Antediluvian Evil Rises in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling horror feature, streaming Oct 2025 on global platforms

A blood-curdling paranormal shockfest from cinematographer / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an prehistoric nightmare when drifters become subjects in a malevolent ordeal. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping narrative of struggle and timeless dread that will transform the fear genre this October. Produced by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and cinematic fearfest follows five unknowns who wake up sealed in a hidden cottage under the oppressive power of Kyra, a female lead inhabited by a 2,000-year-old Old Testament spirit. Be prepared to be gripped by a narrative adventure that merges intense horror with arcane tradition, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a recurring concept in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is radically shifted when the monsters no longer form externally, but rather from their psyche. This portrays the malevolent side of these individuals. The result is a bone-chilling cognitive warzone where the events becomes a intense contest between divinity and wickedness.


In a remote woodland, five souls find themselves sealed under the malevolent influence and curse of a obscure figure. As the protagonists becomes helpless to break her influence, isolated and preyed upon by beings beyond comprehension, they are thrust to wrestle with their worst nightmares while the final hour relentlessly counts down toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust intensifies and ties erode, prompting each participant to contemplate their being and the notion of volition itself. The pressure surge with every breath, delivering a chilling narrative that connects unearthly horror with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to awaken basic terror, an presence from prehistory, embedding itself in our weaknesses, and challenging a entity that dismantles free will when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra meant evoking something more primal than sorrow. She is ignorant until the haunting manifests, and that turn is eerie because it is so private.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for public screening beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—making sure households across the world can face this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its first preview, which has been viewed over 100K plays.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, spreading the horror to viewers around the world.


Mark your calendar for this bone-rattling ride through nightmares. Stream *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to witness these evil-rooted truths about free will.


For cast commentary, filmmaker commentary, and updates from the cast and crew, follow @YACFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit our spooky domain.





The horror genre’s decisive shift: 2025 across markets stateside slate braids together ancient-possession motifs, festival-born jolts, and tentpole growls

Beginning with survivor-centric dread suffused with scriptural legend as well as IP renewals paired with focused festival visions, 2025 is lining up as the most dimensioned as well as tactically planned year in years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. major banners bookend the months via recognizable brands, even as SVOD players prime the fall with unboxed visions in concert with legend-coded dread. In the indie lane, the independent cohort is propelled by the afterglow of a record-setting 2024 festival season. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the other windows are mapped with care. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, but this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are exacting, which means 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Premium dread reemerges

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

the Universal camp sets the tone with a statement play: a reimagined Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a modern-day environment. Led by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. Booked into 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 adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Helmed by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial heat flags it as potent.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s schedule rolls out the capstone from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson returns to the helm, and those signature textures resurface: vintage toned fear, trauma foregrounded, along with eerie supernatural rules. The bar is raised this go, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It arrives in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Digital Originals: No Budget, No Problem

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a sealed box body horror arc including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is virtually assured for fall.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend with Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Conceived and directed 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. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a calculated bet. No overstuffed canon. No series drag. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. 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. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Series Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

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

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, with Francis Lawrence directing, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Trend Lines

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror comes roaring back
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Near Term Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The coming 2026 Horror lineup: returning titles, filmmaker-first projects, And A jammed Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek: The emerging genre calendar stacks from day one with a January cluster, thereafter unfolds through the warm months, and pushing into the year-end corridor, mixing marquee clout, new voices, and savvy counterweight. Major distributors and platforms are betting on mid-range economics, theatrical exclusivity first, and viral-minded pushes that elevate horror entries into water-cooler talk.

Where horror stands going into 2026

Horror has proven to be the bankable lever in studio slates, a corner that can break out when it resonates and still safeguard the exposure when it stumbles. After the 2023 year re-taught decision-makers that disciplined-budget fright engines can dominate audience talk, the following year carried the beat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and slow-burn breakouts. The energy moved into 2025, where reawakened brands and prestige plays demonstrated there is appetite for many shades, from sequel tracks to director-led originals that perform internationally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a slate that shows rare alignment across distributors, with mapped-out bands, a pairing of legacy names and novel angles, and a reinvigorated commitment on box-office windows that power the aftermarket on premium on-demand and digital services.

