Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons ancient dread, a bone chilling horror feature, bowing October 2025 across top digital platforms

A unnerving occult suspense story from narrative craftsman / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an prehistoric malevolence when unfamiliar people become victims in a demonic conflict. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing depiction of survival and primordial malevolence that will reconstruct fear-driven cinema this ghoul season. Created by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and immersive story follows five strangers who snap to sealed in a cut-off cabin under the sinister influence of Kyra, a cursed figure consumed by a legendary ancient fiend. Steel yourself to be ensnared by a cinematic venture that unites intense horror with biblical origins, landing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a iconic trope in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is reimagined when the malevolences no longer appear outside the characters, but rather deep within. This marks the haunting shade of the cast. The result is a relentless moral showdown where the suspense becomes a brutal struggle between light and darkness.


In a wilderness-stricken landscape, five adults find themselves isolated under the sinister control and infestation of a uncanny spirit. As the team becomes incapacitated to deny her influence, isolated and chased by powers beyond reason, they are pushed to reckon with their soulful dreads while the deathwatch mercilessly pushes forward toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust swells and partnerships disintegrate, driving each survivor to reconsider their identity and the philosophy of decision-making itself. The tension intensify with every fleeting time, delivering a paranormal ride that weaves together mystical fear with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to dig into primitive panic, an force beyond recorded history, working through soul-level flaws, and testing a being that questions who we are when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra required summoning something beneath mortal despair. She is unseeing until the takeover begins, and that evolution is haunting because it is so private.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for audiences beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that subscribers across the world can survive this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its release of trailer #1, which has pulled in over a viral response.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, extending the thrill to lovers of terror across nations.


Witness this gripping voyage through terror. Experience *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to witness these evil-rooted truths about the psyche.


For featurettes, making-of footage, and updates via the production team, follow @YACMovie across fan hubs and visit the official website.





Horror’s decisive shift: the 2025 season stateside slate integrates biblical-possession ideas, indie terrors, together with tentpole growls

Kicking off with fight-to-live nightmare stories inspired by scriptural legend to canon extensions in concert with focused festival visions, 2025 stands to become horror’s most layered plus carefully orchestrated year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. studio powerhouses lay down anchors with franchise anchors, concurrently SVOD players flood the fall with first-wave breakthroughs alongside ancestral chills. Across the art-house lane, independent banners is fueled by the uplift from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween holding the peak, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The fall stretch is the proving field, yet in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are exacting, as a result 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

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

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal leads off the quarter with a bold swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in an immediate now. From director Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. arriving mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Steered by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

Toward summer’s end, the Warner Bros. banner delivers the closing chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Though the outline is tried, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson again directs, and those signature textures resurface: period tinged dread, trauma driven plotting, and a cold supernatural calculus. This time the stakes climb, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The continuation widens the legend, stretches the animatronic parade, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It books December, buttoning the final window.

SVOD Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a two hander body horror spiral pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

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.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a clever angle. No heavy handed lore. No brand fatigue. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

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 fields a robust horror set this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Trend Lines

Mythic horror goes 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 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 serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Projection: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The upcoming terror lineup: follow-ups, filmmaker-first projects, together with A busy Calendar optimized for goosebumps

Dek The fresh horror cycle crams from day one with a January pile-up, and then unfolds through the warm months, and straight through the festive period, mixing franchise firepower, new voices, and tactical release strategy. Major distributors and platforms are leaning into mid-range economics, big-screen-first runs, and platform-native promos that frame the slate’s entries into mainstream chatter.

How the genre looks for 2026

The horror sector has grown into the steady move in studio slates, a segment that can lift when it connects and still cushion the liability when it doesn’t. After 2023 re-taught executives that cost-conscious entries can shape cultural conversation, the following year sustained momentum with festival-darling auteurs and word-of-mouth wins. The energy moved into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and filmmaker-prestige bets made clear there is appetite for different modes, from brand follow-ups to director-led originals that travel well. The combined impact for 2026 is a grid that reads highly synchronized across studios, with strategic blocks, a mix of established brands and new packages, and a sharpened strategy on theatrical windows that fuel later windows on premium digital and platforms.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now functions as a versatile piece on the schedule. Horror can roll out on open real estate, provide a grabby hook for promo reels and platform-native cuts, and outstrip with moviegoers that arrive on Thursday nights and return through the next weekend if the picture works. Emerging from a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 pattern exhibits belief in that dynamic. The calendar begins with a crowded January schedule, then leans on spring and early summer for audience offsets, while carving room for a autumn stretch that reaches into holiday-adjacent weekends and into November. The grid also underscores the deeper integration of indie distributors and platforms that can build gradually, ignite recommendations, and expand at the strategic time.

