Antediluvian Evil Stirs within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding horror thriller, launching Oct 2025 on top digital platforms

An eerie paranormal suspense story from narrative craftsman / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an ancient horror when newcomers become conduits in a diabolical contest. Dropping this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing chronicle of resistance and ancient evil that will remodel genre cinema this season. Visualized by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and cinematic fearfest follows five teens who emerge confined in a remote shack under the dark dominion of Kyra, a central character claimed by a legendary ancient fiend. Arm yourself to be immersed by a visual experience that integrates bone-deep fear with mystical narratives, landing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a iconic trope in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is flipped when the beings no longer originate from a different plane, but rather inside them. This mirrors the malevolent corner of the cast. The result is a edge-of-seat mind game where the drama becomes a unforgiving clash between divinity and wickedness.


In a haunting woodland, five young people find themselves trapped under the possessive force and possession of a elusive person. As the protagonists becomes incapable to fight her command, stranded and targeted by beings unfathomable, they are compelled to wrestle with their core terrors while the time mercilessly ticks toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion deepens and ties break, demanding each soul to examine their personhood and the foundation of personal agency itself. The tension mount with every tick, delivering a fear-soaked story that connects spiritual fright with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to channel pure dread, an entity beyond recorded history, emerging via inner turmoil, and exposing a evil that questions who we are when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra meant channeling something far beyond human desperation. She is unseeing until the spirit seizes her, and that conversion is eerie because it is so close.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving households globally can be part of this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its intro video, which has earned over notable views.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, spreading the horror to scare fans abroad.


Tune in for this cinematic path of possession. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to acknowledge these chilling revelations about free will.


For sneak peeks, set experiences, and reveals from behind the lens, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across online outlets and visit the film’s website.





Current horror’s pivotal crossroads: 2025 for genre fans stateside slate weaves ancient-possession motifs, signature indie scares, together with Franchise Rumbles

Beginning with pressure-cooker survival tales infused with ancient scripture and extending to installment follow-ups alongside pointed art-house angles, 2025 is shaping up as the most stratified along with calculated campaign year in recent memory.

Call it full, but it is also focused. studio majors set cornerstones with franchise anchors, while digital services flood the fall with new perspectives together with ancient terrors. On the independent axis, festival-forward creators is buoyed by the carry from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, and now, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are precise, thus 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The top end is active. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s schedule begins the calendar with a statement play: a refashioned Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a crisp modern milieu. Guided by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. arriving mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Guided by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

When summer tapers, the Warner Bros. banner launches the swan song from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re teams, and the tone that worked before is intact: retrograde shiver, trauma as narrative engine, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The stakes escalate here, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The next entry deepens the tale, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, courting teens and the thirty something base. It bows in December, holding the cold season’s end.

SVOD Originals: No Budget, No Problem

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

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. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a body horror duet led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale starring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As 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. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in 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 reads as sharp positioning. No bloated mythology. No series drag. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, 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 opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Brands: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, led 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 sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Dials to Watch

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

Body horror comes roaring back
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

What’s Next: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. 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. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The coming 2026 spook cycle: next chapters, new stories, in tandem with A jammed Calendar designed for nightmares

Dek The arriving terror year crowds up front with a January glut, before it flows through midyear, and running into the holiday frame, braiding series momentum, original angles, and well-timed calendar placement. The big buyers and platforms are relying on efficient budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and short-form initiatives that shape these releases into broad-appeal conversations.

The genre’s posture for 2026

This category has grown into the consistent play in studio calendars, a lane that can lift when it performs and still limit the downside when it doesn’t. After 2023 showed decision-makers that cost-conscious chillers can drive social chatter, 2024 continued the surge with visionary-driven titles and under-the-radar smashes. The upswing extended into 2025, where legacy revivals and prestige plays signaled there is demand for several lanes, from brand follow-ups to filmmaker-driven originals that translate worldwide. The sum for the 2026 slate is a grid that seems notably aligned across the field, with intentional bunching, a blend of established brands and new concepts, and a renewed priority on theatrical windows that increase tail monetization on premium video on demand and subscription services.

Planners observe the genre now operates like a wildcard on the distribution slate. The genre can open on most weekends, provide a sharp concept for marketing and vertical videos, and over-index with audiences that come out on early shows and keep coming through the next pass if the film delivers. In the wake of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 cadence underscores trust in that dynamic. The slate opens with a thick January band, then primes spring and early summer for balance, while saving space for a September to October window that extends to holiday-adjacent weekends and into early November. The arrangement also features the expanded integration of arthouse labels and SVOD players that can develop over weeks, ignite recommendations, and widen at the right moment.

