Primordial Evil rises: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling supernatural thriller, landing Oct 2025 on leading streamers

An unnerving otherworldly nightmare movie from cinematographer / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an prehistoric curse when passersby become tools in a devilish struggle. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish depiction of perseverance and mythic evil that will alter scare flicks this fall. Brought to life by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and eerie motion picture follows five figures who are stirred caught in a unreachable hideaway under the aggressive manipulation of Kyra, a haunted figure haunted by a antiquated ancient fiend. Be prepared to be drawn in by a cinematic display that combines primitive horror with legendary tales, hitting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a classic foundation in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is inverted when the malevolences no longer come outside their bodies, but rather within themselves. This suggests the darkest element of each of them. The result is a edge-of-seat cognitive warzone where the drama becomes a merciless clash between divinity and wickedness.


In a wilderness-stricken terrain, five characters find themselves trapped under the dark dominion and possession of a uncanny apparition. As the victims becomes unresisting to deny her dominion, abandoned and hunted by creatures impossible to understand, they are driven to confront their greatest panics while the timeline brutally ticks onward toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion amplifies and connections erode, requiring each soul to reconsider their character and the nature of personal agency itself. The intensity surge with every instant, delivering a nightmarish journey that intertwines demonic fright with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to uncover primal fear, an darkness beyond recorded history, working through our fears, and questioning a force that tests the soul when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra demanded embodying something darker than pain. She is oblivious until the curse activates, and that pivot is harrowing because it is so intimate.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for streaming beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—making sure horror lovers worldwide can be part of this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its first preview, which has been viewed over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, making the film to thrill-seekers globally.


Be sure to catch this bone-rattling spiral into evil. Watch *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to face these terrifying truths about free will.


For sneak peeks, extra content, and alerts straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Instagram and Twitter and visit youngandcursed.com.





Current horror’s decisive shift: calendar year 2025 stateside slate integrates archetypal-possession themes, indie terrors, paired with tentpole growls

Running from pressure-cooker survival tales suffused with mythic scripture through to returning series and incisive indie visions, 2025 is shaping up as horror’s most layered in tandem with precision-timed year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. top-tier distributors bookend the months with known properties, at the same time subscription platforms load up the fall with new perspectives as well as old-world menace. On the independent axis, the art-house flank is carried on the echoes of a banner 2024 fest year. With Halloween holding the peak, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, but this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are precise, thus 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

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

Universal begins the calendar with an audacious swing: a modernized Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a sharp contemporary setting. With Leigh Whannell at the helm fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. landing in mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Steered by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

When summer fades, the WB camp releases the last chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Although the framework is familiar, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson resumes command, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: retrograde shiver, trauma as narrative engine, and a cold supernatural calculus. Here the stakes rise, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, builds out the animatronic fear crew, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It lands in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

SVOD Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While the big screen favors titles you know, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a room scale body horror descent including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Also notable is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. 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.

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 overstuffed canon. No continuity burden. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, from Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Emerging Currents

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror swings back
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forecast: Autumn density and winter pivot

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

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 assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The new spook lineup: follow-ups, new stories, as well as A Crowded Calendar geared toward shocks

Dek: The current genre calendar lines up right away with a January wave, then spreads through the summer months, and deep into the year-end corridor, marrying name recognition, new concepts, and shrewd counter-scheduling. The big buyers and platforms are doubling down on right-sized spends, theatrical-first rollouts, and platform-native promos that transform these pictures into broad-appeal conversations.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The genre has grown into the steady move in release plans, a lane that can accelerate when it catches and still cushion the losses when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year signaled to executives that low-to-mid budget horror vehicles can drive the zeitgeist, the following year extended the rally with auteur-driven buzzy films and surprise hits. The head of steam carried into the 2025 frame, where reboots and awards-minded projects proved there is an opening for several lanes, from series extensions to fresh IP that resonate abroad. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a lineup that feels more orchestrated than usual across the major shops, with obvious clusters, a combination of brand names and new concepts, and a re-energized strategy on exclusive windows that power the aftermarket on premium video on demand and home platforms.

Marketers add the category now works like a fill-in ace on the rollout map. The genre can debut on a wide range of weekends, furnish a grabby hook for teasers and reels, and punch above weight with crowds that show up on Thursday nights and maintain momentum through the subsequent weekend if the title lands. Coming out of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 plan reflects certainty in that engine. The slate commences with a heavy January band, then primes spring and early summer for balance, while reserving space for a autumn push that runs into All Hallows period and beyond. The map also spotlights the ongoing integration of boutique distributors and streaming partners that can platform and widen, create conversation, and go nationwide at the right moment.

