Mythic Terror returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling horror feature, landing Oct 2025 across top streaming platforms

An hair-raising spectral nightmare movie from author / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an forgotten curse when outsiders become victims in a demonic maze. Going live on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing tale of resistance and archaic horror that will reconstruct horror this harvest season. Created by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and shadowy fearfest follows five individuals who are stirred ensnared in a unreachable shack under the aggressive sway of Kyra, a mysterious girl claimed by a timeless holy text monster. Get ready to be ensnared by a motion picture adventure that harmonizes instinctive fear with arcane tradition, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a legendary element in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is twisted when the forces no longer form outside the characters, but rather from deep inside. This depicts the malevolent corner of the players. The result is a edge-of-seat internal warfare where the suspense becomes a perpetual face-off between divinity and wickedness.


In a unforgiving outland, five youths find themselves imprisoned under the dark presence and control of a obscure character. As the cast becomes paralyzed to break her curse, severed and attacked by forces mind-shattering, they are made to face their inner horrors while the final hour ruthlessly counts down toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion escalates and connections disintegrate, driving each member to challenge their being and the concept of self-determination itself. The risk escalate with every breath, delivering a fear-soaked story that weaves together ghostly evil with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to tap into basic terror, an presence from ancient eras, channeling itself through mental cracks, and exposing a being that tests the soul when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra demanded embodying something beneath mortal despair. She is unseeing until the possession kicks in, and that metamorphosis is bone-chilling because it is so unshielded.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for on-demand beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—so that users around the globe can witness this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its original promo, which has racked up over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, bringing the film to a worldwide audience.


Make sure to see this haunted exploration of dread. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to confront these dark realities about human nature.


For sneak peeks, filmmaker commentary, and reveals from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Instagram and Twitter and visit the film’s website.





The horror genre’s watershed moment: calendar year 2025 U.S. lineup weaves myth-forward possession, microbudget gut-punches, stacked beside legacy-brand quakes

From last-stand terror saturated with biblical myth as well as IP renewals together with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is tracking to be the most textured together with precision-timed year in recent memory.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. Top studios plant stakes across the year with known properties, concurrently streaming platforms load up the fall with new perspectives set against archetypal fear. On the independent axis, festival-forward creators is propelled by the tailwinds from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A fat September–October lane is customary now, however this time, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are precise, hence 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 doubles down.

Universal Pictures begins the calendar with a statement play: a modernized Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, but a sharp contemporary setting. From director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. Booked into mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. From director Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer wanes, Warner’s schedule releases the last chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Even with a familiar chassis, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson resumes command, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: retrograde shiver, trauma foregrounded, plus otherworld rules that chill. This time the stakes climb, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, broadens the animatronic terror cast, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It lands in December, buttoning the final window.

Digital Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a tight space body horror vignette featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Next comes Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable with Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural 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 tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. That is a savvy move. No overstuffed canon. No IP hangover. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Franchise Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, Directed by 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.

Dials to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror swings back
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Outlook: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. 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.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The coming 2026 scare year to come: Sequels, Originals, in tandem with A hectic Calendar engineered for shocks

Dek The emerging terror season stacks immediately with a January bottleneck, before it unfolds through the mid-year, and pushing into the December corridor, balancing brand equity, new voices, and well-timed counter-scheduling. Major distributors and platforms are prioritizing tight budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and buzz-forward plans that position these offerings into cross-demo moments.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This category has established itself as the steady play in annual schedules, a pillar that can scale when it lands and still buffer the losses when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for strategy teams that modestly budgeted horror vehicles can own the discourse, the following year sustained momentum with high-profile filmmaker pieces and quiet over-performers. The head of steam rolled into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and critical darlings underscored there is space for multiple flavors, from sequel tracks to fresh IP that play globally. The upshot for 2026 is a slate that shows rare alignment across the industry, with obvious clusters, a equilibrium of known properties and first-time concepts, and a refocused strategy on big-screen windows that power the aftermarket on premium digital and subscription services.

Distribution heads claim the space now functions as a wildcard on the calendar. Horror can roll out on numerous frames, yield a simple premise for previews and vertical videos, and outperform with audiences that respond on opening previews and stay strong through the second frame if the movie fires. Post a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 rhythm telegraphs confidence in that approach. The calendar gets underway with a stacked January band, then uses spring and early summer for alternate plays, while clearing room for a autumn stretch that pushes into spooky season and into the next week. The schedule also spotlights the continuing integration of specialized labels and subscription services that can develop over weeks, ignite recommendations, and scale up at the precise moment.

