Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient dread, a bone chilling horror feature, rolling out October 2025 across top streaming platforms

A hair-raising spiritual suspense story from storyteller / director Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an primeval force when unfamiliar people become vehicles in a diabolical experiment. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing episode of staying alive and timeless dread that will revamp the horror genre this scare season. Produced by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and atmospheric tale follows five unknowns who arise isolated in a off-grid dwelling under the malevolent dominion of Kyra, a mysterious girl dominated by a time-worn sacred-era entity. Brace yourself to be seized by a immersive ride that combines visceral dread with folklore, dropping on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a well-established narrative in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is turned on its head when the entities no longer originate beyond the self, but rather from their core. This embodies the darkest side of the players. The result is a edge-of-seat identity crisis where the suspense becomes a constant push-pull between righteousness and malevolence.


In a haunting wilderness, five teens find themselves cornered under the unholy influence and grasp of a enigmatic being. As the ensemble becomes unresisting to fight her curse, isolated and stalked by terrors inconceivable, they are thrust to encounter their soulful dreads while the doomsday meter mercilessly moves toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion builds and partnerships crack, pressuring each protagonist to reflect on their essence and the integrity of free will itself. The stakes escalate with every short lapse, delivering a horror experience that connects demonic fright with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to draw upon primitive panic, an spirit older than civilization itself, feeding on fragile psyche, and challenging a power that threatens selfhood when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra meant evoking something past sanity. She is unaware until the spirit seizes her, and that change is haunting because it is so private.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for home viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—delivering subscribers internationally can experience this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its initial teaser, which has garnered over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, offering the tale to thrill-seekers globally.


Experience this gripping trip into the unknown. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to acknowledge these unholy truths about human nature.


For sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes content, and updates from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across online outlets and visit our horror hub.





American horror’s inflection point: the year 2025 domestic schedule fuses ancient-possession motifs, microbudget gut-punches, alongside tentpole growls

Moving from last-stand terror steeped in old testament echoes and onward to returning series plus surgical indie voices, 2025 appears poised to be the most stratified and carefully orchestrated year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. Major studios lock in tentpoles through proven series, as premium streamers crowd the fall with first-wave breakthroughs together with primordial unease. On the independent axis, independent banners is surfing the kinetic energy of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, distinctly in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are precise, so 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: High-craft horror returns

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s schedule begins the calendar with a risk-forward move: a modernized Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. From director Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. dated for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. From director Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Initial heat flags it as potent.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s schedule unveils the final movement from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Although the framework is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re teams, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: 70s style chill, trauma centered writing, along with eerie supernatural rules. This run ups the stakes, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, speaking to teens and older millennials. It bows in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Digital Originals: No Budget, No Problem

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a two hander body horror spiral anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to 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 dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is a smart play. No overweight mythology. No franchise baggage. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Heritage Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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.

Signals and Trends

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

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

What’s Next: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The 2026 genre year to come: follow-ups, new stories, And A brimming Calendar tailored for chills

Dek: The current scare year builds at the outset with a January traffic jam, and then flows through the warm months, and far into the late-year period, balancing brand equity, creative pitches, and shrewd release strategy. The major players are leaning into smart costs, theatrical exclusivity first, and influencer-ready assets that turn these pictures into four-quadrant talking points.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror sector has turned into the dependable play in studio calendars, a space that can spike when it catches and still safeguard the losses when it under-delivers. After 2023 proved to decision-makers that responsibly budgeted horror vehicles can dominate cultural conversation, the following year held pace with director-led heat and quiet over-performers. The momentum translated to 2025, where revived properties and critical darlings demonstrated there is an opening for diverse approaches, from series extensions to fresh IP that play globally. The end result for 2026 is a schedule that looks unusually coordinated across players, with planned clusters, a blend of recognizable IP and new pitches, and a recommitted eye on exhibition windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on PVOD and OTT platforms.

Planners observe the genre now functions as a flex slot on the rollout map. Horror can bow on a wide range of weekends, provide a simple premise for teasers and shorts, and over-index with moviegoers that respond on preview nights and continue through the next pass if the release satisfies. Exiting a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 setup demonstrates faith in that playbook. The year launches with a crowded January window, then exploits spring through early summer for off-slot scheduling, while holding room for a September to October window that connects to holiday-adjacent weekends and afterwards. The schedule also features the greater integration of specialized imprints and streamers that can grow from platform, generate chatter, and move wide at the proper time.

