Antediluvian Horror Returns within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding horror thriller, rolling out October 2025 across major streaming services

One terrifying otherworldly thriller from storyteller / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an forgotten nightmare when outsiders become conduits in a satanic maze. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing tale of resistance and ancient evil that will remodel the fear genre this October. Realized by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and moody story follows five characters who find themselves trapped in a wooded structure under the menacing rule of Kyra, a tormented girl possessed by a prehistoric biblical demon. Arm yourself to be shaken by a big screen outing that combines raw fear with ancestral stories, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a recurring element in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is redefined when the presences no longer emerge outside their bodies, but rather through their own souls. This embodies the grimmest aspect of the cast. The result is a riveting emotional conflict where the suspense becomes a unyielding battle between divinity and wickedness.


In a barren no-man's-land, five figures find themselves imprisoned under the malevolent influence and infestation of a secretive character. As the ensemble becomes powerless to break her dominion, detached and pursued by terrors beyond reason, they are pushed to deal with their soulful dreads while the countdown without pause draws closer toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread rises and links splinter, driving each protagonist to reconsider their core and the nature of liberty itself. The pressure intensify with every heartbeat, delivering a cinematic nightmare that merges otherworldly panic with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to extract deep fear, an evil rooted in antiquity, operating within emotional vulnerability, and challenging a entity that threatens selfhood when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra was about accessing something far beyond human desperation. She is clueless until the invasion happens, and that transition is terrifying because it is so emotional.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—ensuring horror lovers no matter where they are can face this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its release of trailer #1, which has earned over notable views.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, offering the tale to a global viewership.


Be sure to catch this heart-stopping exploration of dread. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to explore these chilling revelations about free will.


For sneak peeks, special features, and updates from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across media channels and visit our spooky domain.





The horror genre’s inflection point: the 2025 season U.S. release slate braids together old-world possession, independent shockers, plus series shake-ups

Moving from last-stand terror drawn from old testament echoes and stretching into returning series and sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 appears poised to be the most stratified plus strategic year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Major studios bookend the months with familiar IP, concurrently streaming platforms front-load the fall with new voices in concert with ancient terrors. Across the art-house lane, indie storytellers is fueled by the backdraft of a banner 2024 fest year. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and now, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are precise, thus 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Premium dread reemerges

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s slate begins the calendar with a big gambit: a reconceived Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. targeting mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Steered by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

By late summer, Warner’s slate rolls out the capstone from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Though the outline is tried, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson resumes command, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: throwback unease, trauma explicitly handled, with ghostly inner logic. Here the stakes rise, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The return delves further into myth, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It lands in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streamer Exclusives: Low budgets, big teeth

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a room scale body horror descent featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is canny scheduling. No heavy handed lore. No legacy baggage. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Heritage Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

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

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, from Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Trends Worth Watching

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror retakes ground
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

The Road Ahead: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The next genre year to come: Sequels, Originals, paired with A Crowded Calendar aimed at shocks

Dek The new horror calendar packs early with a January logjam, thereafter extends through June and July, and far into the late-year period, blending marquee clout, original angles, and calculated alternatives. The big buyers and platforms are focusing on tight budgets, cinema-first plans, and viral-minded pushes that convert genre releases into mainstream chatter.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This category has become the dependable play in studio lineups, a category that can scale when it connects and still limit the exposure when it stumbles. After 2023 signaled to top brass that efficiently budgeted shockers can dominate mainstream conversation, 2024 held pace with signature-voice projects and stealth successes. The momentum translated to the 2025 frame, where returns and prestige plays confirmed there is a market for a variety of tones, from brand follow-ups to director-led originals that resonate abroad. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a calendar that seems notably aligned across the industry, with clear date clusters, a blend of household franchises and first-time concepts, and a tightened focus on exclusive windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium rental and OTT platforms.

Buyers contend the category now performs as a plug-and-play option on the programming map. The genre can roll out on numerous frames, offer a clean hook for ad units and vertical videos, and exceed norms with crowds that come out on opening previews and return through the next pass if the entry lands. Post a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 cadence shows certainty in that setup. The year opens with a heavy January schedule, then targets spring into early summer for counterweight, while reserving space for a late-year stretch that stretches into spooky season and past Halloween. The arrangement also includes the continuing integration of arthouse labels and subscription services that can platform a title, grow buzz, and widen at the right moment.

