Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites primeval horror, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 across top streaming platforms

This eerie metaphysical fear-driven tale from literary architect / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an prehistoric evil when newcomers become subjects in a satanic trial. Airings begin this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving chronicle of perseverance and prehistoric entity that will reimagine the fear genre this Halloween season. Realized by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and tone-heavy thriller follows five characters who arise trapped in a wilderness-bound lodge under the ominous will of Kyra, a young woman dominated by a legendary biblical force. Anticipate to be immersed by a cinematic outing that weaves together deep-seated panic with mythic lore, coming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a recurring concept in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is reversed when the spirits no longer descend outside the characters, but rather inside their minds. This represents the malevolent layer of the cast. The result is a relentless cognitive warzone where the suspense becomes a constant struggle between good and evil.


In a bleak wilderness, five friends find themselves trapped under the malicious influence and overtake of a elusive apparition. As the cast becomes vulnerable to resist her power, stranded and tormented by powers ungraspable, they are obligated to reckon with their raw vulnerabilities while the seconds mercilessly edges forward toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease escalates and teams implode, coercing each participant to scrutinize their identity and the concept of personal agency itself. The stakes amplify with every short lapse, delivering a horror experience that connects ghostly evil with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to tap into primitive panic, an power from prehistory, emerging via psychological breaks, and wrestling with a entity that threatens selfhood when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra needed manifesting something deeper than fear. She is unaware until the takeover begins, and that change is deeply unsettling because it is so internal.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for audiences beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing audiences across the world can engage with this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its original clip, which has received over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, offering the tale to global fright lovers.


Mark your calendar for this life-altering path of possession. Enter *Young & Cursed* this launch day to see these unholy truths about inner darkness.


For behind-the-scenes access, production insights, and reveals from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across entertainment pages and visit our horror hub.





Contemporary horror’s sea change: 2025 in focus U.S. release slate braids together Mythic Possession, underground frights, stacked beside legacy-brand quakes

Spanning last-stand terror steeped in legendary theology and stretching into installment follow-ups set beside cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 looks like the most textured combined with precision-timed year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. studio majors hold down the year with familiar IP, at the same time OTT services prime the fall with discovery plays together with mythic dread. In the indie lane, independent banners is propelled by the backdraft of 2024’s record festival wave. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A fat September–October lane is customary now, though in this cycle, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are intentional, accordingly 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Premium dread reemerges

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 set the base, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s schedule begins the calendar with a bold swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. landing in mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Eli Craig directs anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s slate releases the last chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Next is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re teams, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: nostalgic menace, trauma as narrative engine, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This run ups the stakes, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The return delves further into myth, grows the animatronic horror lineup, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It lands in December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Plays: Tight funds, wide impact

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a room scale body horror descent featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable with Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

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 Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It looks like sharp programming. No bloated canon. No sequel clutter. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Long Running Lines: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits 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.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, under Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Trends to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror ascends again
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

The Road Ahead: Fall pileup, winter curveball

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 must claw for air. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The forthcoming 2026 scare season: installments, standalone ideas, alongside A packed Calendar geared toward shocks

Dek The current terror slate builds immediately with a January glut, thereafter unfolds through summer corridors, and well into the holiday stretch, balancing series momentum, novel approaches, and strategic release strategy. Distributors with platforms are doubling down on mid-range economics, theatrical leads, and platform-native promos that position these releases into mainstream chatter.

How the genre looks for 2026

Horror has emerged as the consistent counterweight in studio lineups, a category that can scale when it resonates and still hedge the floor when it misses. After 2023 reconfirmed for executives that cost-conscious entries can drive the national conversation, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with auteur-driven buzzy films and stealth successes. The energy moved into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and filmmaker-prestige bets signaled there is an opening for several lanes, from sequel tracks to original one-offs that translate worldwide. The result for 2026 is a schedule that looks unusually coordinated across distributors, with strategic blocks, a equilibrium of marquee IP and untested plays, and a recommitted strategy on exclusive windows that fuel later windows on premium digital rental and home platforms.

Buyers contend the space now behaves like a schedule utility on the grid. Horror can debut on many corridors, generate a easy sell for creative and reels, and punch above weight with audiences that respond on previews Thursday and stick through the follow-up frame if the picture works. Emerging from a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 pattern exhibits assurance in that engine. The slate begins with a weighty January run, then plants flags in spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while reserving space for a autumn push that runs into the fright window and into post-Halloween. The calendar also underscores the deeper integration of specialty distributors and OTT outlets that can build gradually, create conversation, and scale up at the precise moment.

