Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primeval horror, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 on top streamers

This unnerving otherworldly scare-fest from cinematographer / director Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an timeless horror when guests become pawns in a supernatural ceremony. Dropping this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing journey of overcoming and primeval wickedness that will alter horror this scare season. Visualized by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and claustrophobic motion picture follows five characters who regain consciousness imprisoned in a wooded structure under the unfriendly command of Kyra, a haunted figure haunted by a prehistoric sacrosanct terror. Anticipate to be ensnared by a filmic ride that integrates bone-deep fear with biblical origins, coming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a time-honored theme in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is challenged when the monsters no longer descend from external sources, but rather from their psyche. This marks the malevolent version of the cast. The result is a bone-chilling emotional conflict where the conflict becomes a relentless contest between heaven and hell.


In a forsaken wilderness, five souls find themselves trapped under the unholy influence and control of a mysterious female figure. As the ensemble becomes helpless to reject her power, disconnected and targeted by unknowns ungraspable, they are made to face their inner demons while the time unceasingly draws closer toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion builds and teams dissolve, compelling each soul to challenge their being and the concept of volition itself. The hazard accelerate with every fleeting time, delivering a scare-fueled ride that blends spiritual fright with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to tap into elemental fright, an entity beyond time, manifesting in fragile psyche, and questioning a will that dismantles free will when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra meant channeling something deeper than fear. She is innocent until the spirit seizes her, and that turn is soul-crushing because it is so raw.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for audience access beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing households worldwide can experience this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its first preview, which has been viewed over six-figure audience.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, taking the terror to a worldwide audience.


Mark your calendar for this unforgettable ride through nightmares. Experience *Young & Cursed* this launch day to explore these dark realities about the soul.


For film updates, making-of footage, and reveals from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across media channels and visit our spooky domain.





Horror’s pivotal crossroads: 2025 in focus U.S. rollouts Mixes primeval-possession lore, microbudget gut-punches, stacked beside tentpole growls

Running from pressure-cooker survival tales suffused with legendary theology and extending to returning series together with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is shaping up as the most dimensioned as well as calculated campaign year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. major banners lay down anchors with familiar IP, as SVOD players front-load the fall with new perspectives in concert with ancestral chills. Across the art-house lane, the artisan tier is drafting behind the carry from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are calculated, hence 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: The Return of Prestige Fear

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s slate opens the year with a headline swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, but a crisp modern milieu. Directed by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. landing in mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Helmed by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite 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. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer wanes, Warner’s pipeline rolls out the capstone from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Despite a known recipe, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Scott Derrickson returns, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: vintage toned fear, trauma in the foreground, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The stakes escalate here, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It arrives in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Platform Plays: Tight funds, wide impact

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a room scale body horror descent pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

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 is a clever angle. No overinflated mythology. No sequel clutter. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Long Running Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, with Francis Lawrence directing, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Dials to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror ascends again
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Big screen is a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Forecast: Autumn density and winter pivot

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Watch for one or more of these 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. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The next genre release year: continuations, universe starters, alongside A jammed Calendar geared toward Scares

Dek The arriving horror calendar packs right away with a January crush, from there spreads through midyear, and continuing into the holiday stretch, braiding marquee clout, new voices, and calculated calendar placement. Distributors with platforms are committing to responsible budgets, cinema-first plans, and social-fueled campaigns that elevate the slate’s entries into all-audience topics.

The landscape of horror in 2026

This space has emerged as the most reliable tool in studio calendars, a genre that can expand when it lands and still hedge the floor when it underperforms. After 2023 demonstrated to leaders that lean-budget chillers can shape pop culture, 2024 sustained momentum with director-led heat and stealth successes. The tailwind fed into 2025, where resurrections and prestige plays signaled there is appetite for multiple flavors, from returning installments to non-IP projects that export nicely. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a grid that appears tightly organized across the market, with purposeful groupings, a spread of known properties and new packages, and a revived eye on theatrical windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium digital and SVOD.

Schedulers say the category now behaves like a schedule utility on the schedule. The genre can roll out on almost any weekend, offer a clear pitch for teasers and shorts, and exceed norms with patrons that line up on advance nights and sustain through the next weekend if the picture delivers. On the heels of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 rhythm indicates belief in that dynamic. The calendar starts with a loaded January band, then taps spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while holding room for a fall corridor that reaches into holiday-adjacent weekends and into November. The map also underscores the deeper integration of specialized imprints and SVOD players that can develop over weeks, spark evangelism, and move wide at the inflection point.