A parallel macro theme is franchise tending across linked properties and long-running brands. Studios are not just rolling another return. They are moving to present lore continuity with a occasion, whether that is a art treatment that announces a recalibrated tone or a casting pivot that ties a latest entry to a heyday. At the simultaneously, the creative teams behind the most watched originals are championing hands-on technique, special makeup and location-forward worlds. That alloy produces the 2026 slate a strong blend of recognition and discovery, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

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

Paramount fires first with two spotlight moves that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the core, presenting it as both a succession moment and a DNA-forward relationship-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the directional approach telegraphs a fan-service aware mode without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Expect a marketing push driven by iconic art, early character teases, and a rollout cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners 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 four-quadrant chatter through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format allowing quick turns to whatever dominates the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three specific lanes. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is tight, heartbroken, and concept-forward: a grieving man implements an intelligent companion that grows into a dangerous lover. The date positions it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to recreate off-kilter promo beats and bite-size content that interlaces romance and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a title drop to become an fan moment closer to the initial tease. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. His entries are set up as director events, with a hinting teaser and a second wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date gives the studio room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a tactile, hands-on effects method can feel premium on a efficient spend. Frame it as a grime-caked summer horror shock that centers foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio lines up two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, carrying a reliable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what Sony is marketing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both longtime followers and first-timers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build promo materials around mythos, and creature builds, elements that can stoke PLF interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror defined by historical precision and linguistic texture, this time focused on werewolf legend. The company has already locked the day for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is positive.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform tactics for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s horror titles move to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a structure that optimizes both week-one demand and subscription bumps in the later phase. Prime Video continues to mix library titles with worldwide entries and limited cinema engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library engagement, using timely promos, spooky hubs, and handpicked rows to increase tail value on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps flexible about internal projects and festival snaps, scheduling horror entries toward the drop and eventizing arrivals with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a two-step of targeted theatrical exposure and quick platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a situational basis. The platform has shown appetite to board select projects with established auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation ramps.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 lane with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January have a peek at this web-site with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is clear: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, upgraded for modern soundscapes and visuals. 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 theatrical rollout for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the September weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, managing the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the Christmas window to increase reach. That positioning has proved effective for elevated genre with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception encourages. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using limited runs to ignite evangelism that fuels their membership.

IP versus fresh ideas

By number, 2026 skews toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on legacy awareness. The watch-out, as ever, is viewer burnout. The go-to fix is to package each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is emphasizing character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-inflected take from a buzzed-about director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the cast-creatives package is steady enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and advance-audience nights.

Rolling three-year comps contextualize the model. In 2023, a exclusive window model that respected streaming windows did not deter a same-day experiment from winning when the brand was potent. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror hit big in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they rotate perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to bridge entries through character web and themes and to keep assets in-market without doldrums.

Creative tendencies and craft

The craft rooms behind the year’s horror foreshadow a continued lean toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that centers tone and tension rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft coverage before rolling out a first look that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for red-band excess, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and sparks shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta-horror reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster aesthetics and world-building, which work nicely for convention activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel necessary. Look for trailers that foreground surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that explode in larger rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is jammed. 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 quiet contrast amid big-brand pushes. The month concludes 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 credible, but the range great post to read of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Early-year through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with legacy momentum. 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 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late summer into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited advance reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s digital partner shifts into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens 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 heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: gothic-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 prickly boss push to survive on a uninhabited island as the power dynamic reverses and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to fear, built on Cronin’s tactile craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting chiller that filters its scares through a youth’s volatile subjective view. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fully shot. 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 back in the creative mix. Logline: {A satirical comeback that needles in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime crazes. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites surges, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further widens again, with a young family snared by older hauntings. Rating: TBA. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on true survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBD. Production: underway. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and elemental menace. Rating: TBA. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026, why now

Three practical forces frame this lineup. First, production that paused or recalendared in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on clippable moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will share space across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

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

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

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two 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 gain momentum, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, soundscape, and image-making that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Promising 2026

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand heft where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, 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 late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the gasps sell the seats.