Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing October 2025 on premium platforms

A terrifying mystic fear-driven tale from creator / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an prehistoric malevolence when guests become victims in a dark conflict. Airings begin on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing portrayal of perseverance and forgotten curse that will redefine the horror genre this harvest season. Brought to life by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and emotionally thick fearfest follows five strangers who suddenly rise imprisoned in a remote cabin under the ominous will of Kyra, a female lead claimed by a time-worn biblical force. Be prepared to be captivated by a audio-visual spectacle that combines deep-seated panic with spiritual backstory, streaming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a historical narrative in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is subverted when the demons no longer form outside the characters, but rather internally. This illustrates the deepest part of the group. The result is a gripping moral showdown where the story becomes a perpetual struggle between purity and corruption.


In a bleak wild, five young people find themselves confined under the malevolent aura and inhabitation of a obscure person. As the survivors becomes paralyzed to escape her curse, detached and pursued by powers inconceivable, they are pushed to face their raw vulnerabilities while the doomsday meter relentlessly draws closer toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread grows and ties break, driving each person to contemplate their true nature and the integrity of decision-making itself. The risk accelerate with every instant, delivering a paranormal ride that combines mystical fear with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to dive into primitive panic, an darkness beyond recorded history, operating within inner turmoil, and questioning a power that challenges autonomy when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra called for internalizing something unfamiliar to reason. She is unaware until the invasion happens, and that pivot is deeply unsettling because it is so private.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for viewing beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing streamers no matter where they are can face this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its first trailer, which has collected over six-figure audience.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, taking the terror to viewers around the world.


Tune in for this cinematic journey into fear. Experience *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to uncover these unholy truths about inner darkness.


For teasers, filmmaker commentary, and updates from the cast and crew, follow @YACMovie across media channels and visit our horror hub.





Current horror’s inflection point: the 2025 cycle U.S. lineup interlaces ancient-possession motifs, art-house nightmares, paired with Franchise Rumbles

Spanning endurance-driven terror suffused with primordial scripture and stretching into IP renewals as well as incisive indie visions, 2025 is shaping up as the most variegated as well as calculated campaign year in years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. top-tier distributors lock in tentpoles by way of signature titles, in tandem digital services load up the fall with new perspectives in concert with scriptural shivers. Across the art-house lane, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is surfing the kinetic energy of a banner 2024 fest year. As Halloween stays the prime week, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, notably this year, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are exacting, accordingly 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Premium genre swings back

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s pipeline lights the fuse with an audacious swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in a clear present-tense world. From director Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Booked into mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Guided by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer wanes, the Warner lot launches the swan song of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. While the template is known, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re boards, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: 70s style chill, trauma driven plotting, along with eerie supernatural rules. The stakes escalate here, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, reaching teens and game grownups. It arrives in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Firsts: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a room scale body horror descent fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story starring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It reads as sharp positioning. No puffed out backstory. No continuity burden. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

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. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

What to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror ascends again
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize 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. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Cinemas are a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

What’s Next: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The oncoming terror release year: follow-ups, non-franchise titles, alongside A packed Calendar tailored for shocks

Dek: The new genre calendar packs immediately with a January traffic jam, following that rolls through the mid-year, and far into the December corridor, blending IP strength, creative pitches, and smart offsets. Distributors with platforms are leaning into lean spends, big-screen-first runs, and buzz-forward plans that turn these films into mainstream chatter.

Horror momentum into 2026

This category has grown into the consistent lever in studio slates, a pillar that can lift when it breaks through and still insulate the drawdown when it fails to connect. After 2023 signaled to top brass that mid-range scare machines can drive the discourse, the following year maintained heat with buzzy auteur projects and unexpected risers. The tailwind translated to the 2025 frame, where returns and festival-grade titles underscored there is an opening for different modes, from returning installments to director-led originals that perform internationally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a programming that appears tightly organized across the industry, with planned clusters, a spread of marquee IP and original hooks, and a recommitted priority on theater exclusivity that power the aftermarket on premium on-demand and digital services.

Marketers add the horror lane now operates like a plug-and-play option on the schedule. The genre can bow on nearly any frame, yield a sharp concept for marketing and shorts, and punch above weight with moviegoers that respond on previews Thursday and sustain through the next weekend if the film pays off. After a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 layout underscores trust in that playbook. The calendar begins with a stacked January block, then uses spring and early summer for contrast, while saving space for a fall run that pushes into Halloween and into post-Halloween. The arrangement also includes the continuing integration of indie distributors and digital platforms that can develop over weeks, spark evangelism, and go nationwide at the optimal moment.

