Mythic Dread Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked supernatural thriller, rolling out October 2025 across top streamers

One unnerving spiritual nightmare movie from dramatist / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an timeless evil when guests become pawns in a hellish ceremony. Going live October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing narrative of resistance and prehistoric entity that will revamp genre cinema this harvest season. Visualized by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and emotionally thick thriller follows five unacquainted souls who wake up caught in a remote dwelling under the oppressive dominion of Kyra, a female presence claimed by a time-worn biblical demon. Get ready to be enthralled by a screen-based display that fuses visceral dread with ancient myths, debuting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a historical fixture in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is turned on its head when the entities no longer arise from elsewhere, but rather within themselves. This symbolizes the most sinister shade of the cast. The result is a gripping internal warfare where the drama becomes a unforgiving confrontation between good and evil.


In a barren landscape, five young people find themselves sealed under the ominous aura and domination of a haunted figure. As the cast becomes powerless to escape her grasp, severed and followed by presences beyond comprehension, they are made to face their inner horrors while the countdown mercilessly runs out toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease intensifies and links disintegrate, forcing each soul to doubt their personhood and the integrity of free will itself. The pressure intensify with every breath, delivering a scare-fueled ride that blends mystical fear with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to extract elemental fright, an presence before modern man, operating within fragile psyche, and exposing a evil that strips down our being when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra needed manifesting something unfamiliar to reason. She is clueless until the control shifts, and that conversion is haunting because it is so deep.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for home viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—offering streamers no matter where they are can engage with this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its original promo, which has garnered over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, giving access to the movie to thrill-seekers globally.


Experience this visceral ride through nightmares. Confront *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to dive into these chilling revelations about human nature.


For exclusive trailers, director cuts, and promotions from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across your socials and visit the movie portal.





U.S. horror’s inflection point: calendar year 2025 domestic schedule interlaces Mythic Possession, festival-born jolts, alongside brand-name tremors

Kicking off with pressure-cooker survival tales steeped in near-Eastern lore and onward to franchise returns paired with surgical indie voices, 2025 is tracking to be the richest paired with calculated campaign year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. studio powerhouses set cornerstones via recognizable brands, simultaneously platform operators stack the fall with debut heat and scriptural shivers. On another front, the independent cohort is fueled by the uplift of 2024’s record festival wave. Since Halloween is the prized date, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, yet in 2025, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are calculated, as a result 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige terror resurfaces

The top end is active. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 accelerates.

the Universal camp kicks off the frame with a risk-forward move: a reconceived Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, instead in a current-day frame. Led by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. timed for mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Steered by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

Toward summer’s end, Warner Bros. Pictures launches the swan song within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: retrograde shiver, trauma as text, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This pass pushes higher, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, broadens the animatronic terror cast, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It lands in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Offerings: Modest spend, serious shock

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a two hander body horror spiral starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn led by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It reads as sharp positioning. No puffed out backstory. No legacy baggage. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy Brands: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

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

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, steered by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Trends to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror returns
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Season Ahead: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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 scrap for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The new genre calendar year ahead: installments, universe starters, in tandem with A jammed Calendar aimed at chills

Dek The upcoming horror cycle packs from day one with a January pile-up, from there flows through the summer months, and carrying into the winter holidays, blending franchise firepower, new concepts, and well-timed alternatives. Major distributors and platforms are betting on responsible budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and short-form initiatives that pivot genre titles into broad-appeal conversations.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror filmmaking has shown itself to be the predictable swing in studio slates, a genre that can surge when it resonates and still protect the floor when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year reassured leaders that mid-range shockers can dominate mainstream conversation, 2024 extended the rally with auteur-driven buzzy films and sleeper breakouts. The upswing rolled into 2025, where reboots and awards-minded projects made clear there is appetite for a variety of tones, from returning installments to filmmaker-driven originals that export nicely. The result for 2026 is a slate that seems notably aligned across the industry, with mapped-out bands, a pairing of legacy names and novel angles, and a reinvigorated eye on box-office windows that drive downstream revenue on premium video on demand and platforms.

Marketers add the horror lane now serves as a utility player on the rollout map. Horror can open on almost any weekend, yield a grabby hook for spots and platform-native cuts, and outperform with ticket buyers that turn out on Thursday previews and return through the next pass if the film hits. Coming out of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 layout reflects certainty in that logic. The slate begins with a crowded January block, then turns to spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while making space for a autumn push that extends to late October and past the holiday. The grid also spotlights the greater integration of specialized labels and OTT outlets that can develop over weeks, build word of mouth, and grow at the sweet spot.

