Primordial Evil surfaces: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled shocker, launching October 2025 on major streaming services

A unnerving metaphysical nightmare movie from creator / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an primeval horror when outsiders become tools in a hellish trial. Launching October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful story of staying alive and primeval wickedness that will reimagine terror storytelling this ghoul season. Created by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and tone-heavy screenplay follows five unacquainted souls who find themselves isolated in a unreachable structure under the unfriendly will of Kyra, a female lead consumed by a 2,000-year-old Old Testament spirit. Anticipate to be hooked by a visual venture that unites intense horror with spiritual backstory, hitting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a enduring foundation in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is challenged when the spirits no longer appear from external sources, but rather inside their minds. This symbolizes the haunting aspect of these individuals. The result is a bone-chilling identity crisis where the story becomes a intense clash between purity and corruption.


In a isolated wild, five friends find themselves sealed under the fiendish sway and haunting of a uncanny character. As the victims becomes defenseless to evade her dominion, disconnected and stalked by creatures indescribable, they are driven to encounter their worst nightmares while the moments unforgivingly edges forward toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety surges and partnerships collapse, pressuring each protagonist to reflect on their identity and the nature of free will itself. The hazard grow with every instant, delivering a fear-soaked story that marries otherworldly suspense with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to awaken pure dread, an power born of forgotten ages, embedding itself in soul-level flaws, and dealing with a darkness that redefines identity when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra involved tapping into something outside normal anguish. She is unaware until the spirit seizes her, and that conversion is eerie because it is so unshielded.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for on-demand beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—making sure watchers around the globe can experience this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its original promo, which has been viewed over notable views.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, exporting the fear to horror fans worldwide.


Join this visceral trip into the unknown. Explore *Young & Cursed* this launch day to survive these chilling revelations about existence.


For film updates, filmmaker commentary, and press updates from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursed across media channels and visit our spooky domain.





U.S. horror’s major pivot: the year 2025 U.S. release slate weaves myth-forward possession, underground frights, stacked beside franchise surges

Ranging from last-stand terror suffused with ancient scripture through to franchise returns alongside keen independent perspectives, 2025 is coalescing into the most textured as well as strategic year in recent memory.

Call it full, but it is also focused. top-tier distributors hold down the year by way of signature titles, while digital services front-load the fall with debut heat plus legend-coded dread. Across the art-house lane, horror’s indie wing is catching the tailwinds of a banner 2024 fest year. As Halloween stays the prime week, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, distinctly in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are precise, as a result 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige terror resurfaces

The top end is active. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s slate leads off the quarter with a risk-forward move: a refashioned Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, instead in a current-day frame. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. timed for 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 port tuned to austere horror. From director Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

At summer’s close, the WB camp drops the final chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re engages, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: 70s style chill, trauma in the foreground, along with eerie supernatural rules. The bar is raised this go, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The new chapter enriches the lore, thickens the animatronic pantheon, courting teens and the thirty something base. It drops in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streamer Exclusives: Modest spend, serious shock

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the quieter side is Together, a room scale body horror descent led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale led by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to 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.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It looks like sharp programming. No overweight mythology. No franchise baggage. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

From Festivals to Market

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

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

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Long Running Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, from Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

What to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror comes roaring back
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

What’s Next: Fall crush plus winter X factor

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 like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The coming 2026 genre Year Ahead: Sequels, universe starters, alongside A loaded Calendar designed for chills

Dek The arriving terror cycle lines up early with a January cluster, before it spreads through June and July, and pushing into the year-end corridor, balancing marquee clout, fresh ideas, and strategic release strategy. Studio marketers and platforms are leaning into lean spends, theater-first strategies, and platform-native promos that shape genre releases into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror marketplace has emerged as the most reliable release in release strategies, a corner that can accelerate when it lands and still cushion the floor when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year demonstrated to executives that responsibly budgeted horror vehicles can lead the national conversation, 2024 sustained momentum with festival-darling auteurs and unexpected risers. The energy moved into 2025, where returns and awards-minded projects highlighted there is a lane for diverse approaches, from brand follow-ups to filmmaker-driven originals that translate worldwide. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a lineup that seems notably aligned across companies, with intentional bunching, a mix of household franchises and original hooks, and a sharpened attention on box-office windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium home window and streaming.

