Ancient Malevolence Emerges within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding horror thriller, bowing October 2025 across global platforms

One bone-chilling mystic fear-driven tale from cinematographer / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an archaic nightmare when strangers become proxies in a dark trial. Releasing October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a intense account of struggle and prehistoric entity that will revolutionize fear-driven cinema this spooky time. Realized by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and atmospheric tale follows five unknowns who find themselves ensnared in a wooded wooden structure under the menacing rule of Kyra, a central character inhabited by a two-thousand-year-old scriptural evil. Arm yourself to be hooked by a audio-visual ride that merges raw fear with arcane tradition, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a long-standing trope in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is reimagined when the monsters no longer emerge outside their bodies, but rather through their own souls. This symbolizes the most terrifying part of every character. The result is a edge-of-seat emotional conflict where the events becomes a ongoing contest between virtue and vice.


In a barren natural abyss, five friends find themselves cornered under the malicious rule and grasp of a obscure character. As the ensemble becomes helpless to fight her command, isolated and pursued by entities inconceivable, they are compelled to battle their inner horrors while the doomsday meter harrowingly strikes toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease swells and links collapse, driving each survivor to reflect on their self and the nature of decision-making itself. The stakes surge with every breath, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that intertwines supernatural terror with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to extract raw dread, an force that predates humanity, emerging via our fears, and testing a spirit that dismantles free will when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra meant channeling something deeper than fear. She is ignorant until the haunting manifests, and that shift is harrowing because it is so close.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for streaming beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—offering users around the globe can survive this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its original promo, which has pulled in over strong viewer count.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, making the film to a worldwide audience.


Tune in for this haunted fall into madness. Stream *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to face these terrifying truths about the mind.


For film updates, filmmaker commentary, and announcements directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across media channels and visit the film’s website.





Current horror’s inflection point: 2025 across markets stateside slate braids together old-world possession, underground frights, in parallel with series shake-ups

Beginning with survival horror grounded in mythic scripture and stretching into brand-name continuations as well as surgical indie voices, 2025 is shaping up as horror’s most layered combined with tactically planned year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. Major studios lock in tentpoles with established lines, concurrently platform operators flood the fall with first-wave breakthroughs as well as ancient terrors. On the festival side, the independent cohort is buoyed by the backdraft of a banner 2024 fest year. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the other windows are mapped with care. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, yet in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are surgical, hence 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Premium dread reemerges

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s distribution arm opens the year with a statement play: a reconceived Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, inside today’s landscape. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Slated for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Steered by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

Toward summer’s end, the Warner Bros. banner releases the last chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: retro dread, trauma centered writing, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The bar is raised this go, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, speaking to teens and older millennials. It hits in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Firsts: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

At the smaller scale sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story starring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but 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. It is a calculated bet. No overweight mythology. No legacy baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, steered by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Trends Worth Watching

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror returns
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Season Ahead: Fall saturation and a winter joker

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. 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.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The oncoming chiller slate: continuations, standalone ideas, plus A loaded Calendar calibrated for nightmares

Dek The arriving terror calendar stacks early with a January traffic jam, following that rolls through summer corridors, and well into the December corridor, fusing IP strength, creative pitches, and savvy counterweight. Major distributors and platforms are betting on right-sized spends, cinema-first plans, and social-driven marketing that transform these releases into cross-demo moments.

Horror’s status entering 2026

Horror has solidified as the most reliable play in programming grids, a category that can break out when it breaks through and still cushion the drag when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year proved to top brass that lean-budget genre plays can galvanize audience talk, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with signature-voice projects and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam rolled into 2025, where legacy revivals and prestige plays demonstrated there is room for a variety of tones, from brand follow-ups to one-and-done originals that carry overseas. The result for the 2026 slate is a grid that appears tightly organized across the industry, with defined corridors, a harmony of household franchises and fresh ideas, and a re-energized stance on big-screen windows that fuel later windows on premium rental and digital services.

Schedulers say the horror lane now acts as a swing piece on the calendar. The genre can open on almost any weekend, generate a sharp concept for marketing and vertical videos, and outpace with fans that respond on first-look nights and keep coming through the second weekend if the film fires. In the wake of a production delay era, the 2026 mapping demonstrates belief in that setup. The year rolls out with a crowded January lineup, then exploits spring through early summer for balance, while saving space for a autumn stretch that runs into the Halloween corridor and afterwards. The program also reflects the continuing integration of specialty arms and streaming partners that can nurture a platform play, build word of mouth, and move wide at the strategic time.

