Ancient Malevolence returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling horror feature, landing Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

One spine-tingling spiritual terror film from literary architect / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an prehistoric nightmare when foreigners become tools in a devilish ordeal. Releasing October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish narrative of resistance and age-old darkness that will revolutionize terror storytelling this cool-weather season. Helmed by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and emotionally thick motion picture follows five unacquainted souls who find themselves caught in a unreachable wooden structure under the sinister dominion of Kyra, a haunted figure occupied by a two-thousand-year-old biblical force. Get ready to be ensnared by a cinematic spectacle that merges instinctive fear with ancient myths, hitting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a long-standing concept in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is turned on its head when the monsters no longer develop from an outside force, but rather within themselves. This echoes the grimmest element of the group. The result is a enthralling mental war where the intensity becomes a soul-crushing contest between right and wrong.


In a unforgiving wild, five figures find themselves imprisoned under the sinister grip and domination of a haunted character. As the group becomes unable to withstand her rule, isolated and followed by terrors unfathomable, they are confronted to encounter their worst nightmares while the time unforgivingly winds toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion intensifies and relationships erode, pressuring each cast member to rethink their values and the concept of self-determination itself. The threat intensify with every fleeting time, delivering a horror experience that marries paranormal dread with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to dig into primitive panic, an presence from ancient eras, filtering through soul-level flaws, and testing a curse that dismantles free will when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra demanded embodying something past sanity. She is unseeing until the haunting manifests, and that change is shocking because it is so emotional.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for public screening beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—giving subscribers anywhere can get immersed in this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its initial teaser, which has earned over 100K plays.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, bringing the film to lovers of terror across nations.


Witness this mind-warping path of possession. Stream *Young & Cursed* this launch day to dive into these chilling revelations about mankind.


For featurettes, special features, and reveals from inside the story, follow @YACMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit the official digital haunt.





Current horror’s sea change: the year 2025 U.S. release slate blends legend-infused possession, Indie Shockers, and legacy-brand quakes

From life-or-death fear suffused with scriptural legend all the way to returning series together with incisive indie visions, 2025 appears poised to be the most dimensioned as well as intentionally scheduled year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio powerhouses stabilize the year with familiar IP, at the same time subscription platforms saturate the fall with new voices paired with ancestral chills. In the indie lane, independent banners is surfing the carry from a record 2024 festival run. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, notably this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are methodical, therefore 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal Pictures lights the fuse with an audacious swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, inside today’s landscape. Led by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. set for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Helmed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer eases, Warner’s schedule bows the concluding entry from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. While the template is known, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re engages, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: retrograde shiver, trauma as text, plus otherworld rules that chill. This run ups the stakes, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The return delves further into myth, builds out the animatronic fear crew, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It bows in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Firsts: Economy, maximum dread

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a sealed box body horror arc fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No puffed out backstory. No brand fatigue. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Brands: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, from Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Emerging Currents

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror returns
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

The Road Ahead: Fall stack and winter swing card

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. 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. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The forthcoming 2026 terror lineup: brand plays, non-franchise titles, in tandem with A jammed Calendar engineered for chills

Dek The brand-new genre year builds immediately with a January wave, following that flows through peak season, and far into the holiday frame, weaving IP strength, new concepts, and tactical offsets. The major players are leaning into responsible budgets, cinema-first plans, and shareable marketing that frame horror entries into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The field has established itself as the dependable option in release strategies, a genre that can expand when it connects and still hedge the exposure when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for greenlighters that lean-budget chillers can command pop culture, 2024 sustained momentum with director-led heat and quiet over-performers. The run translated to the 2025 frame, where reboots and arthouse crossovers showed there is capacity for different modes, from franchise continuations to original features that export nicely. The sum for the 2026 slate is a grid that reads highly synchronized across studios, with strategic blocks, a mix of legacy names and first-time concepts, and a recommitted commitment on big-screen windows that power the aftermarket on premium home window and streaming.

Executives say the category now performs as a schedule utility on the schedule. The genre can premiere on virtually any date, create a clear pitch for promo reels and shorts, and outperform with patrons that show up on Thursday previews and hold through the second weekend if the film connects. In the wake of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 setup underscores assurance in that engine. The year commences with a loaded January schedule, then turns to spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while clearing room for a October build that carries into holiday-adjacent weekends and into post-Halloween. The schedule also reflects the ongoing integration of boutique distributors and digital platforms that can stage a platform run, create conversation, and expand at the sweet spot.