An added macro current is legacy care across shared IP webs and storied titles. The players are not just greenlighting another sequel. They are setting up threaded continuity with a specialness, whether that is a logo package that broadcasts a fresh attitude or a casting choice that threads a next film to a initial period. At the in tandem, the visionaries behind the headline-grabbing originals are embracing material texture, practical effects and place-driven backdrops. That convergence gives 2026 a strong blend of home base and unexpected turns, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount leads early with two front-of-slate titles that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the front, marketing it as both a handoff and a classic-mode character study. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the artistic posture announces a fan-service aware approach without repeating the last two entries’ sisters thread. A campaign is expected built on classic imagery, character-first teases, and a staggered trailer plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will spotlight. As a counterweight in summer, this one will generate general-audience talk through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format supporting quick pivots to whatever drives the conversation that spring.

Universal has three discrete strategies. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is clean, somber, and logline-clear: a grieving man activates an virtual partner that turns into a harmful mate. The date sets it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s promo team likely to revisit viral uncanny stunts and bite-size content that melds affection and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a branding reveal to become an teaser payoff closer to the initial promo. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. His entries are treated as must-see filmmaker statements, with a teaser that reveals little and a second beat that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor gives the studio room to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has established that a in-your-face, in-camera leaning execution can feel prestige on a controlled budget. Frame it as a hard-R summer horror shock that leans into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio mounts two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, keeping a dependable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is marketing as a reset 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 clearer mandate to serve both core fans and casuals. The fall slot allows Sony to build campaign creative around world-building, and monster aesthetics, elements that can Young & Cursed increase PLF interest and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on textural authenticity and period speech, this time engaging werewolf myth. The specialty arm has already set the date for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is glowing.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform plans for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s slate move to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a tiered path that fortifies both week-one demand and sign-up spikes in the post-theatrical. Prime Video continues to mix library titles with global originals and select theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library curation, using well-timed internal promotions, holiday hubs, and featured rows to prolong the run on the annual genre haul. Netflix remains opportunistic about originals and festival additions, locking in horror entries near launch and elevating as drops go-lives with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a dual-phase of focused cinema runs and fast windowing that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to pick up select projects with prestige directors or star packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for sustained usage when the genre conversation builds.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 arc with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is clean: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, upgraded for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the autumn weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, managing the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday slot to move out. That positioning has paid off for prestige horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception drives. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using boutique theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their membership.

Legacy titles versus originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate favors the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap cultural cachet. The risk, as ever, is fatigue. The practical approach is to frame each entry as a new angle. Paramount is centering core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is promising a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a European tilt from a rising filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the assembly is anchored enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Rolling three-year comps illuminate the strategy. In 2023, a theater-first model that respected streaming windows did not stop a simultaneous release test from thriving when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror hit big in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel new when they angle differently and widen scale. 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to relate entries through protagonists and motifs and to continue assets in field without dead zones.

How the films are being made

The shop talk behind the upcoming entries forecast a continued move toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that highlights atmosphere and fear rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in feature stories and guild coverage before rolling out a preview that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and spurs shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta pivot that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster realization and design, which work nicely for fan conventions and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel must-have. Look for trailers that foreground precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that sing on PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is stacked. Universal’s 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 atmospheric change-up amid big-brand pushes. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the variety of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Pre-summer months prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

August into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil follows September 18, a transitional slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a tease-and-hold strategy and limited pre-release reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can play the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card use.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s machine mate grows into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man 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: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: mood-led 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 abrasive boss try to survive on a lonely island as the control balance flips and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 in the vault in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to fear, driven by Cronin’s material craft and rising 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 story that mediates the fear via a youngster’s uneven point of view. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-built and marquee-led supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A genre lampoon that riffs on hot-button genre motifs and true crime fixations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a fresh family entangled with long-buried horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: pending. Logline: A clean reboot designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on pure survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 period language and elemental menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. 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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 and why now

Three operational forces drive this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shifted in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and shorter 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work turnkey scare beats from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can command a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will cluster across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. 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 low-to-mid 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 shock 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a banquet, 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 gets blood-slick, 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 hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, soundcraft, and image-making that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand gravity where needed, 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, shape lean trailers, keep the secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.