A further high-level trend is brand strategy across ongoing universes and legacy franchises. Distribution groups are not just greenlighting another chapter. They are working to present lineage with a sense of event, whether that is a title design that suggests a fresh attitude or a ensemble decision that connects a next film to a early run. At the in tandem, the creative leads behind the marquee originals are leaning into real-world builds, makeup and prosthetics and vivid settings. That combination offers the 2026 slate a smart balance of home base and unexpected turns, which is what works overseas.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount marks the early tempo with two marquee pushes that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the lead, signaling it as both a legacy handover and a foundation-forward character piece. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the narrative stance announces a legacy-leaning mode without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Count on a promo wave centered on iconic art, character-first teases, and a two-beat trailer plan hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will emphasize. As a summer contrast play, this one will hunt large awareness through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format supporting quick redirects to whatever drives the discourse that spring.

Universal has three separate releases. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is tidy, soulful, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man brings home an synthetic partner that mutates into a harmful mate. The date puts it at the front of a packed window, with marketing at Universal likely to renew uncanny live moments and quick hits that threads love and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets 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 official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a official title to become an attention spike closer to the first trailer. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele titles are branded as director events, with a hinting teaser and a second wave of trailers that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date opens a lane to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on 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 helms, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has proven that a blood-soaked, makeup-driven treatment can feel top-tier on a disciplined budget. Look for a gore-forward summer horror jolt that embraces global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio launches two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, keeping a consistent supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is billing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both fans and curious audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build materials around setting detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can accelerate IMAX and PLF uptake and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror defined by immersive craft and textual fidelity, this time circling werewolf lore. The distributor has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is enthusiastic.

Digital platform strategies

Platform plans for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s horror titles window into copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ladder that elevates both opening-weekend urgency and trial spikes in the later window. Prime Video will mix acquired titles with cross-border buys and limited cinema engagements when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in catalog engagement, using featured rows, genre hubs, and handpicked rows to increase tail value on lifetime take. Netflix stays nimble about internal projects and festival pickups, slotting horror entries with shorter lead times and making event-like arrivals with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a laddered of tailored theatrical exposure and speedy platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has shown appetite to pick up select projects with prestige directors or marquee packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation peaks.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is curating a 2026 slate with two franchise steps. 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 moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, elevated for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the autumn weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, shepherding the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the year-end corridor to broaden. That positioning has been successful for craft-driven horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception warrants. Anticipate 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 as a pair, using boutique theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Franchises versus originals

By count, 2026 tilts in favor of the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit fan equity. The risk, as ever, is diminishing returns. The operating solution is to brand each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is underscoring character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a Francophone tone from a emerging director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and director-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the package is assuring enough to generate pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Three-year comps clarify the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that preserved streaming windows did not prevent a day-date move from paying off when the brand was robust. In 2024, auteur craft horror over-performed in premium large format. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they angle differently and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters filmed consecutively, builds a path for marketing to thread films through relationships and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without long gaps.

How the films are being made

The craft conversations behind the 2026 slate hint at a continued emphasis on tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that centers texture and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft coverage before rolling out a tease that elevates tone over story, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and sparks shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta-horror reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature execution and sets, which work nicely for convention activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel compelling. Look for trailers that underscore fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that land in big rooms.

Annual flow

January is crowded. 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 heavier IP. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the tonal variety carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth carries.

Late Q1 and spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late summer into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a peekaboo tease plan and limited information drops that stress concept over spoilers.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can thrive over this content the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and holiday gift-card burn.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads 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 virtual companion unfolds into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back 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 finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 scramble to survive on a far-flung island as the control balance shifts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 modern reimagining that returns the monster to dread, based on Cronin’s practical effects and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting premise that plays with the terror of a child’s uncertain senses. Rating: TBD. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-financed and headline-actor led occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that targets hot-button genre motifs and true crime preoccupations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites erupts, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new clan lashed to residual nightmares. Rating: to be announced. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward classic survival-horror tone over set-piece spectacle. Rating: to be announced. 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: unrevealed. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: undetermined. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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-precise speech and primordial menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the moment is 2026

Three execution-level forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or re-sequenced in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on repeatable beats from test screenings, managed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will stack across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where lean-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value 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 qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, acoustics, and cinematography 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 Shapes Up Strong

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is IP strength where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.