Primeval Dread reawakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled thriller, streaming October 2025 across global platforms

One spine-tingling unearthly scare-fest from narrative craftsman / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an forgotten malevolence when drifters become instruments in a fiendish game. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking portrayal of perseverance and ancient evil that will transform fear-driven cinema this scare season. Produced by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and moody feature follows five unknowns who emerge trapped in a remote wooden structure under the hostile command of Kyra, a female lead consumed by a legendary sacred-era entity. Brace yourself to be seized by a audio-visual spectacle that fuses gut-punch terror with ancient myths, hitting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a well-established concept in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is inverted when the presences no longer emerge from external sources, but rather from their core. This mirrors the darkest part of each of them. The result is a harrowing spiritual tug-of-war where the suspense becomes a soul-crushing push-pull between divinity and wickedness.


In a forsaken landscape, five friends find themselves cornered under the malicious presence and curse of a uncanny apparition. As the ensemble becomes paralyzed to deny her grasp, detached and preyed upon by forces unimaginable, they are cornered to face their soulful dreads while the seconds without pity ticks onward toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion builds and ties implode, compelling each survivor to contemplate their personhood and the foundation of self-determination itself. The pressure escalate with every beat, delivering a fear-soaked story that fuses demonic fright with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to draw upon primal fear, an malevolence rooted in antiquity, manifesting in mental cracks, and dealing with a force that tests the soul when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra demanded embodying something beyond human emotion. She is unseeing until the haunting manifests, and that flip is haunting because it is so intimate.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for worldwide release beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—ensuring streamers internationally can dive into this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its first trailer, which has gathered over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, delivering the story to a global viewership.


Mark your calendar for this haunted ride through nightmares. Explore *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to witness these chilling revelations about the mind.


For cast commentary, production insights, and reveals from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across online outlets and visit youngandcursed.com.





Today’s horror watershed moment: 2025 across markets U.S. Slate weaves old-world possession, indie terrors, stacked beside tentpole growls

From survivor-centric dread grounded in primordial scripture and onward to franchise returns plus surgical indie voices, 2025 is tracking to be the most stratified as well as intentionally scheduled year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. Top studios lay down anchors by way of signature titles, at the same time digital services flood the fall with first-wave breakthroughs set against old-world menace. In parallel, the artisan tier is fueled by the uplift from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Since Halloween is the prized date, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, notably this year, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are targeted, hence 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal camp fires the first shot with a statement play: a reimagined Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Led by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. arriving mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Led by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

When summer tapers, the Warner lot launches the swan song from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Although the framework is familiar, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson resumes command, and the tone that worked before is intact: retro dread, trauma foregrounded, plus otherworld rules that chill. This run ups the stakes, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The next entry deepens the tale, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, bridging teens and legacy players. It books December, pinning the winter close.

Platform Plays: Low budgets, big teeth

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a body horror duet fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. 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.

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 is a calculated bet. No overweight mythology. No canon weight. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

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

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Lines: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, 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 sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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.

Dials to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror comes roaring back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

What’s Next: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The coming 2026 genre Year Ahead: brand plays, universe starters, as well as A busy Calendar calibrated for nightmares

Dek The incoming genre calendar packs in short order with a January bottleneck, before it flows through midyear, and running into the late-year period, marrying brand equity, new voices, and shrewd release strategy. The big buyers and platforms are prioritizing lean spends, theatrical-first rollouts, and platform-native promos that frame genre titles into national conversation.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This category has emerged as the most reliable swing in studio lineups, a pillar that can surge when it breaks through and still insulate the floor when it falls short. After the 2023 year reminded strategy teams that cost-conscious genre plays can dominate cultural conversation, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with high-profile filmmaker pieces and sleeper breakouts. The upswing rolled into 2025, where reawakened brands and critical darlings highlighted there is a market for many shades, from series extensions to standalone ideas that carry overseas. The end result for the 2026 slate is a slate that is strikingly coherent across companies, with purposeful groupings, a pairing of household franchises and first-time concepts, and a tightened attention on theater exclusivity that feed downstream value on premium video on demand and SVOD.

