Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primeval malevolence, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, landing Oct 2025 on top streamers

One spine-tingling mystic horror tale from writer / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an ancient dread when guests become proxies in a devilish struggle. Going live October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a intense depiction of resilience and ancient evil that will reshape the horror genre this Halloween season. Realized by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and tone-heavy story follows five unknowns who find themselves imprisoned in a far-off dwelling under the malevolent control of Kyra, a female lead haunted by a prehistoric ancient fiend. Arm yourself to be absorbed by a cinematic presentation that fuses primitive horror with legendary tales, dropping on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a recurring concept in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is inverted when the malevolences no longer originate from elsewhere, but rather inside their minds. This mirrors the haunting side of the group. The result is a enthralling moral showdown where the story becomes a constant clash between purity and corruption.


In a forsaken terrain, five figures find themselves isolated under the fiendish presence and haunting of a enigmatic female presence. As the group becomes vulnerable to deny her control, isolated and tracked by forces unimaginable, they are confronted to encounter their core terrors while the timeline relentlessly moves toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread surges and teams erode, coercing each member to examine their true nature and the integrity of freedom of choice itself. The risk magnify with every minute, delivering a cinematic nightmare that harmonizes spiritual fright with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to dive into instinctual horror, an spirit from ancient eras, feeding on our weaknesses, and challenging a presence that erodes the self when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra involved tapping into something outside normal anguish. She is ignorant until the takeover begins, and that evolution is harrowing because it is so intimate.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for on-demand beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—making sure horror lovers worldwide can be part of this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its first preview, which has received over 100,000 views.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, extending the thrill to a worldwide audience.


Join this gripping descent into darkness. Confront *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to experience these fearful discoveries about the psyche.


For previews, on-set glimpses, and promotions from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursed across entertainment pages and visit the film’s website.





U.S. horror’s watershed moment: 2025 in focus domestic schedule blends ancient-possession motifs, festival-born jolts, and franchise surges

Moving from pressure-cooker survival tales suffused with scriptural legend and including installment follow-ups plus sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 appears poised to be the richest paired with carefully orchestrated year since the mid-2010s.

Call it full, but it is also focused. leading studios plant stakes across the year with known properties, concurrently premium streamers front-load the fall with emerging auteurs paired with old-world menace. Meanwhile, independent banners is surfing the carry from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, however this time, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are precise, so 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The top end is active. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s distribution arm lights the fuse with a bold swing: a modernized Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a modern-day environment. Under director Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. timed for mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. From director Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

When summer tapers, Warner Bros. launches the swan song inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. While the template is known, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: throwback unease, trauma as narrative engine, with ghostly inner logic. This time, the stakes are raised, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It bows in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Platform Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the quieter side is Together, a room scale body horror descent starring 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 comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Also notable is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga led by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Authored and directed 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 threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

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 reads as sharp positioning. No puffed out backstory. No sequel clutter. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm 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 serve as nurseries for near future horror. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

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 strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, from Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Dials to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror swings back
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Season Ahead: Autumn density and winter pivot

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. 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. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The oncoming terror release year: follow-ups, original films, as well as A brimming Calendar Built For shocks

Dek: The upcoming horror calendar builds from day one with a January cluster, subsequently stretches through the warm months, and carrying into the year-end corridor, weaving franchise firepower, original angles, and calculated counterprogramming. Distributors with platforms are prioritizing cost discipline, theatrical leads, and social-driven marketing that elevate these offerings into broad-appeal conversations.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

Horror has proven to be the sturdy play in programming grids, a pillar that can lift when it catches and still buffer the risk when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year proved to executives that cost-conscious horror vehicles can steer pop culture, the following year continued the surge with director-led heat and sleeper breakouts. The energy carried into 2025, where re-entries and arthouse crossovers signaled there is space for several lanes, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that perform internationally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a roster that appears tightly organized across the major shops, with clear date clusters, a balance of marquee IP and original hooks, and a recommitted priority on big-screen windows that feed downstream value on premium home window and SVOD.

Insiders argue the category now serves as a schedule utility on the programming map. The genre can premiere on virtually any date, offer a quick sell for marketing and UGC-friendly snippets, and punch above weight with demo groups that turn out on opening previews and stick through the second weekend if the film connects. Exiting a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 rhythm demonstrates certainty in that setup. The calendar commences with a weighty January schedule, then leans on spring and early summer for contrast, while clearing room for a autumn push that stretches into late October and into the next week. The program also underscores the continuing integration of specialized labels and SVOD players that can stage a platform run, fuel WOM, and roll out at the proper time.

