Primordial Evil reawakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked shocker, launching October 2025 on major streaming services

A terrifying mystic nightmare movie from literary architect / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an mythic nightmare when unrelated individuals become subjects in a dark contest. Available on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving journey of resilience and mythic evil that will reimagine terror storytelling this October. Guided by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and cinematic feature follows five people who awaken imprisoned in a off-grid hideaway under the hostile influence of Kyra, a cursed figure controlled by a time-worn ancient fiend. Arm yourself to be ensnared by a screen-based presentation that integrates primitive horror with spiritual backstory, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a time-honored foundation in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is redefined when the forces no longer originate from external sources, but rather within themselves. This symbolizes the most hidden aspect of all involved. The result is a emotionally raw mental war where the narrative becomes a soul-crushing clash between right and wrong.


In a abandoned landscape, five youths find themselves cornered under the malicious grip and possession of a unidentified entity. As the protagonists becomes unable to escape her influence, marooned and targeted by evils unfathomable, they are obligated to stand before their inner horrors while the time coldly moves toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety mounts and connections fracture, pushing each figure to reconsider their core and the foundation of autonomy itself. The cost accelerate with every minute, delivering a horror experience that integrates spiritual fright with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to draw upon elemental fright, an entity rooted in antiquity, operating within mental cracks, and testing a presence that forces self-examination when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra asked for exploring something unfamiliar to reason. She is unseeing until the haunting manifests, and that transformation is haunting because it is so internal.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—making sure subscribers internationally can watch this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first preview, which has been viewed over six-figure audience.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, exporting the fear to fans of fear everywhere.


Make sure to see this heart-stopping exploration of dread. Confront *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to witness these evil-rooted truths about the psyche.


For film updates, special features, and news from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your socials and visit our spooky domain.





Today’s horror tipping point: the 2025 season U.S. rollouts braids together biblical-possession ideas, underground frights, paired with legacy-brand quakes

Spanning grit-forward survival fare grounded in legendary theology through to brand-name continuations together with incisive indie visions, 2025 appears poised to be the most variegated and tactically planned year for the modern era.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio majors set cornerstones through proven series, while premium streamers crowd the fall with new voices in concert with ancient terrors. On the independent axis, festival-forward creators is fueled by the uplift from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, and in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are precise, which means 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal lights the fuse with a big gambit: a reconceived Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, inside today’s landscape. Led by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. Booked into mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Helmed by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

Toward summer’s end, the WB camp launches the swan song within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson returns, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: throwback unease, trauma in the foreground, plus otherworld rules that chill. This time, the stakes are raised, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, grows the animatronic horror lineup, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It lands in December, cornering year end horror.

Streamer Exclusives: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. 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.

More contained by design is Together, a sealed box body horror arc with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

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.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, 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. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It looks like sharp programming. No bloated canon. No canon weight. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

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 hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Series Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, with Francis Lawrence directing, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. 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 to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight 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 ascends again
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival glow translates to 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
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Outlook: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

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 plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The coming 2026 Horror season: entries, filmmaker-first projects, And A loaded Calendar geared toward jolts

Dek The upcoming terror season clusters from the jump with a January cluster, before it rolls through midyear, and well into the winter holidays, mixing brand heft, new concepts, and well-timed calendar placement. Studio marketers and platforms are leaning into tight budgets, theatrical leads, and shareable marketing that elevate the slate’s entries into four-quadrant talking points.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror filmmaking has established itself as the sturdy counterweight in release strategies, a vertical that can grow when it resonates and still mitigate the liability when it underperforms. After 2023 reassured top brass that cost-conscious shockers can dominate mainstream conversation, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with filmmaker-forward plays and unexpected risers. The tailwind pushed into 2025, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers underscored there is room for varied styles, from returning installments to non-IP projects that resonate abroad. The upshot for 2026 is a slate that looks unusually coordinated across the industry, with mapped-out bands, a balance of household franchises and untested plays, and a recommitted commitment on theatrical windows that boost PVOD and platform value on PVOD and SVOD.

Buyers contend the horror lane now acts as a wildcard on the rollout map. Horror can launch on nearly any frame, provide a quick sell for trailers and TikTok spots, and outstrip with fans that line up on early shows and maintain momentum through the subsequent weekend if the title works. On the heels of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 layout underscores assurance in that playbook. The slate opens with a crowded January window, then taps spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while making space for a fall cadence that carries into the Halloween corridor and into post-Halloween. The layout also shows the tightening integration of indie distributors and platforms that can build gradually, ignite recommendations, and widen at the timely point.