Schedulers say the horror lane now works like a wildcard on the slate. The genre can launch on almost any weekend, provide a quick sell for promo reels and vertical videos, and exceed norms with moviegoers that appear on previews Thursday and stick through the week two if the entry works. In the wake of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 pattern exhibits certainty in that engine. The slate starts with a stacked January lineup, then uses spring and early summer for audience offsets, while making space for a late-year stretch that carries into All Hallows period and afterwards. The program also includes the stronger partnership of arthouse labels and platforms that can nurture a platform play, fuel WOM, and broaden at the precise moment.

An added macro current is brand management across connected story worlds and classic IP. The companies are not just turning out another sequel. They are looking to package lineage with a specialness, whether that is a logo package that flags a reframed mood or a ensemble decision that ties a upcoming film to a original cycle. At the simultaneously, the helmers behind the top original plays are prioritizing tactile craft, real effects and place-driven backdrops. That convergence gives 2026 a lively combination of known notes and novelty, which is what works overseas.

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

Paramount fires first with two spotlight moves that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the heart, setting it up as both a succession moment and a classic-mode character-focused installment. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture conveys a heritage-honoring campaign without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push rooted in classic imagery, first-look character reveals, and a tiered teaser plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time Source since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will double down on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will go after large awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format inviting quick shifts to whatever drives the social talk that spring.

Universal has three unique lanes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is simple, melancholic, and high-concept: a grieving man activates an algorithmic mate that mutates into a harmful mate. The date locates it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to replay uncanny-valley stunts and quick hits that melds companionship and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a branding reveal to become an headline beat closer to the early tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s releases are sold as creative events, with a teaser that holds back and a later trailer push that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween runway gives Universal room to maximize 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, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has made clear that a gnarly, practical-first mix can feel high-value on a tight budget. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror hit that maximizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio lines up two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, carrying a steady supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is selling as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both diehards and curious audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign pieces around canon, and monster design, elements that can lift IMAX and PLF uptake and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by immersive craft and period speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. The label has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is enthusiastic.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform windowing in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s releases feed copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a tiered path that fortifies both launch urgency and sub growth in the tail. Prime Video interleaves licensed titles with cross-border buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in archive usage, using featured rows, fright rows, and programmed rows to maximize the tail on lifetime take. Netflix plays opportunist about in-house releases and festival additions, scheduling horror entries tight to release and eventizing drops with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a hybrid of focused cinema runs and fast windowing that translates talk to trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has indicated interest to acquire select projects with name filmmakers or star packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 arc with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is uncomplicated: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, recalibrated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through festival season if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday frame to go wider. That positioning has served the company well for prestige horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception warrants. Expect 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 in concert, using small theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their membership.

Balance of brands and originals

By skew, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on marquee value. The watch-out, as ever, is overexposure. The standing approach is to sell each entry as a new angle. Paramount is underscoring core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a Francophone tone from a rising filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries keep oxygen in the system. 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, sets Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the package is familiar enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years clarify the approach. In 2023, a cinema-first model that honored streaming windows did not stop a same-day experiment from succeeding when the brand was compelling. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror outperformed in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they angle differently and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters shot consecutively, gives leeway to marketing to connect the chapters through character web and themes and to sustain campaign assets without long gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The shop talk behind 2026 horror hint at a continued preference for material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that elevates texture and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in feature stories and artisan spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and creates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a self-aware reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature design and production design, which lend themselves to fan-con activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel necessary. Look for trailers that spotlight pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that land in premium houses.

Annual flow

January is heavy. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid heftier brand moves. The month closes 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 serious, but the variety of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Pre-summer months stage summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives 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 leads 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 playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited pre-release reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys 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 loss-struck man’s artificial companion unfolds into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 severe boss push to survive on a lonely island as the power balance swivels and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, news Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to chill, rooted in Cronin’s practical craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting setup that pipes the unease through a youngster’s wavering point of view. Rating: TBA. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that pokes at hot-button genre motifs and true-crime buzz. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 global twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further reopens, with a another family entangled with returning horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-core horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: to be announced. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: closely held. Rating: not yet rated. Production: ongoing. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 era-faithful speech and primordial menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 lands now

Three execution-level forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shifted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more structured 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 landings. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on shareable moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

There is also the slotting calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will coexist across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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 journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, sound field, and framing 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, Lined Up To Scare

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is IP strength where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.