A second macro trend is brand strategy across unified worlds and classic IP. The companies are not just releasing another entry. They are looking to package continuity with a occasion, whether that is a logo package that conveys a recalibrated tone or a casting choice that threads a new entry to a early run. At the meanwhile, the directors behind the eagerly awaited originals are embracing hands-on technique, on-set effects and concrete locations. That blend affords the 2026 slate a vital pairing of brand comfort and invention, which is the formula for international play.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount defines the early cadence with two high-profile titles that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the focus, presenting it as both a relay and a back-to-basics character-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the artistic posture hints at a roots-evoking treatment without retreading the last two entries’ family thread. Anticipate a campaign stacked with heritage visuals, character previews, and a two-beat trailer plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back 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 development for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will spotlight. As a summer relief option, this one will drive large awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format supporting quick adjustments to whatever tops trend lines that spring.

Universal has three discrete plays. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is elegant, sorrow-tinged, and easily pitched: a grieving man activates an intelligent companion that unfolds into a fatal companion. The date slots it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s team likely to recreate uncanny-valley stunts and short reels that mixes intimacy and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a branding reveal to become an headline beat closer to the early tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s releases are framed as director events, with a hinting teaser and a second beat that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The spooky-season slot creates space for Universal to command 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, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has long shown that a flesh-and-blood, prosthetic-heavy method can feel elevated on a efficient spend. Frame it as a hard-R summer horror hit that centers overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio books two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, keeping a consistent supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has changed the date 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 re-enters in what the studio is billing 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 well-defined brief to serve both franchise faithful and general audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build assets around lore, and monster design, elements that can lift IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror built on minute detail and language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The distributor has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is supportive.

Where the platforms fit in

Windowing plans in 2026 run on proven patterns. The studio’s horror films transition to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a sequence that amplifies both premiere heat and viewer acquisition in the post-theatrical. Prime Video pairs acquired titles with worldwide buys and small theatrical windows when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library engagement, using featured rows, horror hubs, and featured rows to sustain interest on aggregate take. Netflix keeps optionality about original films and festival buys, dating horror entries on shorter runways and staging as events go-lives with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a laddered of targeted cinema placements and rapid platforming that translates talk to trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has been willing to purchase select projects with recognized filmmakers or A-list packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation intensifies.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 corridor with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is simple: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, retooled for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a theatrical-first plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the October weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, managing the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then relying on the December frame to broaden. That positioning has paid off for arthouse horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception merits. Do not be surprised by 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 parallel, using select theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their audience.

Franchise entries versus originals

By number, the 2026 slate leans toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on fan equity. The potential drawback, as ever, is diminishing returns. The standing approach is to sell each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is bringing forward character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-accented approach from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the cast-creatives package is assuring enough to drive advance ticketing and preview-night turnout.

The last three-year set contextualize the playbook. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that respected streaming windows did not preclude a day-date move from hitting when the brand was big. In 2024, precision craft horror punched above its weight in premium large format. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they shift POV and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues 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 filmed consecutively, builds a path for marketing to interlace chapters through character web and themes and to hold creative in the market without long gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The filmmaking conversations behind the year’s horror point to a continued move toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that spotlights unease and texture rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and medieval diction, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in long-lead press and artisan spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that withholds plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta pivot that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster realization and design, which play well in convention activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that accent pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that explode in larger 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 foggy reset amid marquee brands. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the tone spread carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Winter into spring prime the summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now backs 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 sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Back half into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a minimalist tease strategy and limited advance reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can open up in this website the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and holiday card usage.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s machine mate becomes something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot 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 travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: gothic-game 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 unyielding boss try to survive on a cut-off island as the control dynamic turns and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to horror, driven by Cronin’s practical craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting tale that plays with the unease of a child’s uncertain perceptions. Rating: pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-grade and marquee-led supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A send-up revival that satirizes of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime obsessions. Rating: not yet rated. Production: shoot planned 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 breaks out, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a unlucky family snared by returning horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

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

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: to be announced. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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 elemental dread. Rating: not yet rated. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the moment is 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces inform this lineup. First, production that paused or shuffled in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage bite-size scare clips from test screenings, select scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, making room for genre entries that can control a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will stack across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where lean-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 left-field winner 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.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient placements, 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 dimensionality, acoustics, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is name recognition where it counts, auteur intent where it matters, 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the shudders sell the seats.