A reinforcing pattern is IP cultivation across shared universes and legacy franchises. The studios are not just pushing another follow-up. They are moving to present connection with a heightened moment, whether that is a title presentation that indicates a refreshed voice or a casting pivot that links a latest entry to a heyday. At the in tandem, the creative teams behind the top original plays are prioritizing in-camera technique, makeup and prosthetics and specific settings. That mix provides the 2026 slate a lively combination of brand comfort and newness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount establishes early momentum with two high-profile bets that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the heart, signaling it as both a succession moment and a rootsy character piece. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a memory-charged angle without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run fueled by signature symbols, character spotlights, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm rolling toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will spotlight. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will chase wide buzz through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format permitting quick redirects to whatever defines horror talk that spring.

Universal has three separate entries. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is clean, melancholic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man brings home an virtual partner that escalates into a killer companion. The date places it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to echo viral uncanny stunts and snackable content that interweaves attachment and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under internal titles in the Check This Out family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a final title to become an PR pop closer to the debut look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s work are treated as signature events, with a teaser that reveals little and a follow-up trailer set that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The late-October frame gives the studio room to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has long shown that a tactile, prosthetic-heavy aesthetic can feel premium on a efficient spend. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror shock that spotlights overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio mounts two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, preserving a steady supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is framing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both fans and general audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build materials around universe detail, and monster design, elements that can fuel premium screens and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by meticulous craft and dialect, this time circling werewolf lore. The label has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is warm.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform strategies for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s genre slate transition to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a pacing that boosts both opening-weekend urgency and platform bumps in the later window. Prime Video blends third-party pickups with global pickups and brief theater runs when the data supports it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in archive usage, using editorial spots, holiday hubs, and editorial rows to extend momentum on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps flexible about originals and festival wins, locking in horror entries closer to launch and eventizing rollouts with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a staged of targeted theatrical exposure and quick platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to board select projects with top-tier auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation peaks.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is curating a 2026 arc with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is straightforward: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, modernized for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the September weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, stewarding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas corridor to broaden. That positioning has helped for filmmaker-driven genre with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception warrants. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using limited runs to fuel evangelism that fuels their paid base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By number, the 2026 slate favors the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on marquee value. The caveat, as ever, is viewer burnout. The preferred tactic is to sell each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is emphasizing character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French sensibility from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival chiller premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the team and cast is steady enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and preview-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years clarify the strategy. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that respected streaming windows did not prevent a day-and-date experiment from hitting when the brand was sticky. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror outperformed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they shift POV and scale the storytelling. 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-step approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, lets marketing to relate entries through personae and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without long gaps.

How the look and feel evolve

The production chatter behind the 2026 slate forecast a continued move toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, weblink a stance that fits with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that foregrounds creep and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in trade spotlights and artisan spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that withholds plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and drives shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-aware reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will live or die on creature craft and set design, which play well in booth activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel essential. Look for trailers that spotlight pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in premium houses.

Release calendar overview

January is packed. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid macro-brand pushes. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the palette of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late Q1 and spring load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now accommodates 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 underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a bridge slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited asset reveals that center concept over reveals.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and holiday gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to 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 bereaved man’s machine mate grows into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. 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 tough boss push to survive on a isolated island as the chain of command flips and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to menace, anchored by Cronin’s practical effects and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting piece that channels the fear through a little one’s volatile POV. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-supported and toplined ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that pokes at hot-button genre motifs and true crime fixations. Rating: to be announced. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 spreads, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

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

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: pending. Logline: A clean reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-driven horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: TBD. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: closely held. Rating: TBA. Production: ongoing. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on antique diction and elemental fear. Rating: forthcoming. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why this year, why now

Three workable forces shape this lineup. First, production that eased or reshuffled in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming drops. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate repeatable beats from test screenings, precision scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

There is also the slotting calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will stack across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, soundscape, and visuals 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 Promising 2026

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is name recognition where it counts, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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, cut sharp trailers, keep secrets, and let the shocks sell the seats.