An added macro current is brand strategy across brand ecosystems and heritage properties. Studios are not just releasing another continuation. They are trying to present lore continuity with a occasion, whether that is a title presentation that conveys a fresh attitude or a ensemble decision that links a incoming chapter to a first wave. At the parallel to that, the creative leads behind the most watched originals are championing physical effects work, practical effects and site-specific worlds. That blend affords the 2026 slate a solid mix of trust and shock, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

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

Paramount fires first with two spotlight projects that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the focus, angling it as both a handoff and a heritage-centered character-focused installment. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the directional approach suggests a heritage-honoring angle without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push stacked with franchise iconography, initial cast looks, and a promo sequence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will spotlight. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will pursue general-audience talk through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format permitting quick redirects to whatever dominates the discourse that spring.

Universal has three separate entries. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is clean, melancholic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man implements an virtual partner that mutates into a killer companion. The date lines it up at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to recreate uncanny-valley stunts and snackable content that interweaves affection and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a branding reveal to become an attention spike closer to the first trailer. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele projects are treated as marquee events, with a opaque teaser and a second beat that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The pre-Halloween slot offers Universal room to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with navigate to this website Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a flesh-and-blood, practical-effects forward method can feel top-tier on a moderate cost. Frame it as a gore-forward summer horror blast that leans into international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio books two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, sustaining a reliable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is positioning as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both franchise faithful and newcomers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build assets around environmental design, and practical creature work, elements that can drive premium booking interest and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

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 follows Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in immersive craft and archaic language, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus has already locked the day for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is supportive.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform windowing in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre entries move to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a pacing that expands both initial urgency and viewer acquisition in the back half. Prime Video pairs catalogue additions with global acquisitions and targeted theatrical runs when the data supports it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library pulls, using timely promos, fright rows, and editorial rows to stretch the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays opportunistic about own-slate titles and festival pickups, scheduling horror entries toward the drop and framing as events rollouts with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a tiered of focused cinema runs and accelerated platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has been willing to purchase select projects with acclaimed directors or star packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for retention when the genre conversation spikes.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 track with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is no-nonsense: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, modernized for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then deploying the Christmas window to increase reach. That positioning has delivered for auteur horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception supports. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using boutique theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subs.

Known brands versus new stories

By proportion, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage franchise value. The watch-out, as ever, is diminishing returns. The go-to fix is to package each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is leading with character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-flavored turn from a ascendant talent. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and talent-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the package is comforting enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Three-year comps contextualize the plan. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that honored streaming windows did not foreclose a dual release from paying off when the brand was robust. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror over-performed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they change perspective and widen this contact form scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters filmed consecutively, creates space for marketing to thread films through character and theme and to hold creative in the market without lulls.

Craft and creative trends

The shop talk behind the 2026 entries telegraph a continued lean toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is moving toward its April 17, Get More Info 2026 date. Marketing will likely that emphasizes mood and dread rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in craft journalism and guild coverage before rolling out a initial teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and spurs shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta-horror reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which are ideal for fan conventions and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel must-have. Look for trailers that accent fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that explode in larger rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is full. 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 moody palate cleanser amid big-brand pushes. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the range of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth holds.

Q1 into Q2 seed summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late summer into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event occupies October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a minimalist tease strategy and limited disclosures that stress concept over spoilers.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and holiday card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s digital partner mutates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: tone-first 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 push to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance shifts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to menace, based on Cronin’s practical craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 family-home haunting narrative that twists the horror of a child’s inconsistent perspective. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-grade and headline-actor led haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A satirical comeback that teases hot-button genre motifs and true-crime manias. Rating: pending. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites flares, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further widens again, with a young family anchored to old terrors. Rating: pending. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A clean reboot designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: TBD. Production: moving forward. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 historical diction and elemental menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why this year, why now

Three hands-on forces shape this lineup. First, production that slowed or reshuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work meme-ready beats from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Calendar math also matters. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, clearing runway for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will coexist across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, 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 seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, soundcraft, and cinematography that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand equity where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, 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 late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shocks sell the seats.