Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a spine tingling horror feature, rolling out October 2025 across top digital platforms

A chilling supernatural suspense story from storyteller / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an prehistoric evil when strangers become instruments in a fiendish conflict. Dropping this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping portrayal of endurance and mythic evil that will redefine the horror genre this harvest season. Directed by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and gothic screenplay follows five teens who suddenly rise sealed in a wilderness-bound structure under the malevolent power of Kyra, a mysterious girl consumed by a two-thousand-year-old sacrosanct terror. Arm yourself to be absorbed by a theatrical presentation that intertwines visceral dread with biblical origins, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a legendary motif in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is radically shifted when the spirits no longer emerge outside their bodies, but rather through their own souls. This represents the most hidden side of the protagonists. The result is a gripping emotional conflict where the events becomes a constant battle between good and evil.


In a barren natural abyss, five friends find themselves trapped under the evil presence and overtake of a mysterious spirit. As the survivors becomes unresisting to oppose her command, isolated and tracked by forces impossible to understand, they are pushed to acknowledge their worst nightmares while the timeline coldly ticks onward toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion deepens and ties crack, pushing each individual to doubt their essence and the foundation of volition itself. The pressure grow with every minute, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that combines ghostly evil with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to channel primal fear, an evil from ancient eras, feeding on emotional fractures, and questioning a power that redefines identity when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra meant channeling something beneath mortal despair. She is in denial until the evil takes hold, and that evolution is harrowing because it is so intimate.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for audiences beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—so that fans internationally can be part of this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its first trailer, which has racked up over six-figure audience.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, spreading the horror to lovers of terror across nations.


Make sure to see this soul-jarring path of possession. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to confront these haunting secrets about the human condition.


For sneak peeks, set experiences, and press updates from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across Facebook and TikTok and visit the official website.





The horror genre’s inflection point: 2025 across markets American release plan Mixes primeval-possession lore, independent shockers, stacked beside series shake-ups

Running from last-stand terror drawn from old testament echoes and extending to series comebacks in concert with pointed art-house angles, 2025 is coalescing into the most stratified and blueprinted year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. Top studios stabilize the year with known properties, simultaneously platform operators load up the fall with new perspectives plus old-world menace. On the independent axis, the art-house flank is buoyed by the backdraft of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, and now, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are intentional, therefore 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Elevated fear reclaims ground

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal camp lights the fuse with a headline swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a sharp contemporary setting. Directed by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. landing in mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

By late summer, Warner’s pipeline drops the final chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson is back, and the tone that worked before is intact: vintage toned fear, trauma driven plotting, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This time, the stakes are raised, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, grows the animatronic horror lineup, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It lands in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streamer Exclusives: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a two hander body horror spiral including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one digs into 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.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. That is a savvy move. No bloated mythology. No canon weight. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

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

Series Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

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 returns in late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Key Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more 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 symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

The Road Ahead: Autumn density and winter pivot

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The oncoming genre calendar year ahead: installments, original films, paired with A Crowded Calendar designed for shocks

Dek The current scare season crams at the outset with a January bottleneck, subsequently rolls through June and July, and far into the year-end corridor, blending series momentum, creative pitches, and well-timed offsets. The big buyers and platforms are doubling down on right-sized spends, big-screen-first runs, and platform-native promos that turn the slate’s entries into cross-demo moments.

How the genre looks for 2026

The horror marketplace has turned into the bankable release in distribution calendars, a corner that can grow when it clicks and still buffer the drag when it under-delivers. After 2023 showed executives that efficiently budgeted chillers can shape audience talk, 2024 sustained momentum with buzzy auteur projects and slow-burn breakouts. The energy carried into 2025, where revivals and premium-leaning entries demonstrated there is demand for several lanes, from franchise continuations to non-IP projects that perform internationally. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a calendar that feels more orchestrated than usual across the field, with strategic blocks, a blend of household franchises and original hooks, and a sharpened attention on theater exclusivity that feed downstream value on paid VOD and SVOD.

Buyers contend the genre now serves as a plug-and-play option on the calendar. The genre can arrive on almost any weekend, create a clear pitch for ad units and platform-native cuts, and outpace with audiences that arrive on previews Thursday and maintain momentum through the follow-up frame if the offering hits. Following a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 rhythm underscores comfort in that approach. The slate starts with a busy January block, then turns to spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while carving room for a September to October window that reaches into holiday-adjacent weekends and past Halloween. The calendar also reflects the greater integration of specialized imprints and streamers that can platform and widen, create conversation, and move wide at the inflection point.

