Ancient Malevolence Stirs in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising chiller, premiering Oct 2025 on premium platforms

One eerie supernatural suspense film from storyteller / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an prehistoric malevolence when unfamiliar people become proxies in a dark contest. Available October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping chronicle of continuance and prehistoric entity that will reimagine the horror genre this Halloween season. Realized by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and atmospheric suspense flick follows five unacquainted souls who come to isolated in a wilderness-bound shelter under the unfriendly control of Kyra, a troubled woman consumed by a 2,000-year-old scriptural evil. Get ready to be shaken by a visual adventure that combines bodily fright with spiritual backstory, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a legendary pillar in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is twisted when the entities no longer come from a different plane, but rather inside their minds. This marks the shadowy facet of the group. The result is a emotionally raw spiritual tug-of-war where the tension becomes a unforgiving contest between purity and corruption.


In a wilderness-stricken terrain, five youths find themselves caught under the sinister influence and haunting of a unidentified being. As the victims becomes powerless to fight her dominion, left alone and tormented by terrors unnamable, they are confronted to battle their inner demons while the time ruthlessly moves toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease builds and associations dissolve, compelling each participant to rethink their true nature and the concept of independent thought itself. The consequences escalate with every fleeting time, delivering a cinematic nightmare that integrates occult fear with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to explore instinctual horror, an evil that predates humanity, manipulating emotional fractures, and confronting a force that strips down our being when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra involved tapping into something outside normal anguish. She is blind until the evil takes hold, and that metamorphosis is bone-chilling because it is so intimate.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for home viewing beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—making sure horror lovers worldwide can be part of this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its initial teaser, which has collected over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, giving access to the movie to fans of fear everywhere.


Join this life-altering exploration of dread. Join *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to survive these spiritual awakenings about the human condition.


For teasers, set experiences, and reveals from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursed across online outlets and visit our film’s homepage.





Current horror’s inflection point: the 2025 season American release plan Mixes Mythic Possession, independent shockers, and legacy-brand quakes

Spanning survival horror suffused with near-Eastern lore as well as franchise returns as well as sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is tracking to be the most stratified along with blueprinted year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. major banners plant stakes across the year using marquee IP, even as streaming platforms pack the fall with discovery plays in concert with legend-coded dread. At the same time, indie storytellers is catching the carry from a record 2024 festival run. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The fall stretch is the proving field, and in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are intentional, as a result 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige fear returns

The majors are assertive. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s schedule leads off the quarter with a marquee bet: a reconceived Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in a modern-day environment. Under director Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. arriving mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Steered by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite 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 circuit chatter says it has bite.

At summer’s close, the Warner lot launches the swan song from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson resumes command, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: 70s style chill, trauma explicitly handled, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This pass pushes higher, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The new chapter enriches the lore, builds out the animatronic fear crew, speaking to teens and older millennials. It arrives in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Offerings: Lean budgets, heavy bite

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a room scale body horror descent led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story starring Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, 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 dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is an astute call. No bloated mythology. No IP hangover. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to 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. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

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. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, Directed 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 clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Emerging Currents

Mythic dread mainstreams
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror reemerges
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Laurels convert to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Forward View: Fall stack and winter swing card

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 grind for attention. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

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 mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The new fear lineup: next chapters, new stories, as well as A stacked Calendar tailored for shocks

Dek: The brand-new horror cycle crams early with a January traffic jam, thereafter stretches through June and July, and pushing into the holidays, marrying IP strength, untold stories, and data-minded counter-scheduling. Studios with streamers are prioritizing right-sized spends, theater-first strategies, and viral-minded pushes that position horror entries into mainstream chatter.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The field has turned into the predictable counterweight in studio calendars, a category that can surge when it catches and still insulate the liability when it misses. After the 2023 year proved to buyers that lean-budget genre plays can steer pop culture, the following year held pace with filmmaker-forward plays and word-of-mouth wins. The run rolled into 2025, where re-entries and festival-grade titles demonstrated there is appetite for many shades, from franchise continuations to standalone ideas that perform internationally. The aggregate for 2026 is a schedule that is strikingly coherent across the market, with planned clusters, a spread of established brands and first-time concepts, and a tightened stance on release windows that power the aftermarket on premium home window and subscription services.

