Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives age-old dread, a fear soaked horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on premium platforms

This chilling ghostly fear-driven tale from writer / director Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an primeval malevolence when unrelated individuals become subjects in a dark contest. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping narrative of survival and primeval wickedness that will revolutionize genre cinema this season. Guided by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and shadowy feature follows five lost souls who arise sealed in a secluded shack under the unfriendly will of Kyra, a tormented girl controlled by a 2,000-year-old Old Testament spirit. Arm yourself to be captivated by a audio-visual display that harmonizes primitive horror with ancient myths, landing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a legendary element in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is reimagined when the forces no longer develop beyond the self, but rather inside them. This represents the darkest part of the cast. The result is a intense emotional conflict where the intensity becomes a constant push-pull between moral forces.


In a desolate backcountry, five figures find themselves isolated under the ominous control and inhabitation of a haunted woman. As the protagonists becomes unable to escape her manipulation, marooned and preyed upon by creatures unnamable, they are cornered to stand before their emotional phantoms while the doomsday meter ruthlessly draws closer toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease rises and partnerships shatter, prompting each participant to examine their identity and the principle of decision-making itself. The pressure escalate with every heartbeat, delivering a cinematic nightmare that intertwines spiritual fright with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to dig into core terror, an threat rooted in antiquity, embedding itself in fragile psyche, and challenging a spirit that forces self-examination when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra involved tapping into something deeper than fear. She is uninformed until the demon emerges, and that transition is terrifying because it is so close.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—delivering households in all regions can engage with this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its release of trailer #1, which has seen over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, extending the thrill to lovers of terror across nations.


Avoid skipping this soul-jarring exploration of dread. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to dive into these terrifying truths about human nature.


For exclusive trailers, behind-the-scenes content, and social posts from those who lived it, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across platforms and visit our film’s homepage.





U.S. horror’s sea change: 2025 across markets U.S. release slate fuses archetypal-possession themes, microbudget gut-punches, set against IP aftershocks

Spanning grit-forward survival fare drawn from primordial scripture through to brand-name continuations in concert with incisive indie visions, 2025 is tracking to be the most variegated and intentionally scheduled year in recent memory.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. the big studios stabilize the year via recognizable brands, as streamers crowd the fall with discovery plays as well as mythic dread. Across the art-house lane, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is catching the tailwinds from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, distinctly in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are intentional, accordingly 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Premium genre swings back

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s slate kicks off the frame with a big gambit: a reconceived Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, but a crisp modern milieu. Steered by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. targeting mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Directed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

By late summer, the Warner Bros. banner bows the concluding entry inside its trusty horror universe: 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 if the pattern is recognizable, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: retrograde shiver, trauma driven plotting, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This run ups the stakes, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The new chapter enriches the lore, builds out the animatronic fear crew, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It drops in December, locking down the winter tail.

Digital Originals: Economy, maximum dread

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a two hander body horror spiral led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. 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 taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Scripted and led by 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. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No bloated mythology. No franchise baggage. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

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

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, under Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Key Trends

Mythic dread mainstreams
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror ascends again
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Season Ahead: Fall stack and winter swing card

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The 2026 genre calendar year ahead: next chapters, standalone ideas, and also A stacked Calendar calibrated for Scares

Dek: The emerging horror slate stacks early with a January pile-up, from there carries through the summer months, and pushing into the winter holidays, fusing IP strength, new voices, and shrewd counterweight. The big buyers and platforms are prioritizing cost discipline, big-screen-first runs, and social-driven marketing that position these pictures into water-cooler talk.

How the genre looks for 2026

This category has solidified as the consistent lever in studio slates, a genre that can scale when it resonates and still safeguard the floor when it falls short. After the 2023 year re-taught decision-makers that modestly budgeted pictures can lead the zeitgeist, 2024 sustained momentum with filmmaker-forward plays and unexpected risers. The tailwind extended into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and filmmaker-prestige bets showed there is demand for varied styles, from ongoing IP entries to one-and-done originals that export nicely. The takeaway for 2026 is a grid that looks unusually coordinated across studios, with mapped-out bands, a pairing of household franchises and first-time concepts, and a tightened focus on big-screen windows that fuel later windows on premium digital rental and home platforms.

