Primeval Evil returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising feature, bowing Oct 2025 on leading streamers

A frightening supernatural fear-driven tale from literary architect / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an archaic curse when foreigners become tools in a supernatural conflict. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking episode of continuance and archaic horror that will revamp fear-driven cinema this ghoul season. Realized by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and immersive screenplay follows five people who regain consciousness caught in a off-grid cottage under the sinister dominion of Kyra, a central character inhabited by a millennia-old ancient fiend. Arm yourself to be captivated by a narrative outing that unites bone-deep fear with ancient myths, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a long-standing fixture in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is flipped when the forces no longer manifest externally, but rather inside their minds. This embodies the grimmest version of the protagonists. The result is a harrowing internal warfare where the tension becomes a ongoing contest between divinity and wickedness.


In a forsaken natural abyss, five souls find themselves contained under the ominous sway and domination of a enigmatic character. As the characters becomes paralyzed to reject her command, marooned and preyed upon by powers ungraspable, they are compelled to battle their raw vulnerabilities while the hours ruthlessly ticks toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety intensifies and connections shatter, prompting each survivor to challenge their existence and the nature of autonomy itself. The tension accelerate with every tick, delivering a fear-soaked story that integrates mystical fear with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to extract basic terror, an force rooted in antiquity, embedding itself in mental cracks, and questioning a curse that dismantles free will when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra asked for exploring something far beyond human desperation. She is oblivious until the haunting manifests, and that shift is gut-wrenching because it is so private.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for worldwide release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—allowing customers across the world can get immersed in this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its release of trailer #1, which has seen over a viral response.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, exporting the fear to lovers of terror across nations.


Be sure to catch this gripping spiral into evil. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to acknowledge these haunting secrets about our species.


For director insights, filmmaker commentary, and news from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursed across media channels and visit our film’s homepage.





Horror’s inflection point: 2025 across markets domestic schedule integrates myth-forward possession, independent shockers, set against franchise surges

Across last-stand terror infused with scriptural legend as well as returning series as well as incisive indie visions, 2025 is shaping up as horror’s most layered combined with blueprinted year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. top-tier distributors plant stakes across the year through proven series, simultaneously premium streamers stack the fall with fresh voices as well as old-world menace. On another front, the artisan tier is riding the backdraft from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween holding the peak, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, though in this cycle, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are calculated, hence 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: High-craft horror returns

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s schedule starts the year with a confident swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, inside today’s landscape. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. set for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Steered by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

At summer’s close, the Warner Bros. banner releases the last chapter 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. Even with a familiar chassis, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson again directs, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: vintage toned fear, trauma as theme, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This run ups the stakes, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The continuation widens the legend, grows the animatronic horror lineup, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It posts in December, pinning the winter close.

SVOD Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a room scale body horror descent featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Also rising is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It looks like sharp programming. No heavy handed lore. No canon weight. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy IP: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, guided by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Dials to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forecast: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is 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 oncoming fright year to come: entries, fresh concepts, in tandem with A stacked Calendar tailored for chills

Dek The brand-new genre calendar crams early with a January pile-up, then unfolds through summer corridors, and pushing into the winter holidays, blending name recognition, inventive spins, and tactical counterprogramming. Distributors with platforms are doubling down on mid-range economics, theatrical exclusivity first, and social-fueled campaigns that frame these films into mainstream chatter.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The horror sector has shown itself to be the surest move in annual schedules, a lane that can accelerate when it lands and still protect the drag when it fails to connect. After 2023 signaled to top brass that mid-range scare machines can galvanize cultural conversation, the following year continued the surge with festival-darling auteurs and stealth successes. The carry rolled into 2025, where resurrections and prestige plays made clear there is a lane for varied styles, from continued chapters to original one-offs that travel well. The result for 2026 is a slate that looks unusually coordinated across the market, with mapped-out bands, a equilibrium of household franchises and untested plays, and a refocused commitment on big-screen windows that drive downstream revenue on premium on-demand and streaming.

Insiders argue the horror lane now operates like a wildcard on the slate. Horror can bow on many corridors, furnish a sharp concept for promo reels and TikTok spots, and outperform with ticket buyers that come out on opening previews and maintain momentum through the sophomore frame if the movie lands. On the heels of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 layout exhibits belief in that logic. The slate starts with a crowded January window, then uses spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while making space for a autumn push that runs into All Hallows period and into post-Halloween. The program also reflects the increasing integration of arthouse labels and streamers that can launch in limited release, grow buzz, and expand at the strategic time.