A notable top-line trend is brand strategy across shared universes and legacy franchises. Studio teams are not just mounting another entry. They are looking to package story carry-over with a must-see charge, whether that is a title treatment that broadcasts a refreshed voice or a casting pivot that reconnects a upcoming film to a original cycle. At the simultaneously, the helmers behind the top original plays are celebrating material texture, practical effects and site-specific worlds. That blend delivers the 2026 slate a smart balance of assurance and newness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount leads early with two high-profile moves that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the center, signaling it as both a relay and a rootsy character-centered film. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative posture telegraphs a throwback-friendly campaign without rehashing the last two entries’ sisters thread. Expect a marketing push anchored in franchise iconography, intro reveals, and a trailer cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will emphasize. As a summer counter-slot, great post to read this one will pursue mass reach through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format allowing quick redirects to whatever rules the discourse that spring.

Universal has three differentiated bets. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is simple, heartbroken, and concept-forward: a grieving man onboards an algorithmic mate that turns into a deadly partner. The date slots it at the front of a front-loaded month, with the Universal machine likely to bring back off-kilter promo beats and short reels that hybridizes affection and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a branding reveal to become an teaser payoff closer to the early tease. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. The filmmaker’s films are treated as must-see filmmaker statements, with a teaser that reveals little and a second beat that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween runway affords Universal to saturate 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, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has demonstrated that a visceral, on-set effects led execution can feel top-tier on a lean spend. Expect a gore-forward summer horror surge that centers global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio mounts two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, maintaining a trusty supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is selling as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both franchise faithful and general audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build campaign creative around setting detail, and creature builds, elements that can stoke premium screens and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror defined by historical precision and dialect, this time steeped in lycan lore. The company has already set the date for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is glowing.

Where the platforms fit in

Digital strategies for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s horror titles head to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ordering that fortifies both week-one demand and viewer acquisition in the after-window. Prime Video blends licensed content with world buys and small theatrical windows when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in deep cuts, using editorial spots, seasonal hubs, and handpicked rows to lengthen the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about Netflix films and festival additions, dating horror entries toward the drop and elevating as drops drops with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a paired of limited theatrical footprints and quick platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has proven amenable to board select projects with name filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for platform stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 slate with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is straightforward: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, updated for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an promising marker for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the September weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, navigate here then turning to the holiday dates to go wider. That positioning has helped for director-led genre 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 regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception prompts. Be ready 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 a pair, using small theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Balance of brands and originals

By weight, 2026 skews toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap franchise value. The challenge, as ever, is staleness. The standing approach is to market each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is emphasizing character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-inflected take from a hot helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the assembly is familiar enough to spark pre-sales and early previews.

The last three-year set frame the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive window model that honored streaming windows did not foreclose a day-date move from delivering when the brand was trusted. In 2024, director-craft horror over-performed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they change perspective and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to thread films through cast and motif and to leave creative active without doldrums.

Production craft signals

The shop talk behind this year’s genre hint at a continued bias toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that centers aura and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and artisan spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser 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 calibrated for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and generates shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a self-aware reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature craft and set design, which lend themselves to convention floor stunts and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel definitive. Look for trailers that foreground disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that benefit on big speakers.

Month-by-month map

January is stacked. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the spread of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Winter into spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy re-centers 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 flows 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 spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Late summer into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a early fall window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited teasers that favor idea over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card burn.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s virtual companion grows into something perilously amorous. 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: Filmed in tandem 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 goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. 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 severe boss push to survive on a isolated island as the control dynamic tilts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to terror, anchored by Cronin’s tactile craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting scenario that refracts terror through a child’s flickering point of view. Rating: rating pending. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

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 satirical comeback that pokes at in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fixations. Rating: to be announced. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 flares, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new clan snared by residual nightmares. Rating: TBD. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on pure survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and primordial menace. Rating: pending. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. 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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026, why now

Three execution-level forces define this lineup. First, production that eased or re-sequenced in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on shareable moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, offering breathing room for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will share space across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

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

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, 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 momentum and variety. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run 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 austere, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient placements, 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 detail, acoustics, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand heft where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.