Marketers add the genre now behaves like a flex slot on the schedule. Horror can roll out on numerous frames, supply a clean hook for creative and social clips, and lead with demo groups that line up on Thursday nights and continue through the second frame if the entry delivers. Emerging from a work stoppage lag, the 2026 configuration indicates certainty in that playbook. The calendar starts with a loaded January band, then leans on spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while leaving room for a September to October window that reaches into the Halloween frame and into post-Halloween. The calendar also spotlights the ongoing integration of specialized imprints and streaming partners that can stage a platform run, build word of mouth, and broaden at the optimal moment.

A second macro trend is brand curation across shared IP webs and veteran brands. The players are not just producing another continuation. They are shaping as brand continuity with a specialness, whether that is a logo package that suggests a re-angled tone or a lead change that binds a fresh chapter to a first wave. At the alongside this, the directors behind the most watched originals are prioritizing real-world builds, special makeup and concrete locations. That convergence hands the 2026 slate a lively combination of brand comfort and unexpected turns, which is what works overseas.

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

Paramount defines the early cadence with two big-ticket titles that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, setting it up as both a relay and a foundation-forward relationship-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the narrative stance signals a legacy-leaning treatment without retreading the last two entries’ family thread. Anticipate a campaign driven by brand visuals, initial cast looks, and a staggered trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will stress. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will drive large awareness through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format fitting quick pivots to whatever owns horror talk that spring.

Universal has three specific pushes. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is crisp, loss-driven, and big-hook: a grieving man activates an artificial companion that shifts into a killer companion. The date sets it at the front of a thick month, with the Universal machine likely to iterate on viral uncanny stunts and snackable content that interweaves love and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a official title to become an event moment closer to the early tease. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele titles are set up as must-see filmmaker statements, with a mystery-first teaser and a subsequent trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The prime October weekend creates space for Universal to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has demonstrated that a visceral, practical-effects forward strategy can feel top-tier on a mid-range budget. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror surge that embraces global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio places two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, keeping a bankable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is selling as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both longtime followers and general audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build assets around mythos, and monster craft, elements that can increase deluxe auditorium demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in historical precision and dialect, this time set against lycan legends. Focus Features has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is supportive.

Digital platform strategies

Windowing plans in 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal titles head to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a pacing that maximizes both first-week urgency and viewer acquisition in the later window. Prime Video will mix library titles with world buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in back-catalog play, using curated hubs, horror hubs, and curated strips to maximize the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix retains agility about Netflix originals and festival grabs, finalizing horror entries on shorter runways and staging as events launches with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a tiered of limited theatrical footprints and fast windowing that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a per-project basis. The platform has signaled readiness to invest in select projects with acclaimed directors or name-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for monthly engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 track with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is clean: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, updated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the back half.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, marshalling the project through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then leveraging the Christmas window to open out. That positioning has proved effective for filmmaker-driven genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception merits. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using small theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their community.

Legacy titles versus originals

By tilt, 2026 tilts in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap name recognition. The question, as ever, is audience fatigue. The practical approach is to position each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is bringing forward character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-accented approach from a rising filmmaker. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and director-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the bundle is grounded enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Recent comps frame the playbook. In 2023, a theater-first model that held distribution windows did not stop a dual release from working when the brand was powerful. In 2024, art-forward horror punched above its weight in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they alter lens and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, permits marketing to relate entries through personae and themes and to keep materials circulating without hiatuses.

How the films are being made

The production chatter behind the upcoming entries telegraph a continued bias toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that centers atmosphere and fear rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead press and artisan spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and creates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta recalibration that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature craft and set design, which work nicely for convention activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel compelling. Look for trailers that accent pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that explode in larger rooms.

Release calendar overview

January is busy. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid heftier brand moves. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the variety of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Early-year through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Shoulder season into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a transitional slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a opaque tease strategy and limited pre-release reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and card redemption.

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 continues. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s artificial companion evolves into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

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 collide with a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. 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 severe boss fight to survive on a uninhabited island as the control balance reverses and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to nightmare, built on Cronin’s practical effects and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting piece that teases the dread of a child’s unreliable interpretations. Rating: TBA. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult 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 genre lampoon that riffs on in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBD. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites surges, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new household snared by returning horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. 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 priority on pure survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: to be announced. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on antique diction and primordial menace. Rating: pending. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three pragmatic forces shape this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or re-sequenced in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest repeatable beats from test screenings, metered scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will stack across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in click site early summer, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 midrange-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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first surprise 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two 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 keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, 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.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is name recognition where it counts, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the frights sell the seats.