Buyers contend the space now behaves like a flex slot on the calendar. Horror can open on numerous frames, supply a clean hook for marketing and social clips, and lead with viewers that respond on opening previews and maintain momentum through the follow-up frame if the feature lands. In the wake of a production delay era, the 2026 plan underscores assurance in that engine. The calendar opens with a stacked January schedule, then targets spring into early summer for alternate plays, while holding room for a fall cadence that connects to the Halloween frame and into early November. The map also spotlights the stronger partnership of indie arms and SVOD players that can build gradually, grow buzz, and move wide at the precise moment.

A second macro trend is IP cultivation across linked properties and long-running brands. The companies are not just turning out another sequel. They are trying to present continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a logo package that suggests a new vibe or a ensemble decision that reconnects a latest entry to a heyday. At the very same time, the creative leads behind the most anticipated originals are leaning into in-camera technique, physical gags and vivid settings. That pairing provides 2026 a confident blend of familiarity and novelty, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount sets the tone early with two centerpiece projects that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the focus, marketing it as both a cross-generational handoff and a origin-leaning character-centered film. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the creative posture signals a fan-service aware framework without replaying the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Watch for a push leaning on heritage visuals, early character teases, and a rollout cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects 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 behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will play up. As a counterweight in summer, this one will build mass reach through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format enabling quick adjustments to whatever drives the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three distinct entries. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is simple, grief-rooted, and concept-forward: a grieving man brings home an algorithmic mate that becomes a dangerous lover. The date sets it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s marketing likely to mirror creepy live activations and bite-size content that threads longing and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a branding reveal to become an headline beat closer to the debut look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. His projects are positioned as event films, with a teaser that holds back and a follow-up trailer set that shape mood without giving away the concept. The pre-Halloween slot gives Universal room to fill 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has demonstrated that a visceral, practical-effects forward mix can feel prestige on a lean spend. Position this as a blood-and-grime summer horror charge that spotlights overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio launches two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, continuing a reliable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is presenting as a fresh restart 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 directive to serve both core fans and newcomers. The fall slot gives Sony time to build campaign pieces around universe detail, and creature effects, elements that can increase deluxe auditorium demand and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by obsessive craft and linguistic texture, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus Features has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is favorable.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform plans for 2026 run on well-known grooves. The Universal horror run feed copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a structure that boosts both week-one demand and subscription bumps in the post-theatrical. Prime Video balances licensed content with worldwide entries and targeted theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in back-catalog play, using seasonal hubs, October hubs, and staff great post to read picks to prolong the run on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix films and festival deals, scheduling horror entries with shorter lead times and elevating as drops debuts with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a one-two of selective theatrical runs and speedy platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has signaled readiness to invest in select projects with acclaimed directors or celebrity-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 corridor with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is direct: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, elevated for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the back half.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, shepherding the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday slot to go wider. That positioning has served the company well for elevated genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception drives. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using limited runs to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Brands and originals

By proportion, 2026 tilts in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage name recognition. The trade-off, as ever, is staleness. The standing approach is to sell each entry as a new angle. Paramount is underscoring relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a Francophone tone from a emerging director. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and director-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the assembly is assuring enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Recent comps illuminate the plan. In 2023, a cinema-first model that observed windows did not hamper a parallel release from performing when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror rose in premium large format. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they pivot perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot consecutively, permits marketing to interlace chapters through relationships and themes and to sustain campaign assets without dead zones.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft conversations behind the upcoming entries foreshadow a continued tilt toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that centers grain and menace rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in deep-dive features and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a preview that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and sparks shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a self-referential reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature work and production design, which are ideal for booth activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel definitive. Look for trailers that center fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in big rooms.

Annual flow

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. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid headline IP. The month caps 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 mix of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Winter into spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Shoulder season into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil follows September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a slow-reveal plan and limited previews that put concept first.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s digital partner turns into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back 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 returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 abrasive boss scramble to survive on a remote island as the chain of command swivels and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to fright, rooted in Cronin’s hands-on craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting piece that twists the unease of a child’s wobbly POV. Rating: TBA. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-supported and star-fronted eerie 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 satire sequel that skewers hot-button genre motifs and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBA. Production: cameras due to roll 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 bursts, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further widens again, with a young family caught in older hauntings. Rating: TBA. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A fresh restart designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-first horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: TBD. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: moving forward. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on historical diction and primordial menace. Rating: pending. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three pragmatic forces define this lineup. First, production that eased or shifted in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and compressed schedules. 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 beaten straight-to-streaming launches. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Calendar math also matters. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can command a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will coexist across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where midrange-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 press those advantages. 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two 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 bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, soundscape, and cinematography that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is IP strength where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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 secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.