Antediluvian Dread surfaces: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled thriller, streaming October 2025 across global platforms

A spine-tingling otherworldly horror tale from cinematographer / director Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an primordial dread when passersby become vehicles in a fiendish experiment. Launching this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing story of staying alive and primeval wickedness that will reimagine the horror genre this spooky time. Produced by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and eerie motion picture follows five characters who awaken caught in a hidden shack under the unfriendly sway of Kyra, a young woman claimed by a 2,000-year-old biblical force. Brace yourself to be seized by a filmic outing that melds primitive horror with timeless legends, unleashing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a mainstay fixture in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is challenged when the demons no longer arise from an outside force, but rather from their psyche. This marks the most terrifying part of every character. The result is a harrowing moral showdown where the suspense becomes a intense tug-of-war between right and wrong.


In a wilderness-stricken landscape, five characters find themselves contained under the unholy influence and grasp of a shadowy apparition. As the companions becomes unable to evade her dominion, abandoned and tracked by creatures inconceivable, they are required to stand before their soulful dreads while the deathwatch unceasingly moves toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust builds and friendships disintegrate, driving each person to reconsider their identity and the structure of independent thought itself. The tension climb with every short lapse, delivering a horror experience that harmonizes demonic fright with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to channel primitive panic, an darkness that existed before mankind, feeding on mental cracks, and navigating a entity that strips down our being when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra meant channeling something far beyond human desperation. She is unseeing until the haunting manifests, and that pivot is terrifying because it is so intimate.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for on-demand beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—allowing subscribers worldwide can watch this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original promo, which has collected over 100K plays.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, bringing the film to horror fans worldwide.


Witness this bone-rattling descent into darkness. Confront *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to survive these haunting secrets about mankind.


For featurettes, making-of footage, and insider scoops from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursed across social media and visit youngandcursed.com.





Contemporary horror’s tipping point: calendar year 2025 U.S. calendar weaves biblical-possession ideas, art-house nightmares, plus IP aftershocks

Running from pressure-cooker survival tales infused with ancient scripture and onward to legacy revivals plus keen independent perspectives, 2025 is emerging as the most textured in tandem with strategic year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Major studios bookend the months using marquee IP, simultaneously streaming platforms flood the fall with first-wave breakthroughs set against ancient terrors. On another front, festival-forward creators is drafting behind the afterglow from a record 2024 festival run. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, and in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are targeted, so 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige fear returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s slate sets the tone with a bold swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Guided by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. landing in mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. From director Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer wanes, Warner Bros. Pictures sets loose the finale from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re teams, and those signature textures resurface: throwback unease, trauma in the foreground, and a cold supernatural calculus. The ante is higher this round, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The follow up digs further into canon, grows the animatronic horror lineup, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It hits in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Offerings: Low budgets, big teeth

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

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic 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.

On the quieter side is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. From writer director 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 the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. 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.

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. That is a savvy move. No puffed out backstory. No series drag. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. 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 staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Signals and Trends

Mythic lanes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror comes roaring back
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Projection: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

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

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The upcoming genre calendar year ahead: next chapters, standalone ideas, together with A jammed Calendar optimized for goosebumps

Dek: The brand-new genre calendar packs up front with a January logjam, following that stretches through summer, and pushing into the December corridor, marrying franchise firepower, new voices, and well-timed release strategy. Studio marketers and platforms are prioritizing lean spends, big-screen-first runs, and viral-minded pushes that shape genre titles into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror momentum into 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the predictable release in annual schedules, a pillar that can scale when it breaks through and still safeguard the liability when it fails to connect. After 2023 proved to studio brass that modestly budgeted entries can drive pop culture, the following year extended the rally with auteur-driven buzzy films and stealth successes. The upswing pushed into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and premium-leaning entries signaled there is capacity for different modes, from returning installments to fresh IP that play globally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a schedule that appears tightly organized across the industry, with clear date clusters, a pairing of brand names and untested plays, and a reinvigorated focus on theatrical windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium video on demand and home platforms.

Executives say the space now behaves like a versatile piece on the slate. Horror can premiere on most weekends, furnish a tight logline for previews and TikTok spots, and over-index with audiences that show up on opening previews and continue through the second weekend if the feature satisfies. In the wake of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 mapping exhibits trust in that equation. The year starts with a thick January window, then turns to spring and early summer for audience offsets, while holding room for a September to October window that runs into late October and afterwards. The layout also features the ongoing integration of specialty arms and streamers that can build gradually, fuel WOM, and widen at the precise moment.

