Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives age-old dread, a fear soaked thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on top streamers

A unnerving spiritual fright fest from screenwriter / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an ancient evil when newcomers become vehicles in a demonic conflict. Releasing on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking tale of living through and old world terror that will revamp the horror genre this October. Produced by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and eerie tale follows five unacquainted souls who are stirred locked in a far-off dwelling under the oppressive manipulation of Kyra, a mysterious girl possessed by a prehistoric scriptural evil. Get ready to be enthralled by a visual presentation that weaves together primitive horror with mythic lore, debuting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a long-standing tradition in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is flipped when the presences no longer come from external sources, but rather from deep inside. This echoes the most primal version of the group. The result is a bone-chilling psychological battle where the suspense becomes a soul-crushing tug-of-war between purity and corruption.


In a haunting natural abyss, five young people find themselves marooned under the sinister sway and curse of a haunted character. As the ensemble becomes incapacitated to escape her dominion, abandoned and pursued by terrors mind-shattering, they are obligated to confront their deepest fears while the countdown relentlessly pushes forward toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety surges and links fracture, urging each member to evaluate their personhood and the notion of autonomy itself. The risk rise with every short lapse, delivering a scare-fueled ride that integrates ghostly evil with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to tap into raw dread, an force rooted in antiquity, manifesting in mental cracks, and exposing a curse that peels away humanity when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra was about accessing something far beyond human desperation. She is unaware until the possession kicks in, and that flip is soul-crushing because it is so private.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for audiences beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing horror lovers around the globe can witness this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its intro video, which has collected over a viral response.


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


Mark your calendar for this mind-warping ride through nightmares. Watch *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to experience these fearful discoveries about the human condition.


For teasers, on-set glimpses, and alerts from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across media channels and visit our spooky domain.





The horror genre’s sea change: 2025 in focus U.S. Slate fuses ancient-possession motifs, art-house nightmares, together with returning-series thunder

Beginning with pressure-cooker survival tales saturated with mythic scripture to returning series set beside incisive indie visions, 2025 is tracking to be the genre’s most multifaceted as well as blueprinted year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. major banners lay down anchors via recognizable brands, concurrently subscription platforms load up the fall with fresh voices paired with ancestral chills. In the indie lane, festival-forward creators is drafting behind the momentum from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, notably this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are targeted, hence 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige fear returns

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s distribution arm opens the year with an audacious swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. Led by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. arriving mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Directed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer wanes, the WB camp delivers the closing chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 follows. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson again directs, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: retro dread, trauma foregrounded, and eerie supernatural logic. This run ups the stakes, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The next entry deepens the tale, stretches the animatronic parade, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It posts in December, pinning the winter close.

SVOD Originals: No Budget, No Problem

While theaters lean on names and sequels, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a tight space body horror vignette led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it looks like a certain fall stream.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable led by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Penned and steered 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. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It reads as sharp positioning. No swollen lore. No IP hangover. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, with Francis Lawrence directing, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Key Trends

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror retakes ground
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theaters are a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

The Road Ahead: Fall stack and winter swing card

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. 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 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The new chiller season: brand plays, non-franchise titles, as well as A jammed Calendar geared toward Scares

Dek: The current horror cycle stacks from day one with a January bottleneck, after that unfolds through summer corridors, and continuing into the festive period, fusing marquee clout, new concepts, and tactical offsets. Major distributors and platforms are betting on right-sized spends, exclusive theatrical windows first, and buzz-forward plans that position these pictures into culture-wide discussion.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This category has proven to be the sturdy move in programming grids, a corner that can spike when it clicks and still safeguard the floor when it falls short. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for top brass that efficiently budgeted pictures can steer pop culture, the following year carried the beat with signature-voice projects and word-of-mouth wins. The tailwind translated to 2025, where revived properties and critical darlings showed there is a lane for multiple flavors, from legacy continuations to director-led originals that travel well. The sum for the 2026 slate is a calendar that is strikingly coherent across the field, with defined corridors, a harmony of legacy names and novel angles, and a refocused focus on cinema windows that power the aftermarket on PVOD and platforms.

Insiders argue the genre now operates like a versatile piece on the distribution slate. Horror can debut on many corridors, deliver a sharp concept for marketing and shorts, and overperform with demo groups that come out on early shows and maintain momentum through the follow-up frame if the title connects. Exiting a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 mapping underscores belief in that setup. The year opens with a thick January window, then exploits spring through early summer for balance, while reserving space for a September to October window that reaches into late October and past the holiday. The arrangement also shows the deeper integration of specialty arms and streaming partners that can launch in limited release, spark evangelism, and scale up at the strategic time.

