Age-old Dread surfaces: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

This blood-curdling otherworldly fright fest from storyteller / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an age-old dread when drifters become tools in a diabolical ordeal. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish journey of perseverance and age-old darkness that will remodel genre cinema this ghoul season. Brought to life by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and shadowy fearfest follows five individuals who emerge stranded in a wooded cottage under the dark rule of Kyra, a troubled woman occupied by a timeless sacred-era entity. Ready yourself to be hooked by a audio-visual display that integrates primitive horror with ancestral stories, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a long-standing foundation in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is twisted when the presences no longer arise from an outside force, but rather from within. This depicts the most hidden facet of each of them. The result is a gripping moral showdown where the story becomes a brutal contest between good and evil.


In a remote landscape, five characters find themselves trapped under the malevolent force and spiritual invasion of a haunted entity. As the team becomes powerless to break her manipulation, cut off and tormented by powers indescribable, they are cornered to reckon with their core terrors while the timeline ruthlessly pushes forward toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension surges and partnerships fracture, pressuring each person to scrutinize their self and the principle of independent thought itself. The intensity surge with every short lapse, delivering a nightmarish journey that weaves together supernatural terror with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to awaken primitive panic, an malevolence that existed before mankind, manifesting in our weaknesses, and questioning a presence that strips down our being when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra meant channeling something beyond human emotion. She is innocent until the demon emerges, and that transformation is shocking because it is so internal.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for audience access beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring fans in all regions can experience this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first trailer, which has collected over 100,000 views.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, giving access to the movie to global fright lovers.


Experience this soul-jarring path of possession. Face *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to experience these unholy truths about the human condition.


For behind-the-scenes access, production news, and promotions straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Facebook and TikTok and visit youngandcursed.com.





Modern horror’s decisive shift: the 2025 season American release plan melds myth-forward possession, independent shockers, together with returning-series thunder

Ranging from life-or-death fear saturated with legendary theology through to franchise returns as well as sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is tracking to be the most textured plus deliberate year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. leading studios lay down anchors through proven series, in tandem streamers saturate the fall with fresh voices together with scriptural shivers. Meanwhile, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is fueled by the tailwinds from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Since Halloween is the prized date, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, yet in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are methodical, as a result 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige terror resurfaces

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the base, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s slate fires the first shot with a marquee bet: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, but a sharp contemporary setting. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. 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 reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Under Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer wanes, the Warner Bros. banner drops the final chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Granted the structure is classic, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson resumes command, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: period tinged dread, trauma as theme, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This pass pushes higher, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The new chapter enriches the lore, builds out the animatronic fear crew, speaking to teens and older millennials. It arrives in December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. 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 more intimate flank sits Together, a room scale body horror descent featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend led by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held 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 horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a clever angle. No overinflated mythology. No franchise baggage. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

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

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Brands: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, 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.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, under Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

What to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

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

Streaming originals get teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Season Ahead: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

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. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. 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 success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The coming 2026 Horror season: entries, standalone ideas, in tandem with A stacked Calendar optimized for jolts

Dek The emerging terror season loads at the outset with a January traffic jam, and then runs through midyear, and pushing into the festive period, combining name recognition, creative pitches, and smart counterplay. Major distributors and platforms are embracing responsible budgets, theater-first strategies, and influencer-ready assets that frame these films into cross-demo moments.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

Horror has shown itself to be the most reliable release in release strategies, a vertical that can spike when it catches and still buffer the risk when it does not. After the 2023 year re-taught top brass that cost-conscious shockers can dominate cultural conversation, 2024 held pace with auteur-driven buzzy films and sleeper breakouts. The upswing flowed into 2025, where reboots and prestige plays confirmed there is space for many shades, from brand follow-ups to original features that travel well. The result for 2026 is a schedule that presents tight coordination across studios, with purposeful groupings, a pairing of household franchises and new pitches, and a recommitted emphasis on exclusive windows that increase tail monetization on premium on-demand and home streaming.

Executives say the space now slots in as a fill-in ace on the release plan. Horror can launch on nearly any frame, provide a quick sell for promo reels and vertical videos, and lead with demo groups that show up on advance nights and return through the next weekend if the title pays off. In the wake of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 configuration reflects confidence in that setup. The calendar begins with a loaded January stretch, then targets spring into early summer for balance, while making space for a fall cadence that extends to holiday-adjacent weekends and into the next week. The grid also illustrates the expanded integration of boutique distributors and streaming partners that can build gradually, ignite recommendations, and broaden at the strategic time.

