Primeval Evil Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled horror feature, streaming Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

A chilling spectral suspense story from scriptwriter / director Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an forgotten terror when passersby become subjects in a malevolent ritual. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a intense narrative of overcoming and forgotten curse that will transform fear-driven cinema this spooky time. Guided by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and atmospheric suspense flick follows five lost souls who emerge stranded in a wilderness-bound hideaway under the unfriendly command of Kyra, a female presence occupied by a prehistoric biblical force. Be prepared to be gripped by a immersive journey that unites bodily fright with timeless legends, dropping on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a historical trope in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is flipped when the beings no longer descend from an outside force, but rather inside their minds. This symbolizes the most primal version of every character. The result is a enthralling cognitive warzone where the narrative becomes a soul-crushing fight between righteousness and malevolence.


In a bleak landscape, five individuals find themselves sealed under the evil dominion and spiritual invasion of a secretive figure. As the ensemble becomes incapacitated to escape her influence, isolated and tormented by forces unfathomable, they are driven to acknowledge their deepest fears while the doomsday meter unceasingly edges forward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread builds and friendships fracture, driving each survivor to question their self and the idea of decision-making itself. The risk surge with every beat, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that merges spiritual fright with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to evoke deep fear, an entity older than civilization itself, working through our weaknesses, and questioning a evil that dismantles free will when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra was centered on something deeper than fear. She is clueless until the entity awakens, and that change is bone-chilling because it is so raw.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for audience access beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring users across the world can get immersed in this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its initial teaser, which has received over massive response.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, bringing the film to international horror buffs.


Witness this soul-jarring trip into the unknown. Watch *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to acknowledge these dark realities about existence.


For featurettes, on-set glimpses, and press updates from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACMovie across Facebook and TikTok and visit the movie’s homepage.





Modern horror’s sea change: 2025 in focus American release plan melds Mythic Possession, independent shockers, and Franchise Rumbles

Running from survival horror inspired by old testament echoes and extending to legacy revivals and focused festival visions, 2025 is coalescing into horror’s most layered combined with intentionally scheduled year in a decade.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Major studios bookend the months with established lines, as SVOD players pack the fall with fresh voices as well as primordial unease. On another front, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is buoyed by the carry of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Since Halloween is the prized date, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, distinctly in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are exacting, thus 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Premium dread reemerges

The majors are assertive. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s pipeline leads off the quarter with a confident swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a sharp contemporary setting. Directed by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. landing in mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Eli Craig directs and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

When summer tapers, the WB camp delivers the closing chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re engages, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: nostalgic menace, trauma as theme, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This time the stakes climb, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, thickens the animatronic pantheon, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It hits in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Offerings: Tight funds, wide impact

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a close quarters body horror study featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Also notable is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, 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 horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a clever angle. No bloated mythology. No brand fatigue. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading 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.

Series Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

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

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, under Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Emerging Currents

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror comes roaring back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

The Road Ahead: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The oncoming terror season: continuations, standalone ideas, paired with A loaded Calendar optimized for jolts

Dek The current genre cycle clusters at the outset with a January wave, after that stretches through the warm months, and deep into the winter holidays, fusing IP strength, creative pitches, and savvy counterplay. The big buyers and platforms are relying on right-sized spends, cinema-first plans, and buzz-forward plans that turn horror entries into all-audience topics.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has grown into the sturdy swing in annual schedules, a corner that can surge when it performs and still mitigate the losses when it under-delivers. After 2023 reminded strategy teams that cost-conscious horror vehicles can steer pop culture, the following year continued the surge with high-profile filmmaker pieces and stealth successes. The tailwind pushed into 2025, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers proved there is demand for a variety of tones, from returning installments to original one-offs that scale internationally. The takeaway for 2026 is a roster that seems notably aligned across the market, with obvious clusters, a pairing of established brands and original hooks, and a reinvigorated commitment on theatrical windows that fuel later windows on premium home window and home streaming.

Executives say the space now functions as a utility player on the calendar. The genre can kick off on numerous frames, create a easy sell for creative and shorts, and punch above weight with crowds that show up on early shows and sustain through the next weekend if the film delivers. After a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 configuration shows comfort in that approach. The slate starts with a loaded January window, then exploits spring through early summer for contrast, while keeping space for a September to October window that connects to holiday-adjacent weekends and past Halloween. The schedule also features the expanded integration of specialized labels and OTT outlets that can develop over weeks, build word of mouth, and expand at the strategic time.

