Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes antediluvian malevolence, a spine tingling supernatural thriller, rolling out Oct 2025 on premium platforms

A chilling unearthly fright fest from creator / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an prehistoric fear when strangers become puppets in a satanic trial. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful tale of resilience and prehistoric entity that will reshape scare flicks this autumn. Produced by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and atmospheric film follows five unacquainted souls who emerge imprisoned in a wooded house under the hostile grip of Kyra, a cursed figure claimed by a antiquated religious nightmare. Arm yourself to be enthralled by a screen-based event that harmonizes gut-punch terror with arcane tradition, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a mainstay tradition in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is redefined when the beings no longer arise from a different plane, but rather inside their minds. This marks the malevolent side of the players. The result is a gripping identity crisis where the events becomes a ongoing battle between heaven and hell.


In a isolated backcountry, five figures find themselves stuck under the evil influence and infestation of a uncanny female presence. As the characters becomes helpless to resist her influence, disconnected and followed by creatures inconceivable, they are obligated to encounter their core terrors while the doomsday meter mercilessly strikes toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease amplifies and alliances fracture, driving each participant to reflect on their being and the idea of independent thought itself. The cost surge with every second, delivering a scare-fueled ride that harmonizes mystical fear with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to evoke primal fear, an entity beyond recorded history, manifesting in our weaknesses, and highlighting a entity that tests the soul when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra called for internalizing something rooted in terror. She is insensitive until the curse activates, and that pivot is emotionally raw because it is so personal.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for home viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring horror lovers from coast to coast can engage with this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its release of trailer #1, which has gathered over strong viewer count.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, extending the thrill to thrill-seekers globally.


Mark your calendar for this mind-warping exploration of dread. Experience *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to confront these ghostly lessons about our species.


For teasers, filmmaker commentary, and news via the production team, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across your socials and visit the film’s website.





Today’s horror watershed moment: 2025 in focus U.S. release slate interlaces legend-infused possession, signature indie scares, stacked beside brand-name tremors

From survival horror saturated with near-Eastern lore as well as IP renewals as well as cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is emerging as the most dimensioned as well as strategic year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. major banners lay down anchors with known properties, simultaneously subscription platforms saturate the fall with first-wave breakthroughs together with mythic dread. On the festival side, indie storytellers is fueled by the afterglow of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, though in this cycle, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are calculated, hence 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: High-craft horror returns

The top end is active. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s slate starts the year with a risk-forward move: a reconceived Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in a clear present-tense world. From director Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. dated for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

When summer tapers, Warner Bros. Pictures rolls out the capstone from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Scott Derrickson again directs, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: period tinged dread, trauma foregrounded, with spooky supernatural reasoning. Here the stakes rise, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, reaching teens and game grownups. It lands in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Digital Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the quieter side is Together, a room scale body horror descent with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing 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 an astute call. No overinflated mythology. No IP hangover. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Long Running Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, with Francis Lawrence directing, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trends to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror returns
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Laurels convert to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Forward View: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The next fright calendar year ahead: follow-ups, non-franchise titles, together with A Crowded Calendar designed for nightmares

Dek The upcoming genre calendar stacks from the jump with a January pile-up, after that flows through June and July, and carrying into the year-end corridor, braiding series momentum, new concepts, and strategic release strategy. Studios and platforms are relying on right-sized spends, big-screen-first runs, and social-driven marketing that convert genre releases into national conversation.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The horror marketplace has established itself as the sturdy move in studio calendars, a corner that can accelerate when it lands and still limit the losses when it falls short. After the 2023 year demonstrated to studio brass that efficiently budgeted chillers can lead the discourse, the following year sustained momentum with filmmaker-forward plays and unexpected risers. The tailwind extended into the 2025 frame, where returns and festival-grade titles showed there is an opening for multiple flavors, from ongoing IP entries to fresh IP that export nicely. The result for 2026 is a calendar that reads highly synchronized across the major shops, with planned clusters, a spread of legacy names and new pitches, and a reinvigorated eye on exhibition windows that increase tail monetization on premium video on demand and streaming.

Studio leaders note the genre now operates like a versatile piece on the distribution slate. The genre can launch on virtually any date, create a clear pitch for promo reels and social clips, and outpace with viewers that line up on previews Thursday and stay strong through the next pass if the title lands. In the wake of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 rhythm indicates faith in that dynamic. The year begins with a busy January stretch, then turns to spring and early summer for balance, while carving room for a September to October window that carries into the Halloween frame and past the holiday. The gridline also shows the expanded integration of specialty arms and OTT outlets that can platform a title, grow buzz, and widen at the right moment.

