Primordial Terror Emerges within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding shocker, arriving October 2025 across top streaming platforms

This haunting spectral suspense story from author / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an timeless fear when drifters become proxies in a supernatural contest. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish saga of struggle and forgotten curse that will transform genre cinema this ghoul season. Created by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and moody tale follows five individuals who snap to confined in a remote structure under the dark control of Kyra, a possessed female inhabited by a two-thousand-year-old sacrosanct terror. Ready yourself to be gripped by a audio-visual spectacle that fuses gut-punch terror with ancient myths, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a historical fixture in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is flipped when the spirits no longer descend from beyond, but rather inside them. This mirrors the deepest facet of the victims. The result is a riveting internal warfare where the story becomes a brutal conflict between heaven and hell.


In a unforgiving wild, five teens find themselves confined under the dark dominion and control of a mysterious apparition. As the victims becomes powerless to evade her curse, severed and chased by unknowns ungraspable, they are thrust to endure their emotional phantoms while the moments mercilessly ticks onward toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion rises and relationships collapse, forcing each figure to challenge their true nature and the foundation of decision-making itself. The danger rise with every short lapse, delivering a cinematic nightmare that marries supernatural terror with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to dig into pure dread, an spirit beyond recorded history, operating within psychological breaks, and examining a presence that erodes the self when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra meant channeling something unfamiliar to reason. She is clueless until the evil takes hold, and that evolution is harrowing because it is so intimate.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be available for audiences beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—delivering audiences internationally can engage with this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its first trailer, which has garnered over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, giving access to the movie to global fright lovers.


Don’t miss this life-altering journey into fear. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to experience these evil-rooted truths about the psyche.


For featurettes, making-of footage, and promotions via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across entertainment pages and visit our horror hub.





Current horror’s Turning Point: the 2025 season U.S. Slate fuses archetypal-possession themes, underground frights, and brand-name tremors

Kicking off with life-or-death fear steeped in mythic scripture and including franchise returns together with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is emerging as the richest plus carefully orchestrated year in a decade.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. top-tier distributors are anchoring the year with known properties, in tandem OTT services crowd the fall with discovery plays together with legend-coded dread. In the indie lane, the artisan tier is drafting behind the kinetic energy from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. With Halloween holding the peak, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, notably this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are intentional, which means 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige terror resurfaces

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s schedule fires the first shot with a big gambit: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in a modern-day environment. Under director Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. arriving 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 brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer winds down, Warner’s pipeline unveils the final movement of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson returns, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: throwback unease, trauma as theme, and eerie supernatural logic. This time, the stakes are raised, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The return delves further into myth, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, courting teens and the thirty something base. It posts in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Offerings: Economy, maximum dread

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

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

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Shaped and helmed 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing 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 calculated bet. No swollen lore. No sequel clutter. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

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

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Franchise Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, from Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Trends to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror retakes ground
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The filler era wanes for platform horror. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Season Ahead: Fall saturation and a winter joker

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 grind for attention. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The coming 2026 genre lineup: returning titles, universe starters, alongside A stacked Calendar Built For nightmares

Dek: The brand-new genre calendar packs early with a January glut, after that stretches through the warm months, and well into the holiday stretch, marrying brand heft, original angles, and tactical alternatives. Studios with streamers are doubling down on mid-range economics, cinema-first plans, and social-fueled campaigns that position these pictures into culture-wide discussion.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This category has grown into the surest option in annual schedules, a space that can spike when it breaks through and still hedge the risk when it does not. After the 2023 year re-taught decision-makers that responsibly budgeted scare machines can steer audience talk, 2024 kept energy high with signature-voice projects and word-of-mouth wins. The momentum translated to the 2025 frame, where re-entries and awards-minded projects signaled there is space for many shades, from brand follow-ups to fresh IP that export nicely. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a programming that seems notably aligned across the market, with obvious clusters, a harmony of household franchises and new pitches, and a recommitted priority on theater exclusivity that enhance post-theatrical value on PVOD and platforms.