Distribution heads claim the space now functions as a flex slot on the programming map. The genre can kick off on open real estate, provide a clear pitch for spots and shorts, and lead with demo groups that respond on Thursday nights and keep coming through the second frame if the movie delivers. On the heels of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 pattern demonstrates comfort in that logic. The year opens with a crowded January band, then uses spring and early summer for audience offsets, while clearing room for a October build that runs into the Halloween corridor and beyond. The map also shows the increasing integration of indie arms and streaming partners that can stage a platform run, ignite recommendations, and scale up at the proper time.

A parallel macro theme is legacy care across unified worlds and veteran brands. The studios are not just producing another entry. They are setting up lineage with a specialness, whether that is a art treatment that conveys a new vibe or a casting move that ties a fresh chapter to a heyday. At the concurrently, the writer-directors behind the most anticipated originals are favoring in-camera technique, real effects and concrete locations. That convergence produces 2026 a strong blend of home base and freshness, which is what works overseas.

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

Paramount defines the early cadence with two front-of-slate moves that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the front, presenting it as both a handoff and a DNA-forward character-first story. Production is active in Atlanta, and the artistic posture points to a heritage-honoring campaign without replaying the last two entries’ sibling arc. Anticipate a campaign driven by heritage visuals, early character teases, and a staggered trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will foreground. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will chase broad awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format fitting quick reframes to whatever drives the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three clear strategies. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tidy, tragic, and high-concept: a grieving man adopts an algorithmic mate that becomes a fatal companion. The date places it at the front of a heavy month, with the Universal machine likely to bring back odd public stunts and micro spots that blurs intimacy and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a proper title to become an teaser payoff closer to the debut look. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s pictures are presented as event films, with a opaque teaser and a later creative that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The prime October weekend opens a lane to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press 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 steers, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has long shown that a in-your-face, makeup-driven style can feel cinematic on a lean spend. Position this as a red-band summer horror hit that maximizes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio lines up two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, preserving a consistent supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is billing as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both players and newcomers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build materials around universe detail, and practical creature work, elements that can increase premium format interest and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in careful craft and dialect, this time focused on werewolf legend. Focus’s team has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is robust.

Digital platform strategies

Platform plans for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s releases head to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a pacing that maximizes both launch urgency and trial spikes in the late-window. Prime Video balances outside acquisitions with worldwide buys and limited cinema engagements when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in catalog discovery, using curated hubs, October hubs, and editorial rows to extend momentum on the horror cume. Netflix keeps flexible about own-slate titles and festival grabs, securing horror entries tight to release and elevating as drops debuts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a one-two of targeted cinema placements and short jumps to platform that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a per-project basis. The platform has indicated interest to purchase select projects with accomplished filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation intensifies.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 runway with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is uncomplicated: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, updated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the autumn weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday frame to scale. That positioning has helped for filmmaker-first horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception drives. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using mini theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subs.

Series vs standalone

By tilt, 2026 tilts in favor of the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage household recognition. The risk, as ever, is diminishing returns. The preferred tactic is to market each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is elevating character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is promising a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-inflected take from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded 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 signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the bundle is comforting enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Three-year comps frame the approach. In 2023, a cinema-first model that maintained windows did not prevent a hybrid test from paying off when the brand was strong. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror outperformed in premium screens. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they change perspective and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters lensed back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to interlace chapters through character web and themes and to leave creative active without pause points.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The creative meetings behind the upcoming entries indicate a continued bias toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that underscores mood and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a preview that keeps plot minimal, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and generates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta-horror reset that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster aesthetics and world-building, which fit with fan-con activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel essential. Look for trailers that highlight pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that explode in larger rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is jammed. 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 foggy reset amid heavier IP. The month caps 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 serious, but the variety of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Late Q1 and spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited advance reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can win the holiday when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and card redemption.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s intelligent companion mutates into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: mood-led 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 abrasive boss struggle to survive on a far-flung island as the control dynamic reverses and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Source Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to fright, built on Cronin’s on-set craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting setup that frames the panic through a little one’s flickering subjective lens. Rating: pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-scale and celebrity-led spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that pokes at current genre trends and true-crime manias. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites bursts, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a unlucky family lashed to old terrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A new start designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward classic survival-horror tone over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: pending. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on historical diction and bone-deep menace. Rating: pending. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 and why now

Three execution-level forces inform this lineup. First, production that decelerated or re-sequenced in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming landings. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, precision scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

There is also the slotting calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can control a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first shock 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, 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 sustain conversation and attendance 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, efficient screen counts, 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 surface detail, 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.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand equity where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the gasps sell the seats.