Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens primeval malevolence, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing October 2025 across premium platforms

A blood-curdling ghostly terror film from author / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an long-buried fear when strangers become tokens in a cursed conflict. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish saga of perseverance and prehistoric entity that will reshape the fear genre this scare season. Created by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and eerie screenplay follows five unknowns who emerge stuck in a unreachable shelter under the aggressive sway of Kyra, a mysterious girl haunted by a millennia-old Old Testament spirit. Arm yourself to be shaken by a cinematic experience that blends instinctive fear with ancestral stories, hitting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a classic narrative in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is inverted when the presences no longer develop from an outside force, but rather from within. This mirrors the darkest shade of all involved. The result is a harrowing psychological battle where the narrative becomes a intense face-off between right and wrong.


In a haunting backcountry, five friends find themselves imprisoned under the evil control and domination of a secretive female presence. As the team becomes powerless to oppose her dominion, left alone and tormented by creatures impossible to understand, they are confronted to endure their raw vulnerabilities while the deathwatch mercilessly winds toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion intensifies and links shatter, requiring each protagonist to examine their essence and the foundation of conscious will itself. The danger climb with every breath, delivering a paranormal ride that intertwines occult fear with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to dig into raw dread, an presence born of forgotten ages, operating within soul-level flaws, and questioning a will that redefines identity when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra required summoning something outside normal anguish. She is oblivious until the demon emerges, and that transformation is gut-wrenching because it is so close.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for horror fans beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—so that watchers around the globe can witness this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original clip, which has earned over 100,000 views.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, presenting the nightmare to scare fans abroad.


Do not miss this mind-warping path of possession. Explore *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to face these unholy truths about free will.


For director insights, director cuts, and news straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across entertainment pages and visit the official website.





Modern horror’s watershed moment: the 2025 cycle U.S. rollouts fuses ancient-possession motifs, festival-born jolts, in parallel with legacy-brand quakes

From fight-to-live nightmare stories drawn from scriptural legend all the way to IP renewals together with focused festival visions, 2025 stands to become the most variegated in tandem with deliberate year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. the big studios lay down anchors by way of signature titles, in parallel OTT services pack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs together with primordial unease. In parallel, the independent cohort is fueled by the afterglow of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A fat September–October lane is customary now, distinctly in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are exacting, as a result 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: The Return of Prestige Fear

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal Pictures sets the tone with a big gambit: a reimagined Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, inside today’s landscape. Led by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. Booked into mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

When summer tapers, Warner Bros. Pictures unveils the final movement of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Scott Derrickson returns, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: throwback unease, trauma as theme, along with eerie supernatural rules. This pass pushes higher, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The next entry deepens the tale, grows the animatronic horror lineup, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It drops in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Firsts: Modest spend, serious shock

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

More contained by design is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is virtually assured for fall.

Also notable is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative with Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Penned and steered 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. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. 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.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is a calculated bet. No overinflated mythology. No continuity burden. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Series Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, under Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Trend Lines

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror resurges
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theaters are a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Season Ahead: Fall saturation and a winter joker

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The new spook Year Ahead: Sequels, new stories, together with A busy Calendar geared toward frights

Dek The current scare season packs right away with a January logjam, following that flows through peak season, and straight through the holiday frame, fusing marquee clout, novel approaches, and savvy calendar placement. Studios with streamers are embracing efficient budgets, box-office-first windows, and platform-native promos that convert the slate’s entries into mainstream chatter.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror sector has shown itself to be the predictable play in studio lineups, a category that can spike when it breaks through and still limit the losses when it falls short. After 2023 reassured top brass that cost-conscious genre plays can steer social chatter, the following year continued the surge with festival-darling auteurs and unexpected risers. The head of steam carried into 2025, where reawakened brands and elevated films signaled there is capacity for varied styles, from returning installments to non-IP projects that play globally. The sum for 2026 is a slate that reads highly synchronized across the industry, with mapped-out bands, a harmony of recognizable IP and untested plays, and a revived emphasis on exhibition windows that power the aftermarket on paid VOD and home platforms.

Insiders argue the horror lane now functions as a versatile piece on the calendar. The genre can launch on many corridors, yield a quick sell for teasers and platform-native cuts, and overperform with audiences that turn out on Thursday previews and sustain through the subsequent weekend if the offering fires. Emerging from a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 pattern underscores assurance in that logic. The year launches with a stacked January corridor, then plants flags in spring and early summer for alternate plays, while leaving room for a autumn push that stretches into the fright window and afterwards. The program also includes the expanded integration of specialized labels and OTT outlets that can platform a title, spark evangelism, and move wide at the proper time.