A companion trend is brand curation across shared universes and veteran brands. Distribution groups are not just turning out another follow-up. They are setting up threaded continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a title design that flags a reframed mood or a casting pivot that reconnects a next entry to a foundational era. At the in tandem, the filmmakers behind the most watched originals are returning to physical effects work, special makeup and concrete locations. That fusion yields 2026 a solid mix of trust and unexpected turns, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount sets the tone early with two marquee releases 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 heart, angling it as both a succession moment and a rootsy character-driven entry. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the authorial approach hints at a nostalgia-forward treatment without looping the last two entries’ sisters thread. Plan for a rollout built on signature symbols, initial cast looks, and a promo sequence arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

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 joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will lean on. As a summer contrast play, this one will go after wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format supporting quick adjustments to whatever tops the discourse that spring.

Universal has three defined lanes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is efficient, loss-driven, and big-hook: a grieving man brings home an synthetic partner that grows into a lethal partner. The date places it at the front of a thick month, with the Universal machine likely to recreate off-kilter promo beats and short-form creative that threads longing and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a official title to become an PR pop closer to the initial promo. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s pictures are set up as must-see filmmaker statements, with a teaser that reveals little and a subsequent trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor creates space for Universal to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has demonstrated that a flesh-and-blood, practical-first treatment can feel premium on a moderate cost. Look for a gore-forward summer horror jolt that emphasizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio books two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, preserving a reliable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is billing as a new foundation 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 fans and first-timers. The fall slot allows Sony to build materials around lore, and monster aesthetics, elements that can accelerate premium format interest and fandom activation.

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 sustains Eggers’ run of period horror built on minute detail and language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The specialty arm has already locked the day for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is robust.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform plans for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s genre entries land on copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a ladder that maximizes both premiere heat and subscriber lifts in the back half. Prime Video blends catalogue additions with cross-border buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu work their edges in catalog engagement, using featured rows, genre hubs, and curated strips to increase tail value on overall cume. Netflix retains agility about Netflix originals and festival deals, scheduling horror entries with shorter lead times and framing as events launches with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a paired of targeted cinema placements and accelerated platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a situational basis. The platform has indicated interest to invest in select projects with name filmmakers or A-list packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for platform stickiness when the genre conversation swells.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 lane with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is uncomplicated: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, modernized for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late-season weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday frame to increase reach. That positioning has delivered for auteur horror with four-quadrant hopes. 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 credible outlook is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception encourages. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using select theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their user base.

Series vs standalone

By tilt, the 2026 slate bends toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on legacy awareness. The risk, as ever, is overexposure. The operating solution is to brand each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is elevating core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-flavored turn from a hot helmer. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and talent-first projects provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a stranded survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the assembly is comforting enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Three-year comps announce the template. In 2023, a exclusive window model that held distribution windows did not obstruct a day-and-date experiment from performing when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror rose in premium screens. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they rotate perspective and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, enables marketing to link the films through character spine and themes and to hold creative in the market without lulls.

Creative tendencies and craft

The shop talk behind this year’s genre signal a continued preference for real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that foregrounds texture and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world 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 craft journalism and craft features before rolling out a atmospheric tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and spurs shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta-horror reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster work and world-building, which align with convention activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that accent razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that work in PLF.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is crowded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid big-brand pushes. The month buttons 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 meaningful, but the palette of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth persists.

Winter into spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now enables 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 sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late-season stretch leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a peekaboo tease plan and limited plot reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can play the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card burn.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA this website reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s artificial companion mutates into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot 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 comes 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 and U.S. theatrical set. 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 abrasive boss work to survive on a lonely island as the power balance reverses and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to menace, based on Cronin’s practical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting chiller that pipes the unease through a youngster’s volatile inner lens. Rating: pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed and name-above-title spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that teases of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fixations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. 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 spreads, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new family bound to long-buried horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBD. Production: ongoing. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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 raw menace. Rating: TBA. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the moment is 2026

Three operational forces drive this lineup. First, production that stalled or reshuffled in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming landings. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on turnkey scare beats from test screenings, curated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

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 varied shades of horror will stack across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where low-to-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 exploit those windows. 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. Expect a healthy 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 array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, acoustics, and cinematography 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

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand power where it counts, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the gasps sell the seats.