Insiders argue the genre now functions as a utility player on the schedule. The genre can debut on most weekends, deliver a simple premise for trailers and vertical videos, and outpace with viewers that arrive on Thursday nights and continue through the next weekend if the movie satisfies. Following a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 plan signals comfort in that playbook. The calendar rolls out with a stacked January stretch, then targets spring into early summer for alternate plays, while carving room for a fall run that runs into All Hallows period and into early November. The layout also shows the tightening integration of indie distributors and streamers that can platform and widen, stoke social talk, and go nationwide at the precise moment.

Another broad trend is IP cultivation across interlocking continuities and legacy franchises. Studio teams are not just mounting another entry. They are looking to package story carry-over with a premium feel, 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 most buzzed-about originals are celebrating material texture, practical effects and grounded locations. That combination yields 2026 a confident blend of familiarity and shock, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount sets the tone early with two marquee entries that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the lead, steering it as both a lineage transfer and a rootsy character piece. Production is active in Atlanta, and the artistic posture hints at a roots-evoking treatment without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push driven by iconic art, early character teases, and a rollout cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will stress. As a summer alternative, this one will pursue wide buzz through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format enabling quick adjustments to whatever rules pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three unique releases. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is crisp, sorrow-tinged, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man sets up an digital partner that turns into a dangerous lover. The date sets it at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s campaign likely to recreate uncanny-valley stunts and short-form creative that threads longing and anxiety.

On May have a peek at these guys 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title reveal to become an attention spike closer to the initial promo. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. His projects are treated as signature events, with a concept-forward tease and a second wave of trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor creates space for Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has made clear that a gnarly, practical-first mix can feel high-value on a moderate cost. Look for a hard-R summer horror hit that maximizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio sets two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, keeping a consistent supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is marketing as a new take 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 focus to serve both longtime followers and newcomers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build campaign creative around setting detail, and monster craft, elements that can fuel deluxe auditorium demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by historical precision and period language, this time driven by werewolf stories. The company has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is strong.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on predictable routes. The Universal horror run feed copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a pacing that optimizes both debut momentum and sign-up momentum in the later window. Prime Video pairs acquired titles with global pickups and short theatrical plays when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in catalog discovery, using in-app campaigns, holiday hubs, and featured rows to keep attention on aggregate take. Netflix plays opportunist about internal projects and festival acquisitions, locking in horror entries closer to drop and coalescing around go-lives with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a laddered of focused cinema runs and rapid platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has signaled readiness to pick up select projects with accomplished filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for platform stickiness when the genre conversation builds.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 runway with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is clear: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, upgraded 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. Cineverse has positioned a theatrical-first plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the late-season weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, piloting the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday slot to go wider. That positioning has paid off for auteur horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception allows. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using mini theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their audience.

Brands and originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate tips toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness franchise value. The potential drawback, as ever, is viewer burnout. The pragmatic answer is to position each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is elevating character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-inflected take from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a stranded survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the deal build is known enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and early previews.

Three-year comps contextualize the template. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that preserved streaming windows did not foreclose a parallel release from hitting when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror punched above its weight in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reorient and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to interlace chapters through relationships and themes and to sustain campaign assets without extended gaps.

Behind-the-camera trends

The craft rooms behind the upcoming entries point to a continued preference for material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that highlights aura and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in feature stories and technical spotlights before rolling out a first look that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and drives shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a self-referential reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster work and world-building, which work nicely for con floor moments and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that elevate razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that benefit on big speakers.

Calendar cadence

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 gloomy counterbalance amid macro-brand pushes. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the tone spread affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Q1 into Q2 stage summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now enables 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 heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

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

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and holiday gift-card burn.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s essence. 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 loss-struck man’s digital partner unfolds into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 consecutively 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 ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 demanding boss fight to survive on a far-flung island as the hierarchy tilts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to terror, built on Cronin’s on-set craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting premise that refracts terror through a little one’s unsteady POV. Rating: not yet rated. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that targets contemporary horror memes and true-crime buzz. Rating: undetermined. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a unlucky family linked to lingering terrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A fresh restart designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival-core horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: undetermined. Production: advancing. 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 time-true diction and elemental fear. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 and why now

Three workable forces frame this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or migrated in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more measured 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 launches. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage clippable moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Another factor is the scheduling math. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where modest-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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing my company 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 are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, right-sized allotments, 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 texture, sonics, and picture 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

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand heft where it matters, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.