Buyers contend the genre now slots in as a schedule utility on the rollout map. Horror can roll out on numerous frames, furnish a simple premise for promo reels and platform-native cuts, and punch above weight with audiences that lean in on advance nights and maintain momentum through the next pass if the film satisfies. Emerging from a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 setup indicates confidence in that logic. The slate opens with a busy January block, then turns to spring and early summer for balance, while leaving room for a fall run that stretches into the fright window and into the next week. The layout also shows the greater integration of specialized imprints and streamers that can stage a platform run, stoke social talk, and grow at the right moment.

A further high-level trend is IP cultivation across linked properties and veteran brands. Big banners are not just producing another installment. They are working to present threaded continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a typeface approach that telegraphs a refreshed voice or a talent selection that bridges a new entry to a heyday. At the in tandem, the visionaries behind the eagerly awaited originals are returning to real-world builds, real effects and vivid settings. That blend delivers 2026 a confident blend of comfort and discovery, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount defines the early cadence with two high-profile plays that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the spine, angling it as both a lineage transfer and a DNA-forward character-first story. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative posture conveys a heritage-honoring campaign without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Look for a marketing run driven by heritage visuals, character previews, and a two-beat trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will lean on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will build large awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format inviting quick reframes to whatever owns pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three differentiated projects. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is simple, melancholic, and easily pitched: a grieving man installs an machine companion that mutates into a harmful mate. The date nudges it to the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s campaign likely to bring back eerie street stunts and short-form creative that hybridizes romance and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a title drop to become an PR pop closer to the opening teaser. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s releases are sold as auteur events, with a minimalist tease and a later creative that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The pre-Halloween slot allows Universal to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has made clear that a gritty, practical-effects forward treatment can feel big on a efficient spend. Frame it as a splatter summer horror shot that maximizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio mounts two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, maintaining a trusty supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is marketing 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 directive to serve both core fans and curious audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build campaign creative around world-building, and creature design, elements that can stoke premium format interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in rigorous craft and period language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The specialty arm has already set the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is warm.

Platform lanes and windowing

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s genre entries flow to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a sequence that boosts both debut momentum and sign-up momentum in the later window. Prime Video pairs acquired titles with global pickups and limited cinema engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in catalog discovery, using in-app campaigns, fright rows, and featured rows to sustain interest on overall cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about originals and festival wins, locking in horror entries closer to launch and positioning as event drops rollouts with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a one-two of focused cinema runs and fast windowing that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a situational basis. The platform has proven amenable to invest in select projects with acclaimed directors or celebrity-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation spikes.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is curating a 2026 track with two name-brand moves. 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 promising marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the autumn weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the Christmas corridor to widen. That positioning has paid off for craft-driven horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception warrants. Keep an eye on 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 hand in hand, using limited runs to seed evangelism that fuels their audience.

Series vs standalone

By weight, the 2026 slate bends toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness brand equity. The potential drawback, as ever, is overexposure. The workable fix is to brand each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is elevating character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a Francophone tone from a buzzed-about director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival shocker premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the bundle is known enough to accelerate early sales and preview-night crowds.

Recent comps help explain the template. In 2023, a theater-first model that respected streaming windows did not hamper a dual release from performing when the brand was trusted. In 2024, auteur craft horror surged in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they reorient and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters shot in tandem, enables marketing to thread films through character and theme and to maintain a flow of assets without doldrums.

How the look and feel evolve

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 slate signal a continued turn toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that highlights grain and menace rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and produces shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta-horror reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on monster work and world-building, which are ideal for fan-con activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel key. Look for trailers that spotlight precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that sing on PLF.

How the year maps out

January is packed. Universal’s 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 gloomy counterbalance amid bigger brand plays. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the tonal variety opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth persists.

February through May seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a transitional slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a slow-reveal plan and limited pre-release reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card use.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s core. 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 loss-struck man’s algorithmic partner mutates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror his comment is here 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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem 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 meet a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 hard-edged boss claw to survive on a rugged island as the control balance swivels and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to horror, rooted in Cronin’s practical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting story that interrogates the terror of a child’s mercurial perceptions. Rating: TBD. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A genre lampoon that targets contemporary horror memes and true-crime manias. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 ignites, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new family anchored to residual nightmares. Rating: pending. 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: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on classic survival-horror tone over action spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and elemental dread. Rating: TBD. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the moment is 2026

Three pragmatic forces drive this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shuffled in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can command a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will share space across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where modest-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 press those advantages. 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.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play 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 shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, lean 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 grain, soundscape, 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.

2026, Ready To Roar

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand gravity where needed, fresh vision where it counts, 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-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, keep secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.