A notable top-line trend is brand management across interlocking continuities and classic IP. The players are not just rolling another return. They are trying to present threaded continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a brandmark that conveys a recalibrated tone or a casting pivot that connects a new entry to a early run. At the simultaneously, the creative leads behind the headline-grabbing originals are favoring on-set craft, physical gags and concrete locations. That alloy affords the 2026 slate a healthy mix of known notes and unexpected turns, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount plants an early flag with two prominent bets that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a passing of the torch and a back-to-basics character-driven entry. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance conveys a legacy-leaning treatment without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign anchored in franchise iconography, early character teases, and a trailer cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will emphasize. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will chase mainstream recognition through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick updates to whatever defines genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three clear pushes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is simple, tragic, and commercial: a grieving man purchases an virtual partner that unfolds into a dangerous lover. The date puts it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s team likely have a peek at these guys to revisit eerie street stunts and snackable content that melds attachment and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a branding reveal to become an event moment closer to the debut look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s releases are sold as signature events, with a minimalist tease and a later creative that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween runway gives the studio room to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has long shown that a tactile, on-set effects led treatment can feel deluxe on a tight budget. Position this as a splatter summer horror rush that spotlights worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio places two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, continuing a reliable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is presenting as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both franchise faithful and newcomers. The fall slot lets Sony to build marketing units around world-building, and creature work, elements that can fuel premium screens and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror centered on meticulous craft and language, this time focused on werewolf legend. Focus’s team has already locked the day for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is positive.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform plans for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre entries move to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a sequence that fortifies both initial urgency and viewer acquisition in the tail. Prime Video continues to mix licensed films with worldwide entries and small theatrical windows when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in library curation, using featured rows, horror hubs, and collection rows to increase tail value on the 2026 genre total. Netflix remains opportunistic about in-house releases and festival grabs, dating horror entries tight to release and turning into events go-lives with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a hybrid of precision releases and fast windowing that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has indicated interest to secure select projects with top-tier auteurs or name-led packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 arc with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is no-nonsense: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, recalibrated for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical rollout for the title, an promising marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late stretch.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, curating the rollout through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the Christmas corridor to move out. That positioning has worked well for prestige horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception drives. Plan 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 together, using limited theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Balance of brands and originals

By proportion, 2026 bends toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on franchise value. The risk, as ever, is brand erosion. The practical approach is to brand each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is underscoring character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is floating a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-flavored turn from a hot helmer. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the bundle is steady enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Three-year comps outline the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that maintained windows did not hamper a simultaneous release test from succeeding when the brand was compelling. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror outperformed in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they rotate perspective and elevate scope. 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters lensed back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to interlace chapters through relationships and themes and to sustain campaign assets without lulls.

Technique and craft currents

The craft conversations behind the 2026 entries foreshadow a continued move toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that spotlights grain and menace rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and guild coverage before rolling out a atmospheric tease that elevates tone over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and earns shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-aware reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature and environment design, which work nicely for convention floor stunts and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel primary. Look for trailers that elevate surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that shine in top rooms.

Month-by-month map

January is stacked. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid macro-brand pushes. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the tone spread makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth persists.

February through May prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls 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 lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late summer into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a bridge slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a opaque tease strategy and limited disclosures that favor idea over plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and holiday gift-card burn.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s algorithmic partner unfolds into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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: Shot sequentially 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 goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. 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 tough boss push to survive on a remote island as the power dynamic swivels and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to fear, based on Cronin’s practical craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting story that routes the horror through a youth’s shifting POV. Rating: rating pending. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed and headline-actor led supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A spoof revival that lampoons modern genre fads and true crime fixations. Rating: TBA. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites erupts, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further extends again, with a fresh family entangled with old terrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A new start designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: forthcoming. Production: proceeding. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 primal menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. 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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the moment is 2026

Three hands-on forces shape this lineup. First, production that paused or re-sequenced in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more strategic 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 dumps. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on repeatable beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, providing runway for genre entries that can command a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will coexist across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, 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 target range. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The dark-horse hunt 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 surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, sonics, 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.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is recognizable IP where it plays, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.