favor fan conventions and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that accent precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that play in premium auditoriums.

How the year maps out

January is full. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid heftier brand moves. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the mix of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth persists.

Late Q1 and spring prepare summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds 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 spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late summer into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder season window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event occupies October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited pre-release reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card use.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s algorithmic partner evolves into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete 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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

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 be swallowed by a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: mood-led 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 severe boss battle to survive on a cut-off island as the chain of command reverses and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to nightmare, anchored by Cronin’s practical effects and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 closed-door haunting chiller that twists the fright of a child’s shaky point of view. Rating: rating pending. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-scale and toplined supernatural 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 send-up revival that lampoons modern genre fads and true crime fascinations. Rating: undetermined. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites flares, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: shooting 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 new family lashed to ancient dread. Rating: to be announced. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-first horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: forthcoming. Production: continuing. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and ancient menace. Rating: TBA. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. 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 big-screen run before platforming. Source Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three hands-on forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or shifted in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous 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 launches. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Another factor is the scheduling math. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, providing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will jostle across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch 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 cold, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, soundscape, and framing 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

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand heft 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 late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, hold the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.