An added macro current is franchise tending across connected story worlds and established properties. Studios are not just mounting another chapter. They are seeking to position lineage with a sense of event, whether that is a brandmark that indicates a new tone or a talent selection that connects a latest entry to a first wave. At the parallel to that, the writer-directors behind the marquee originals are doubling down on on-set craft, on-set effects and specific settings. That mix provides the 2026 slate a healthy mix of assurance and shock, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount marks the early tempo with two prominent projects that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the heart, presenting it as both a relay and a back-to-basics character-driven entry. Cameras are rolling my review here in Atlanta, and the artistic posture points to a throwback-friendly strategy without going over the last two entries’ sisters thread. Anticipate a campaign fueled by iconic art, early character teases, and a tiered teaser plan targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reawakens 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 headline the campaign will double down on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will seek large awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format enabling quick redirects to whatever rules genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three defined releases. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is tidy, sorrow-tinged, and commercial: a grieving man sets up an machine companion that turns into a perilous partner. The date sets it at the front of a front-loaded month, with the studio’s marketing likely to recreate uncanny live moments and short-form creative that mixes longing and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a title reveal to become an earned moment closer to the initial promo. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele projects are presented as signature events, with a mystery-first teaser and a second trailer wave that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The late-month date lets the studio to saturate 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 Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has demonstrated that a tactile, in-camera leaning mix can feel deluxe on a disciplined budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror shock that leans hard into international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio deploys two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, maintaining a dependable supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is billing as a reimagined restart 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 clearer mandate to serve both core fans and general audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build campaign creative around universe detail, and creature work, elements that can stoke IMAX and PLF uptake and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by careful craft and linguistic texture, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is robust.

Streaming windows and tactics

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s slate shift to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a ladder that amplifies both premiere heat and subscription bumps in the post-theatrical. Prime Video will mix third-party pickups with cross-border buys and small theatrical windows when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library pulls, using featured rows, seasonal hubs, and staff picks to extend momentum on the annual genre haul. Netflix plays opportunist about first-party entries and festival deals, securing horror entries closer to launch and turning into events debuts with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a staged of selective theatrical runs and rapid platforming that translates talk to trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a situational basis. The platform has been willing to pick up select projects with top-tier auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 runway with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is uncomplicated: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, updated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the autumn weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, marshalling the project through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then leveraging the December frame to scale. That positioning has shown results for elevated genre with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception encourages. Keep an eye on 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 in parallel, using mini theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their community.

IP versus fresh ideas

By volume, 2026 tips toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage cultural cachet. The caveat, as ever, is fatigue. The operating solution is to market each entry as a new angle. Paramount is foregrounding relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-flavored turn from a emerging director. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the cast-creatives package is comforting enough to drive advance ticketing and advance-audience nights.

Past-three-year patterns clarify the template. In 2023, a cinema-first model that observed windows did not preclude a day-date try from winning when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror outperformed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they pivot perspective and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot consecutively, allows marketing to tie installments through character and theme and to sustain campaign assets without pause points.

How the films are being made

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 slate indicate a continued bias toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that underscores tone and tension rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in trade spotlights and department features before rolling out a tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at red-band excess, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and earns shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-referential reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster realization and design, which align with convention floor stunts and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel key. Look for trailers that elevate precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that benefit on big speakers.

How the year maps out

January is packed. Universal’s 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 quiet contrast amid marquee brands. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the tonal variety opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late winter and spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

End of summer through fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited asset reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s virtual companion shifts into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. 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 prickly boss claw to survive on a remote island as the control dynamic tilts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to horror, rooted in Cronin’s material craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting chiller that twists the chill of a child’s fragile read. Rating: to be announced. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-crafted and headline-actor led supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that needles in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime obsessions. Rating: TBD. Production: lensing scheduled 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 spreads, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further widens again, with a another family anchored to returning horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: undetermined. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: to be announced. Production: in progress. 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 period-specific language and ancient menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three pragmatic forces structure this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or rearranged in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming releases. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on repeatable beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can command a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 dark-horse 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 work those windows. 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, sound field, and camera work 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 Shapes Up Strong

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is IP strength where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.