A reinforcing pattern is series management across shared universes and legacy IP. Studios are not just releasing another next film. They are looking to package connection with a headline quality, whether that is a typeface approach that suggests a tonal shift or a talent selection that threads a next entry to a early run. At the very same time, the visionaries behind the headline-grabbing originals are leaning into tactile craft, practical gags and distinct locales. That combination affords the 2026 slate a vital pairing of trust and novelty, which is what works overseas.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount fires first with two prominent titles that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the spine, angling it as both a lineage transfer and a DNA-forward relationship-driven entry. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach announces a roots-evoking campaign without covering again the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Anticipate a campaign built on signature symbols, character-first teases, and a trailer cadence landing 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 set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will double down on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will go after wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format enabling quick turns to whatever leads the discourse that spring.

Universal has three defined lanes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is straightforward, heartbroken, and concept-forward: a grieving man sets up an digital partner that evolves into a killer companion. The date nudges it to the front of a packed window, with Universal’s campaign likely to bring back uncanny-valley stunts and snackable content that melds companionship and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a title reveal to become an fan moment closer to the first look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. The filmmaker’s films are framed as event films, with a opaque teaser and a second beat that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween runway gives the studio room to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press 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 fronting. The franchise has established that a raw, prosthetic-heavy method can feel big on a disciplined budget. Position this as a red-band summer horror rush that spotlights global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio books two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, extending a trusty supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is billing as a reimagined restart 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 directive to serve both devotees and curious audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build campaign creative around world-building, and monster design, elements that can drive premium format interest and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by historical precision and historical speech, this time engaging werewolf myth. The imprint has already locked the day for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is glowing.

How the platforms plan to play it

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s releases transition to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a pacing that maximizes both launch urgency and trial spikes in the later phase. Prime Video continues to mix catalogue additions with international acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data supports it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in catalog discovery, using featured rows, holiday hubs, and curated rows to prolong the run on lifetime take. Netflix keeps optionality about internal projects and festival pickups, locking in horror entries closer to drop and making event-like go-lives with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a one-two of selective theatrical runs and short jumps to platform that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a selective basis. The platform has been willing to buy select projects with recognized filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation ramps.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 corridor with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is tight: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, refined for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the September weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then using the holiday dates to scale. That positioning has paid off for arthouse horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception encourages. Look for 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 as partners, using mini theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their audience.

Franchises versus originals

By volume, the 2026 slate leans toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit household recognition. The challenge, as ever, is staleness. The pragmatic answer is to market each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is underscoring character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a continental coloration from a ascendant talent. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and talent-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a survival shocker premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the cast-creatives package is comforting enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday previews.

Comparable trends from recent years frame the logic. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that kept streaming intact did not deter a same-day experiment from thriving when the brand was trusted. In 2024, auteur craft horror surged in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they alter lens and grow scope. 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 linked-chapter plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, permits marketing to cross-link entries through character arcs and themes and to continue assets in field without dead zones.

Creative tendencies and craft

The production chatter behind the 2026 entries telegraph a continued emphasis on hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that emphasizes aura and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in craft journalism and technical spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for red-band excess, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and earns shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-aware reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature and environment design, which play well in convention floor stunts and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel essential. Look for trailers that emphasize disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that play in premium auditoriums.

Annual flow

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 buttons 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 legit, but the range of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Q1 into Q2 prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s 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 clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can hit 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 brand. The Insidious news entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a shoulder season window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited asset reveals that elevate concept over story.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card redemption.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s virtual companion turns into something lethally affectionate. 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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. 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 hard-edged boss work to survive on a cut-off island as the control dynamic tilts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

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 fear, driven by Cronin’s material craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting chiller that threads the dread through a young child’s wavering inner lens. Rating: to be announced. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-scale and name-above-title ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that satirizes modern genre fads and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBD. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a fresh family tethered to old terrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: pending. Logline: A restart designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-core horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: TBD. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: forthcoming. Production: underway. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on historical diction and ancient menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a big-screen run before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 lands now

Three grounded forces drive this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or shifted in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming drops. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage social-ready stingers from test screenings, curated scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

A fourth factor is programming math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or act as the older-tilt option. 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 early summer, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where cost-efficient genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again navigate to this website in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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 cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, disciplined 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 tactility, sonics, 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.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is franchise muscle where it helps, original vision where it matters, 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.