A reinforcing pattern is series management across shared IP webs and legacy franchises. Studio teams are not just releasing another continuation. They are setting up ongoing narrative with a heightened moment, whether that is a typeface approach that indicates a refreshed voice or a casting pivot that connects a latest entry to a heyday. At the parallel to that, the filmmakers behind the most buzzed-about originals are celebrating material texture, in-camera effects and concrete locations. That mix produces the 2026 slate a strong blend of trust and freshness, which is the formula for international play.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount plants an early flag with two centerpiece moves that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the heart, signaling it as both a lineage transfer and a rootsy character study. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach conveys a memory-charged bent without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push driven by iconic art, character-first teases, and a trailer cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will spotlight. As a summer relief option, this one will generate wide appeal through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format inviting quick updates to whatever tops the social talk that spring.

Universal has three defined projects. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is tight, heartbroken, and big-hook: a grieving man implements an virtual partner that mutates into a dangerous lover. The date places it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to reprise uncanny-valley stunts and micro spots that fuses companionship and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a official title to become an event moment closer to the debut look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele projects are positioned as signature events, with a teaser that reveals little and a follow-up trailer set that define feel without revealing the concept. The spooky-season slot gives the studio room to take 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, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has established that a gritty, practical-effects forward mix can feel deluxe on a disciplined budget. Look for a gore-forward summer horror jolt that emphasizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio mounts two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, keeping a bankable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is framing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both players and fresh viewers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build assets around setting detail, and creature design, elements that can boost large-format demand and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in minute detail and period language, this time set against lycan legends. Focus Features has already set the date for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is glowing.

Where the platforms fit in

Windowing plans in 2026 run on proven patterns. The studio’s horror films move to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a sequence that boosts both week-one demand and sub growth in the back half. Prime Video interleaves licensed titles with global acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their edges in archive usage, using editorial spots, fright rows, and featured rows to maximize the tail on aggregate take. Netflix stays nimble about internal projects and festival acquisitions, securing horror entries tight to release and staging as events launches with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a hybrid of precision theatrical plays and speedy platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a curated basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to board select projects with accomplished filmmakers or star-driven packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 lane with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is clean: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, elevated for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a theatrical rollout for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn stretch.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday frame to broaden. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-driven genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception supports. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using precision theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By share, the 2026 slate bends toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap cultural cachet. The question, as ever, is audience fatigue. The pragmatic answer is to frame each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is underscoring core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-tinted vision from a buzzed-about director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the deal build is comforting enough to spark pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Past-three-year patterns illuminate the approach. In 2023, a theater-first model that kept streaming intact did not deter a day-date move from delivering when the brand was strong. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror popped in PLF. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they shift POV and stretch the story. 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 filmed consecutively, creates space for marketing to bridge entries through character web and themes and to continue assets in field without long gaps.

Production craft signals

The craft rooms behind this slate indicate a continued turn toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that emphasizes creep and texture rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in trade spotlights and artisan spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta reframe that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster aesthetics and world-building, which play well in booth activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel irresistible. Look for trailers that spotlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that work in PLF.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is busy. 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 somber counterpoint amid larger brand plays. The month caps 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 real, but the menu of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth persists.

Late Q1 and spring stage summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The 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 supplies brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Shoulder season into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a early fall window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited disclosures that center concept over reveals.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card spend.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s AI companion escalates into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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 forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss battle to survive on a desolate island as the power balance of power swivels and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 under wraps in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to fear, based on Cronin’s tactile craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting piece that plays with the chill of a child’s wobbly interpretations. Rating: forthcoming. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that lampoons hot-button genre motifs and true crime fixations. Rating: to be announced. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites erupts, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new household entangled with ancient dread. Rating: forthcoming. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: not yet rated. Production: continuing. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and elemental dread. Rating: TBD. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three hands-on forces define this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or reshuffled in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming launches. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest clippable moments from test screenings, precision scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

The slot calculus is real. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will stack across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, 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 cadence and diversity. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, 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 maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, optimized footprints, and strong have a peek at these guys 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 tactility, soundcraft, and image-making 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

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is franchise muscle where it helps, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for 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, produce clean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the fear sell the seats.