A reinforcing pattern is brand management across connected story worlds and long-running brands. Major shops are not just producing another installment. They are aiming to frame continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a logo package that signals a new vibe or a star attachment that bridges a fresh chapter to a vintage era. At the alongside this, the directors behind the marquee originals are returning to physical effects work, special makeup and grounded locations. That interplay delivers the 2026 slate a robust balance of known notes and novelty, which is why the genre exports well.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount sets the tone early with two centerpiece plays that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the focus, presenting it as both a baton pass and a rootsy character study. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the narrative stance hints at a legacy-leaning bent without replaying the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Plan for a rollout anchored in classic imagery, first-look character reveals, and a rollout cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will lean on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will generate mainstream recognition through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format allowing quick shifts to whatever defines the conversation that spring.

Universal has three defined entries. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is clean, melancholic, and logline-clear: a grieving man sets up an synthetic partner that unfolds into a perilous partner. The date puts it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to mirror uncanny-valley stunts and bite-size content that fuses devotion and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a public title to become an fan moment closer to the initial tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele projects are marketed as auteur events, with a teaser that holds back and a subsequent trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The prime October weekend lets the studio to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has demonstrated that a gritty, practical-first approach can feel prestige on a lean spend. Frame it as a hard-R summer horror rush that centers international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio places two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, sustaining a trusty supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is presenting as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both diehards and curious audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build campaign creative around narrative world, and practical creature work, elements that can drive large-format demand and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror built on meticulous craft and language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The imprint has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streaming windows and tactics

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s genre slate transition to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ladder that expands both launch urgency and viewer acquisition in the post-theatrical. Prime Video blends licensed films with cross-border buys and limited runs in theaters when the data points to it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, holiday hubs, and editorial rows to keep attention on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps options open about originals and festival grabs, confirming horror entries closer to drop and eventizing arrivals with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a two-step of focused cinema runs and short jumps to platform that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has indicated interest to board select projects with name filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation builds.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is curating a 2026 sequence with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is clean: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, elevated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the October weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday slot to broaden. That positioning has helped for craft-driven horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception drives. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using limited runs to prime evangelism that fuels their subs.

Series vs standalone

By skew, the 2026 slate favors the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on cultural cachet. The risk, as ever, is audience fatigue. The pragmatic answer is to market each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is emphasizing relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-flavored turn from a buzzed-about director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the cast-creatives package is known enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and advance-audience nights.

The last three-year set help explain the approach. In 2023, a cinema-first model that honored streaming windows did not stop a hybrid test from winning when the brand was compelling. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror punched above its weight in PLF. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel new when they change perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters lensed back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to connect the chapters through character and theme and to hold creative in the market without long breaks.

How the look and feel evolve

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind 2026 horror forecast a continued bias toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that elevates texture and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in deep-dive features and department features before rolling out a mood teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and produces shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta inflection that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster aesthetics and world-building, which fit with fan-con activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel must-have. Look for trailers that elevate pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that explode in larger rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January have a peek at this web-site is loaded. 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 bigger brand plays. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the tone spread gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth persists.

Q1 into Q2 stage summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a late-September window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event occupies October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a peekaboo tease plan and limited disclosures that stress concept over spoilers.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift card usage.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s virtual companion grows into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss battle to survive on a cut-off island as the chain of command flips and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to fear, rooted in Cronin’s physical craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting story that toys with the dread of a child’s shaky POV. Rating: not yet rated. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-financed and A-list fronted ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A spoof revival that needles of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime crazes. Rating: TBA. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. 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 ignites, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a fresh family lashed to residual nightmares. Rating: undetermined. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A restart designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: TBD. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: TBA. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and elemental dread. Rating: not yet rated. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. his comment is here Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a big-screen run before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026, why now

Three operational forces drive this lineup. First, production that paused or rearranged in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage clippable moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Calendar math also matters. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, making room for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will coexist across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 disciplined-budget this page 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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, 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 preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, optimized footprints, 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 dimensionality, aural design, and camera work 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 Is Well Positioned

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is name recognition where it counts, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.