A parallel macro theme is brand curation across interlocking continuities and legacy IP. Major shops are not just mounting another sequel. They are working to present brand continuity with a occasion, whether that is a title presentation that flags a re-angled tone or a casting choice that links a fresh chapter to a foundational era. At the very same time, the directors behind the most buzzed-about originals are favoring real-world builds, in-camera effects and concrete locations. That convergence gives the 2026 slate a lively combination of trust and freshness, which is the formula for international play.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount sets the tone early with two big-ticket titles that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the focus, positioning the film as both a legacy handover and a rootsy character-forward chapter. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture hints at a throwback-friendly mode without repeating the last two entries’ sibling arc. Watch for a push centered on signature symbols, initial cast looks, and a tiered teaser plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will feature. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will build mainstream recognition through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format fitting quick adjustments to whatever shapes the conversation that spring.

Universal has three distinct projects. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is tidy, melancholic, and big-hook: a grieving man activates an synthetic partner that escalates into a deadly partner. The date locates it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with the marketing arm likely to renew strange in-person beats and short-form creative that blurs romance and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a name unveil to become an headline beat closer to the first look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. His entries are treated as event films, with a teaser that reveals little and a next wave of trailers that signal tone without plot the concept. The spooky-season slot lets the studio to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has demonstrated that a blood-soaked, prosthetic-heavy treatment can feel cinematic on a disciplined budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror hit that pushes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio books two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, extending a consistent supernatural this page brand in motion while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is framing as a fresh restart 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 loyalists and newcomers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build campaign creative around canon, and creature builds, elements that can increase large-format demand and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by textural authenticity and dialect, this time orbiting lycan myth. Focus has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform plans for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre slate window into copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a stair-step that amplifies both week-one demand and subscription bumps in the later window. Prime Video stitches together acquired titles with global acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog discovery, using well-timed internal promotions, seasonal hubs, and collection rows to prolong the run on 2026 genre cume. Netflix stays nimble about originals and festival snaps, scheduling horror entries near their drops and staging as events premieres with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a hybrid of focused cinema runs and fast windowing that drives paid trials from buzz. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to take on select projects with acclaimed directors or celebrity-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation surges.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is structuring 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 offer is clean: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, refined for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the September weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, guiding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday corridor to widen. That positioning has served the company well for filmmaker-driven genre with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many my company 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception supports. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using select theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their membership.

Brands and originals

By tilt, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage household recognition. The risk, as ever, is overexposure. The preferred tactic is to market each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is spotlighting core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is promising a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-accented approach from a emerging director. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and auteur plays bring 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 this content 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the packaging is steady enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday-night crowds.

Past-three-year patterns help explain the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that honored streaming windows did not hamper a simultaneous release test from winning when the brand was robust. In 2024, director-craft horror over-performed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they reframe POV and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to tie installments through character arcs and themes and to keep materials circulating without hiatuses.

How the films are being made

The craft conversations behind this year’s genre indicate a continued shift toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that underscores atmosphere and fear rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most severe 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 earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in long-lead features and artisan spotlights before rolling out a first look that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and produces shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a self-referential reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature design and production design, which fit with convention floor stunts and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel must-have. Look for trailers that center hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that benefit on big speakers.

Annual flow

January is jammed. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid marquee brands. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the palette of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

Post-January through spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a late-September window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a minimalist tease strategy and limited information drops that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. 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 carrying holiday turnout and gift-card spend.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s intelligent companion grows into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

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 encounter a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her severe boss struggle to survive on a lonely island as the power balance turns and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

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 menace, founded on Cronin’s material craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting piece that twists the horror of a child’s mercurial senses. Rating: TBD. Production: locked. Positioning: major-studio and toplined supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A send-up revival that teases present-day genre chatter and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBA. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 detonates, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further opens again, with a fresh family lashed to long-buried horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A new start designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: not yet rated. 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: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: not yet rated. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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-precise speech and elemental fear. Rating: pending. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 in flux, fall expected.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three grounded forces define this lineup. First, production that paused or reshuffled in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming placements. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on social-ready stingers from test screenings, precision scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, clearing runway for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where value-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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, 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 feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, 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, acoustics, 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

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is name recognition where it counts, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of 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, keep the curtain closed, and let the gasps sell the seats.