Another broad trend is legacy care across interlocking continuities and legacy IP. Studio teams are not just mounting another entry. They are looking to package brand continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a graphic identity that suggests a tonal shift or a casting choice that ties a upcoming film to a early run. At the very same time, the creative leads behind the most watched originals are returning to material texture, practical effects and vivid settings. That pairing affords the 2026 slate a strong blend of known notes and surprise, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount defines the early cadence with two marquee titles that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a passing of the torch and a foundation-forward character piece. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture signals a legacy-leaning campaign without looping the last two entries’ sisters thread. Plan for a rollout anchored in brand visuals, intro reveals, and a staggered trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will lean on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will drive wide appeal through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick pivots to whatever tops the conversation that spring.

Universal has three discrete projects. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is crisp, heartbroken, and big-hook: a grieving man activates an synthetic partner that escalates into a killer companion. The date sets it at the front of a heavy month, with marketing at Universal likely to iterate on viral uncanny stunts and short-cut promos that blurs romance and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a final title to become an headline beat closer to the teaser. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. His projects are sold as filmmaker events, with a hinting teaser and a second trailer wave that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The pre-Halloween slot offers Universal room to dominate 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, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a visceral, practical-first aesthetic can feel big on a moderate cost. Frame it as a grime-caked summer horror hit that leans hard into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio places two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, sustaining a proven supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is describing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both diehards and novices. The fall slot affords Sony time to build marketing units around mythos, and monster aesthetics, elements that can boost deluxe auditorium demand and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in careful craft and historical speech, this time exploring werewolf lore. The imprint has already set the date for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Digital strategies for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s horror titles feed copyright after get redirected here a theater window then PVOD, a pacing that expands both launch urgency and platform bumps in the after-window. Prime Video continues to mix third-party pickups with world buys and limited runs in theaters when the data backs it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in catalog discovery, using prominent placements, Halloween hubs, and editorial rows to extend momentum on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix stays opportunistic about original films and festival acquisitions, timing horror entries near their drops and making event-like releases with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a staged of targeted theatrical exposure and speedy platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a situational basis. The platform has proven amenable to invest in select projects with award winners or celebrity-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation surges.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 track with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is clear: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, upgraded for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical-first plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the October weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, guiding the film through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then using the Christmas corridor to broaden. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-first horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception warrants. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using limited runs to fuel evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By skew, the 2026 slate bends toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on name recognition. The concern, as ever, is brand erosion. The operating solution is to market each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is elevating character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-accented approach from a buzzed-about director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and visionary-led titles supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the packaging is recognizable enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and first-night audiences.

Three-year comps illuminate the playbook. In 2023, a theater-first model that kept streaming intact did not prevent a parallel release from winning when the brand was strong. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror surged in PLF. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they shift POV and raise the stakes. 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot in tandem, allows marketing to tie installments through character web and themes and to sustain campaign assets without doldrums.

Creative tendencies and craft

The craft conversations behind the 2026 entries hint at have a peek at these guys a continued bias toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy get redirected here will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that leans on creep and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and era-correct language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft coverage before rolling out a initial teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and drives shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a self-referential reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature craft and set design, which work nicely for con floor moments and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that foreground pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that work in PLF.

Release calendar overview

January is packed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid heavier IP. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the palette of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth carries.

Post-January through spring prepare summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now accommodates 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 underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Late summer into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited disclosures that lean on concept not plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and card redemption.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s intelligent companion unfolds into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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 ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. 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 hard-edged boss claw to survive on a isolated island as the chain of command swivels and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to fright, rooted in Cronin’s practical effects and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting narrative that frames the panic through a youngster’s unsteady point of view. Rating: forthcoming. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A comic send-up that skewers hot-button genre motifs and true crime fascinations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. 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 flares, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a young family entangled with residual nightmares. Rating: not yet rated. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: pending. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: to be announced. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and primal menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three execution-level forces frame this lineup. First, production that downshifted or rearranged in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and leaner schedules. 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming placements. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest meme-ready beats from test screenings, managed scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, making room for genre entries that can control a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will line up 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 take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 value-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 sleeper overperformer 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, audio design, and picture 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

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is name recognition where it counts, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the screams sell the seats.