An added macro current is series management across interlocking continuities and established properties. Major shops are not just turning out another continuation. They are moving to present brand continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a logo package that broadcasts a refreshed voice or a casting choice that threads a incoming chapter to a heyday. At the in tandem, the creative leads behind the most buzzed-about originals are embracing real-world builds, makeup and prosthetics and place-driven backdrops. That convergence affords the 2026 slate a smart balance of assurance and shock, which is how the genre sells abroad.

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

Paramount leads early with two high-profile moves that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the spine, framing it as both a relay and a foundation-forward relationship-driven entry. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative stance hints at a heritage-honoring bent without covering again the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Watch for a push rooted in heritage visuals, first images of characters, and a staggered trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will double down on. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will pursue large awareness through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format enabling quick pivots to whatever defines the discourse that spring.

Universal has three differentiated projects. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is crisp, somber, and high-concept: a grieving man brings home an intelligent companion that evolves into a dangerous lover. The date nudges it to the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to renew uncanny live moments and snackable content that mixes devotion and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be 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 imp source Savage project, which reserves space for a official title to become an fan moment closer to the teaser. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s pictures are presented as director events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween runway lets the studio to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has consistently shown that a blood-soaked, in-camera leaning execution can feel high-value on a disciplined budget. Position this as a grime-caked summer horror hit that pushes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio sets two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, holding a trusty supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is presenting as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both core fans and casuals. The fall slot affords Sony time to build promo materials around environmental design, and creature design, elements that can fuel PLF interest and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror driven by meticulous craft and linguistic texture, this time orbiting lycan myth. Focus has already set the date for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is warm.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform windowing in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s genre entries window into copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ordering that amplifies both launch urgency and sub growth in the later window. Prime Video balances licensed titles with worldwide entries and small theatrical windows when the data points to it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in catalog engagement, using curated hubs, seasonal hubs, and programmed rows to stretch the tail on the horror cume. Netflix plays opportunist about in-house releases and festival acquisitions, finalizing horror entries on shorter runways and making event-like launches with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a tiered of targeted theatrical exposure and rapid platforming that translates talk to trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a situational basis. The platform has signaled readiness to board select projects with acclaimed directors or star packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for retention when the genre conversation ramps.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 track with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is clear: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, elevated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the back half.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the Christmas window to go wider. That positioning has proved effective for director-led genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception prompts. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using select theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subs.

Series vs standalone

By skew, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on marquee value. The trade-off, as ever, is diminishing returns. The standing approach is to pitch each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is underscoring character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-accented approach from a rising filmmaker. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the configuration is known enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the approach. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that held distribution windows did not stop a parallel release from working when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror outperformed in premium screens. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they angle differently and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward 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 lensed back-to-back, allows marketing to connect the chapters through protagonists and motifs and to maintain a flow of assets without long gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The director conversations behind the 2026 entries suggest a continued preference for material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that highlights unease and texture rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and department features before rolling out a first look that keeps plot minimal, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for get redirected here gristle and gore, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta inflection that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will win or lose on monster work and world-building, which match well with fan conventions and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that underscore fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that explode in larger rooms.

Release calendar overview

January is crowded. 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 atmospheric change-up amid heftier brand moves. The month wraps 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 stiff, but the palette of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Late winter and spring load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a transitional slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a slow-reveal plan and limited information drops that favor idea over plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card use.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s algorithmic partner evolves into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: gothic-game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss scramble to survive on a remote island as the power balance upends and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

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 fresh reimagining that returns the monster to fear, rooted in Cronin’s tactile craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production 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 domestic haunting tale that channels the fear through a youth’s volatile subjective lens. Rating: TBD. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that teases hot-button genre motifs and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBA. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 flares, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a new family lashed to residual nightmares. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A fresh restart designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival-first horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: pending. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and elemental fear. Rating: pending. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. 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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 lands now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces organize this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or rearranged in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and condensed 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 landings. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage shareable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will cluster across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, 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 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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, optimized 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 materiality, sonics, 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.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand gravity where needed, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, guard the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.