An added macro current is brand strategy across connected story worlds and legacy IP. Studios are not just turning out another entry. They are setting up continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a title design that conveys a fresh attitude or a lead change that threads a fresh chapter to a initial period. At the parallel to that, the auteurs behind the eagerly awaited originals are celebrating hands-on technique, practical gags and distinct locales. That mix offers 2026 a solid mix of known notes and unexpected turns, which is how the genre sells abroad.

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

Paramount marks the early tempo with two prominent projects that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the focus, steering it as both a handoff and a heritage-centered character piece. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance signals a heritage-honoring bent without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign built on recognizable motifs, early character teases, and a promo sequence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will spotlight. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will go after mainstream recognition through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format allowing quick switches to whatever defines pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three distinct plays. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is tight, tragic, and premise-first: a grieving man adopts an virtual partner that shifts into a deadly partner. The date locates it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s marketing likely to replay viral uncanny stunts and short reels that fuses attachment and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a proper title to become an marketing beat closer to the teaser. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. The filmmaker’s films are sold as creative events, with a concept-forward tease and a second trailer wave that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot creates space for Universal to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has demonstrated that a visceral, physical-effects centered method can feel premium on a efficient spend. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror rush that leans hard into offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio places two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, sustaining a bankable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is positioning as a reset 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 charge to serve both devotees and curious audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build materials around mythos, and practical creature work, elements that can lift premium screens and fan events.

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 builds on Eggers’ run of period horror defined by rigorous craft and archaic language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The specialty arm has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is robust.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform windowing in 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s horror titles feed copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a tiered path that optimizes both initial urgency and viewer acquisition in the downstream. Prime Video combines third-party pickups with global originals and brief theater runs when the data supports it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in back-catalog play, using in-app campaigns, horror hubs, and programmed rows to maximize the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix plays opportunist about Netflix originals and festival grabs, confirming horror entries toward the drop and making event-like premieres with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a one-two of limited theatrical footprints and accelerated platforming that translates talk to trials. That will be key 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+ keeps selective horror on a curated basis. The platform has shown appetite to buy select projects with accomplished filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation swells.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 pipeline with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is simple: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, reimagined for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the autumn stretch.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday frame to scale. That positioning has paid off for elevated genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception merits. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using limited runs to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Brands and originals

By weight, the 2026 slate leans toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate brand equity. The concern, as ever, is audience fatigue. The operating solution is to package each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is emphasizing core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is floating a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a European tilt from a buzzed-about director. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the packaging is steady enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday-night crowds.

The last three-year set outline the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that held distribution windows did not prevent a hybrid test from delivering when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror exceeded expectations in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they angle differently and scale the storytelling. 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 paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to cross-link entries through character arcs and themes and to keep materials circulating without doldrums.

Production craft signals

The production chatter behind these films suggest a continued move toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is aimed More about the author at its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that elevates grain and menace rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in feature stories and craft coverage before rolling out a first look that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and generates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-referential reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature work and production design, which align with convention activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel essential. Look for trailers that emphasize pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that sing on PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is packed. 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 somber counterpoint amid headline IP. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the variety of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

February through May tee up summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

August and September into October leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited plot reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and card redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s machine mate escalates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed 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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: ambience-forward adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her severe boss struggle to survive on a remote island as the pecking order reverses and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to fear, rooted in Cronin’s material craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting chiller that leverages the terror of a child’s shaky perspective. Rating: TBA. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that skewers modern genre fads and true crime fixations. Rating: TBD. Production: production booked for fall 2025. 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 detonates, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further opens again, with a unlucky family bound to returning horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward true survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: to be announced. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: closely held. Rating: not yet rated. 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 antique diction and raw menace. Rating: pending. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 and why now

Three pragmatic forces frame this lineup. First, production that stalled or shifted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate clippable moments from test screenings, metered scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve 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 seize a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will jostle across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to capitalize on 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. 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.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a 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 stack through the year, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate 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 win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, audio design, and visuals 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

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is name recognition where it counts, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, protect the mystery, and let the gasps sell the seats.