A second macro trend is series management across linked properties and storied titles. The companies are not just rolling another return. They are looking to package brand continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a graphic identity that signals a fresh attitude or a talent selection that ties a fresh chapter to a foundational era. At the same time, the writer-directors behind the eagerly awaited originals are doubling down on practical craft, practical effects and specific settings. That interplay hands 2026 a lively combination of familiarity and invention, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount plants an early flag with two spotlight bets that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, presenting it as both a succession moment and a DNA-forward character study. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative posture signals a classic-referencing strategy without repeating the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Anticipate a campaign centered on classic imagery, initial cast looks, and a tease cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will feature. As a summer alternative, this one will generate wide buzz through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick switches to whatever dominates pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three clear lanes. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is elegant, tragic, and concept-forward: a grieving man onboards an AI companion that becomes a harmful mate. The date puts it at the front of a stacked January, with the marketing arm likely to recreate creepy live activations and short reels that threads intimacy and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under working 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 sets up a final title to become an attention spike closer to the first look. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele projects are set up as marquee events, with a hinting teaser and a second trailer wave that shape mood without giving away the concept. The late-October frame gives the studio room to maximize 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, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has long shown that a gnarly, on-set effects led treatment can feel deluxe on a controlled budget. Expect a grime-caked summer horror hit that emphasizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio books two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, continuing a steady supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is describing as a new take 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 well-defined brief to serve both fans and casuals. The fall slot affords Sony time to build materials around universe detail, and creature effects, elements that can drive premium screens and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by minute detail and period language, this time orbiting lycan myth. Focus Features has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is favorable.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform plans for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s genre entries move to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a structure that fortifies both initial urgency and viewer acquisition in the later phase. Prime Video blends library titles with worldwide buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library curation, using editorial spots, horror hubs, and curated rows to keep attention on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix remains opportunistic about in-house releases and festival buys, finalizing horror entries toward the drop and turning into events debuts with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a laddered of precision theatrical plays and quick platforming that translates talk to trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has been willing to buy select projects with acclaimed directors or star packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation intensifies.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is curating 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 offer is no-nonsense: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, updated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn stretch.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, piloting the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then using the holiday corridor to widen. That positioning has worked well for prestige horror with four-quadrant hopes. 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 fair assumption is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception encourages. Expect 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 together, using small theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their community.

Balance of brands and originals

By weight, 2026 skews toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on name recognition. The challenge, as ever, is audience fatigue. The workable fix is to present each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is foregrounding relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-tinted vision from a emerging director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a survival chiller premise with signature mischievous 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 known IP, the package is anchored enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Comps from the last three years illuminate the model. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that maintained windows did not deter a simultaneous release test from succeeding when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror exceeded expectations in big-format see here auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they alter lens and increase ambition. 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 two-film strategy, with chapters produced back-to-back, allows marketing to relate entries through character web and themes and to keep assets alive without extended gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The creative meetings behind the 2026 entries telegraph a continued emphasis on real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that foregrounds aura and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in feature stories and guild coverage before rolling out a tone piece that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and produces shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta inflection that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature design and production design, which play well in convention activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel must-have. Look for trailers that accent hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that shine in top rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is heavy. 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 quiet contrast amid big-brand pushes. 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 spread of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth sticks.

Late Q1 and spring set up the summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls 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 spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

August into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil follows September 18, a transitional slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited advance reveals that elevate concept over story.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and holiday card usage.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s digital partner unfolds into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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 rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. 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 try to survive on a isolated island as the power balance upends and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, have a peek at these guys 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official imp source materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to horror, built on Cronin’s physical craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting setup that pipes the unease through a child’s shifting perspective. Rating: pending. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A spoof revival that needles of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime crazes. Rating: TBA. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 spreads, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a different family linked to returning horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-driven horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing. 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 time-true diction and primordial menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three workable forces frame this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or recalendared in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and tighter schedules. 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 debuts. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage shareable moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will compete across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where value-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, 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 beat and breadth. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back 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 preserve buzz while driving admissions 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 value the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, soundcraft, and cinematography that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is franchise muscle where it helps, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one 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.