Another broad trend is franchise tending across interlocking continuities and legacy franchises. Studios are not just greenlighting another chapter. They are looking to package threaded continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a typeface approach that indicates a fresh attitude or a ensemble decision that links a latest entry to a initial period. At the alongside this, the directors behind the most watched originals are celebrating material texture, makeup and prosthetics and concrete locations. That fusion gives 2026 a confident blend of assurance and unexpected turns, Young & Cursed which is what works overseas.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount defines the early cadence with two spotlight pushes that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, angling it as both a legacy handover and a rootsy character-forward chapter. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the story approach indicates a nostalgia-forward strategy without rehashing the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Look for a marketing run driven by recognizable motifs, early character teases, and a tease cadence arriving in 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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will lean on. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will go after wide appeal through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format fitting quick turns to whatever drives the discourse that spring.

Universal has three distinct projects. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is tidy, sorrow-tinged, and big-hook: a grieving man installs an algorithmic mate that shifts into a dangerous lover. The date locates it at the front of a busy month, with the marketing arm likely to renew strange in-person beats and short-form creative that mixes devotion and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a final title to become an PR pop closer to the first look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. His projects are presented as director events, with a teaser that holds back and a later creative that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date creates space for Universal to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has consistently shown that a in-your-face, practical-first aesthetic can feel top-tier on a lean spend. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror shock that centers international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio launches two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, preserving a steady supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is billing as a clean-slate approach 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 sharper mandate to serve both players and newcomers. The fall slot allows Sony to build materials around lore, and creature builds, elements that can increase premium booking interest and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror built on immersive craft and period language, this time orbiting lycan myth. The company has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is favorable.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform tactics for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s releases move to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a sequence that optimizes both premiere heat and sub growth in the later phase. Prime Video balances licensed content with global pickups and short theatrical plays when the data signals it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in archive usage, using editorial spots, holiday hubs, and collection rows to lengthen the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix remains opportunistic about originals and festival buys, locking in horror entries closer to launch and positioning as event drops rollouts with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a laddered of limited theatrical footprints and fast windowing that translates talk to trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has shown appetite to pick up select projects with prestige directors or star-driven packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation ramps.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 pipeline with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is tight: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, retooled for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the late stretch.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then deploying the year-end corridor to go wider. That positioning has paid off for filmmaker-first horror with crossover potential. 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 reasonable expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception warrants. Do not be surprised by 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 in tandem, using small theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their membership.

Balance of brands and originals

By skew, the 2026 slate favors the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on marquee value. The caveat, as ever, is overexposure. The near-term solution is to frame each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is emphasizing character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is floating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a Francophone tone from a rising filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and visionary-led titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the configuration is recognizable enough to drive advance ticketing and preview-night turnout.

The last three-year set illuminate the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that preserved streaming windows did not prevent a day-and-date experiment from succeeding when the brand was potent. In 2024, director-craft horror hit big in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they alter lens and widen scale. 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 two-film strategy, with chapters filmed consecutively, provides the means for marketing to link the films through relationships and themes and to keep assets alive without doldrums.

Behind-the-camera trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 entries suggest a continued lean toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that emphasizes tone and tension rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in trade spotlights and guild coverage before rolling out a tone piece that keeps plot minimal, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and sparks shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta pivot that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature execution and sets, which are ideal for convention activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel must-have. Look for trailers that center surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that explode in larger rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is stacked. 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 brooding contrast amid bigger brand plays. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the spread of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth endures.

Winter into spring tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now backs 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 sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a early fall window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited asset reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can play the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card redemption.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s intelligent companion becomes something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back 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 encounter a altering 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 push to survive on a remote island as the control dynamic turns and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to fright, driven by Cronin’s practical craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. 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 domestic haunting premise that interrogates the unease of a child’s uncertain interpretations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-supported and star-led paranormal 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 parody reboot that pokes at hot-button genre motifs and true crime preoccupations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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: awaiting classification. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new family linked to lingering terrors. Rating: TBA. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival-first horror over action spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top imp source cast: to be announced. Logline: closely held. Rating: pending. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and raw menace. Rating: forthcoming. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026 lands now

Three operational forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that decelerated or reshuffled in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and condensed timelines. 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 exceeded straight-to-streaming landings. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work shareable moments from test screenings, select scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Calendar math also matters. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, making room for genre entries that can command a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will line up across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where lean-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake useful reference when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, sound, and framing 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

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand power where it counts, filmmaker vision where it matters, 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, lock the reveals, and let the chills sell the seats.