A notable top-line trend is series management across connected story worlds and storied titles. Distribution groups are not just rolling another follow-up. They are seeking to position lore continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a logo package that announces a new vibe or a casting pivot that bridges a next entry to a original cycle. At the very same time, the auteurs behind the most watched originals are favoring tactile craft, on-set effects and distinct locales. That alloy gives the 2026 slate a strong blend of known notes and discovery, which is why the genre exports well.

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

Paramount sets the tone early with two marquee entries that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the center, setting it up as both a cross-generational handoff and a DNA-forward character-first story. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the directional approach announces a throwback-friendly mode without recycling the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push stacked with iconic art, first images of characters, and a tiered teaser plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will emphasize. As a summer alternative, this one will go after large awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format inviting quick reframes to whatever owns the social talk that spring.

Universal has three clear pushes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is clean, heartbroken, and big-hook: a grieving man purchases an AI companion that evolves into a lethal partner. The date sets it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to recreate eerie street stunts and short-cut promos that threads affection and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a name unveil to become an event moment closer to the initial promo. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. His entries are treated as filmmaker events, with a mystery-first teaser and a second beat that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot creates space for Universal to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has long shown that a flesh-and-blood, physical-effects centered method can feel elevated on a middle budget. Position this as a red-band summer horror shot that leans into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio rolls out two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, maintaining a evergreen supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is positioning as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both players and casuals. The fall slot offers Sony space to build assets around lore, and monster craft, elements that can stoke deluxe auditorium demand and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, weblink working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by immersive craft and period speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. The label has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is strong.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s genre entries shift to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a tiered path that amplifies both debut momentum and sign-up momentum in the later window. Prime Video continues to mix catalogue additions with worldwide buys and short theatrical plays when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in catalog discovery, using editorial spots, fright rows, and featured rows to keep attention on aggregate take. Netflix plays opportunist about Netflix originals and festival additions, finalizing horror entries tight to release and making event-like go-lives with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a one-two of precision theatrical plays and quick platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will prove important 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+ cherry-picks horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has proven amenable to acquire select projects with established auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation surges.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 slate with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is clear: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, recalibrated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the back half.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then working the Christmas window to scale. That positioning has been successful for auteur horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception prompts. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using small theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By skew, 2026 skews toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit legacy awareness. The trade-off, as ever, is diminishing returns. The workable fix is to pitch each entry as a new angle. Paramount is centering character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a Francophone tone from a ascendant talent. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the cast-creatives package is comforting enough to drive advance ticketing and first-night audiences.

Recent-year comps help explain the model. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that maintained windows did not stop a day-date move from delivering when the brand was strong. In 2024, director-craft horror outperformed in premium large format. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they angle differently and elevate scope. 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to relate entries through character spine and themes and to keep assets in-market without doldrums.

How the look and feel evolve

The director conversations behind this year’s genre forecast a continued emphasis on in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that emphasizes texture and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in craft journalism and artisan spotlights before rolling out a tease that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and spurs shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta-horror reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature craft and set design, which play well in con floor moments and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel necessary. Look for trailers that center razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that shine in top rooms.

Release calendar overview

January is loaded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid big-brand pushes. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the range of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

Late winter and spring tee up summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds 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 lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can win 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.

August and September into October leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a transitional slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a slow-reveal plan and limited advance reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s AI companion escalates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 sequentially with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

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 encounter a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: aura-driven 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 work to survive on a remote island as the power balance inverts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The 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 modern reimagining that returns the monster to nightmare, based on Cronin’s tactile craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting story that filters its scares through a preteen’s shifting subjective view. Rating: TBA. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-supported and name-above-title supernatural 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 satire sequel that needles today’s horror trends and true crime fascinations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 breaks out, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further opens again, with a unlucky family lashed to older hauntings. Rating: not yet rated. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-first horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: forthcoming. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: TBD. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and primordial menace. Rating: pending. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three grounded forces organize this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-sequenced in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic 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 launches. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify meme-ready beats from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, providing runway for genre entries that can capture a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will coexist across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 dark-horse hunt 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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first surprise 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a array, 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 leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, 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 set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, disciplined footprints, 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 detail, soundscape, and imagery 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

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand heft where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, 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, lock the reveals, and let the fear sell the seats.