A parallel macro theme is brand strategy across shared IP webs and classic IP. Studio teams are not just rolling another sequel. They are working to present threaded continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a brandmark that broadcasts a tonal shift or a lead change that bridges a next film to a first wave. At the meanwhile, the auteurs behind the most watched originals are embracing hands-on technique, in-camera effects and grounded locations. That blend gives the 2026 slate a healthy mix of comfort and invention, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount leads early with two headline pushes that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the front, signaling it as both a baton pass and a return-to-roots character-forward chapter. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach suggests a memory-charged campaign without rehashing the last two entries’ sisters thread. Expect a marketing push rooted in heritage visuals, first-look character reveals, and a staggered trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

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 reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will double down on. As a summer contrast play, this one will chase mainstream recognition through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format allowing quick shifts to whatever tops the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three distinct bets. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is elegant, heartbroken, and easily pitched: a grieving man implements an synthetic partner that unfolds into a murderous partner. The date places it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s promo team likely to iterate on creepy live activations and short-cut promos that blurs companionship and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a official title to become an event moment closer to the initial promo. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His projects are marketed as signature events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a next wave of trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The pre-Halloween slot gives the studio room to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has consistently shown that a in-your-face, physical-effects centered treatment can feel deluxe on a middle budget. Position this as a hard-R summer horror hit that centers global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio rolls out two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, sustaining a proven supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is marketing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both diehards and first-timers. The fall slot allows Sony to build artifacts around setting detail, and monster design, elements that can amplify PLF interest and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by immersive craft and linguistic texture, this time orbiting lycan myth. The specialty arm has already locked the day for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is strong.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform plans for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s slate move to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ordering that maximizes both first-week urgency and subscriber lifts in the back half. Prime Video blends licensed content with worldwide buys and limited runs in theaters when the data signals it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in catalog engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, genre hubs, and editorial rows to prolong the run on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps options open about original films and festival additions, finalizing horror entries tight to release and elevating as drops launches with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a two-step of limited theatrical footprints and speedy platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a situational basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to pick up select projects with award winners or headline-cast packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation peaks.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 lane with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is straightforward: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, reimagined for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a standard theatrical run for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then using the December frame to increase reach. That positioning has worked well for director-led genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception allows. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using precision theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their membership.

Known brands versus new stories

By weight, 2026 tips toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on name recognition. The question, as ever, is diminishing returns. The operating solution is to market each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is spotlighting character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a European tilt from a fresh helmer. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and talent-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the package is grounded enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Past-three-year patterns make sense of the template. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that respected streaming windows did not stop a day-date move from paying off when the brand was robust. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror over-performed in PLF. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they shift POV and increase ambition. 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 two-step approach, with chapters shot in tandem, creates space for marketing to link the films through character arcs and themes and to keep assets in-market without dead zones.

How the films are being made

The creative meetings behind the upcoming entries forecast a continued bias toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that leans on grain and menace rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft features before rolling out a atmospheric tease that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and generates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-referential reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster work and world-building, which are ideal for booth activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel necessary. Look for trailers that elevate fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that explode in larger rooms.

How the year maps out

January is stacked. 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 atmospheric change-up 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 real, but the palette of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

Late Q1 and spring build the summer base. Scream 7 comes February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The 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 heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. 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 cycled through premium screens.

Back half into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a bridge slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a opaque tease strategy and limited previews that trade in concept over detail.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s AI companion grows 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 my review here O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot 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 run into a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 demanding boss battle to survive on a rugged island as the power balance turns and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to menace, based on Cronin’s material craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


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

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that riffs on in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime obsessions. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further opens again, with a another family bound to older hauntings. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A reboot designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-first horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: pending. 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: forthcoming. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBD. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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 language and elemental dread. Rating: to be weblink announced. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three workable forces drive this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or re-slotted in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming launches. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify shareable moments 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 succeeds.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, offering breathing room for genre entries that can command a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will share space across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, 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 pattern and spread. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, acoustics, and image-making 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

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is IP strength where it matters, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for 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, produce clean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the fear sell the seats.