A reinforcing pattern is brand strategy across shared universes and storied titles. Studio teams are not just turning out another chapter. They are moving to present ongoing narrative with a premium feel, whether that is a graphic identity that indicates a reframed mood or a talent selection that binds a incoming chapter to a initial period. At the meanwhile, the writer-directors behind the marquee originals are returning to real-world builds, real effects and site-specific worlds. That fusion yields the 2026 slate a solid mix of assurance and surprise, which is why the genre exports well.

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

Paramount plants an early flag with two prominent bets that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the lead, framing it as both a baton pass and a back-to-basics character-focused installment. Production is active in Atlanta, and the narrative stance points to a legacy-leaning strategy without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Plan for a rollout stacked with franchise iconography, first-look character reveals, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will foreground. As a summer contrast play, this one will chase large awareness through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format inviting quick updates to whatever owns horror talk that spring.

Universal has three defined projects. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is tight, melancholic, and high-concept: a grieving man activates an machine companion that unfolds into a killer companion. The date positions it at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s team likely to echo off-kilter promo beats and short reels that interlaces companionship and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a name unveil to become an earned moment closer to the early tease. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. His entries are marketed as signature events, with a teaser that holds back and a subsequent trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The pre-Halloween slot allows Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has proven that a visceral, practical-first approach can feel cinematic on a efficient spend. Expect a hard-R summer horror hit that embraces international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio sets two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, maintaining a proven supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is describing as a reset 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 devotees and first-timers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build assets around mythos, and creature builds, elements that can amplify premium format interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on minute detail and period language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The company has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is warm.

Where the platforms fit in

Windowing plans in 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s genre slate shift to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ladder that maximizes both initial urgency and viewer acquisition in the tail. Prime Video stitches together outside acquisitions with international acquisitions and select theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in deep cuts, using curated hubs, genre hubs, and curated strips to stretch the tail on the horror cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about first-party entries and festival wins, slotting horror entries tight to release and turning into events launches with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a laddered of precision releases and rapid platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is this content releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a situational basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to buy select projects with recognized filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for monthly engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 corridor with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is uncomplicated: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, recalibrated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the October weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then relying on the December frame to widen. That positioning has been successful for director-led genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception allows. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using precision theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their audience.

Known brands versus new stories

By share, 2026 bends toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap name recognition. The question, as ever, is audience fatigue. The near-term solution is to market each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is elevating character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is floating a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-inflected take from a buzzed-about director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

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

Comps from the last three years help explain the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that honored streaming windows did not hamper a simultaneous release test from delivering when the brand was robust. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror exceeded expectations in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they change perspective and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters shot in tandem, provides the means for marketing to cross-link entries through character spine and themes and to continue assets in field without hiatuses.

Production craft signals

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind this slate point to a continued shift toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that foregrounds atmosphere and fear rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed 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 behind-the-scenes pieces and technical spotlights before rolling out a preview that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and produces shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta-horror reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature craft and set design, which match well with fan conventions and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a have a peek here audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel must-have. Look for trailers that elevate pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that sing on PLF.

The schedule at a glance

January is full. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid headline IP. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the palette of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

February through May load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can deliver next my review here to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late-season stretch leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited disclosures that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and holiday card usage.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s virtual companion mutates into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively 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 finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: gothic-game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her hard-edged boss battle to survive on a remote island as the hierarchy shifts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

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


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting premise that explores the panic of a child’s mercurial POV. Rating: forthcoming. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-scale and name-above-title ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that targets present-day genre chatter and true crime fixations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites breaks out, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further extends again, with a unlucky family entangled with residual nightmares. Rating: to be announced. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: to be announced. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBD. Production: ongoing. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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 era-accurate language and elemental menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026 lands now

Three practical forces define this lineup. First, production that decelerated or recalendared in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often rely on fewer 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 leverage meme-ready beats from test screenings, select scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will jostle across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

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 stealth-hit search 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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first shock 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, 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 stack through the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, sound field, 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 Promising 2026

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is recognizable IP where it plays, 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.