Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites age-old dread, a fear soaked feature, rolling out October 2025 across major platforms

This spine-tingling mystic suspense film from literary architect / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an timeless curse when newcomers become victims in a demonic contest. Available October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful saga of endurance and mythic evil that will redefine the horror genre this spooky time. Guided by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and shadowy film follows five individuals who regain consciousness ensnared in a wooded shelter under the aggressive rule of Kyra, a female lead claimed by a two-thousand-year-old sacrosanct terror. Anticipate to be enthralled by a audio-visual display that combines primitive horror with legendary tales, dropping on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a recurring pillar in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is redefined when the dark entities no longer come from external sources, but rather from their core. This mirrors the shadowy side of the cast. The result is a relentless mental war where the events becomes a soul-crushing contest between heaven and hell.


In a haunting woodland, five young people find themselves isolated under the evil rule and possession of a haunted being. As the group becomes unresisting to escape her control, stranded and tracked by forces beyond comprehension, they are required to encounter their emotional phantoms while the timeline ruthlessly winds toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust builds and friendships fracture, pressuring each protagonist to rethink their identity and the idea of self-determination itself. The hazard rise with every passing moment, delivering a terror ride that intertwines ghostly evil with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to dig into raw dread, an curse born of forgotten ages, filtering through inner turmoil, and dealing with a darkness that questions who we are when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra demanded embodying something unfamiliar to reason. She is innocent until the possession kicks in, and that shift is haunting because it is so intimate.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for digital release beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—ensuring households anywhere can get immersed in this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its release of trailer #1, which has collected over a viral response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, bringing the film to fans of fear everywhere.


Make sure to see this visceral exploration of dread. Watch *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to explore these haunting secrets about inner darkness.


For teasers, director cuts, and updates straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across media channels and visit youngandcursed.com.





Today’s horror major pivot: 2025 across markets American release plan blends Mythic Possession, Indie Shockers, in parallel with brand-name tremors

Moving from survival horror steeped in ancient scripture to installment follow-ups as well as pointed art-house angles, 2025 looks like the most stratified as well as blueprinted year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. major banners are anchoring the year using marquee IP, in tandem streamers front-load the fall with debut heat set against legend-coded dread. On another front, horror’s indie wing is propelled by the echoes from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Since Halloween is the prized date, the other windows are mapped with care. The fall stretch is the proving field, yet in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are exacting, so 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: High-craft horror returns

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s schedule fires the first shot with a big gambit: a reimagined Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a sharp contemporary setting. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. set for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. From director Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer wanes, the Warner lot sets loose the finale from its bankable horror series: 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. While the template is known, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson again directs, and those signature textures resurface: period tinged dread, trauma driven plotting, plus otherworld rules that chill. Here the stakes rise, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The return delves further into myth, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It books December, buttoning the final window.

Streamer Exclusives: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a two hander body horror spiral featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Underneath: 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 film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. That is a savvy move. No puffed out backstory. No series drag. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

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

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Long Running Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, led by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Trends Worth Watching

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror retakes ground
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

The Road Ahead: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The new terror slate: next chapters, fresh concepts, And A loaded Calendar engineered for shocks

Dek The upcoming scare year crowds right away with a January pile-up, thereafter unfolds through peak season, and far into the holiday stretch, marrying marquee clout, fresh ideas, and strategic counter-scheduling. Studios and streamers are relying on cost discipline, big-screen-first runs, and viral-minded pushes that frame the slate’s entries into cross-demo moments.

Where horror stands going into 2026

Horror filmmaking has become the consistent counterweight in studio slates, a space that can surge when it hits and still hedge the losses when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year signaled to studio brass that mid-range fright engines can drive mainstream conversation, the following year kept energy high with auteur-driven buzzy films and quiet over-performers. The head of steam flowed into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and festival-grade titles signaled there is a lane for diverse approaches, from continued chapters to original one-offs that resonate abroad. The net effect for 2026 is a calendar that presents tight coordination across studios, with clear date clusters, a combination of known properties and new pitches, and a re-energized emphasis on exhibition windows that increase tail monetization on paid VOD and digital services.

Insiders argue the horror lane now slots in as a flex slot on the programming map. Horror can arrive on almost any weekend, provide a quick sell for promo reels and vertical videos, and outpace with viewers that show up on first-look nights and continue through the week two if the picture works. Following a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration signals comfort in that approach. The slate opens with a thick January stretch, then leans on spring and early summer for audience offsets, while holding room for a autumn push that runs into All Hallows period and beyond. The map also underscores the stronger partnership of specialized labels and streamers that can nurture a platform play, build word of mouth, and expand at the right moment.

A notable top-line trend is brand curation across connected story worlds and heritage properties. The companies are not just making another sequel. They are trying to present ongoing narrative with a heightened moment, whether that is a art treatment that announces a tonal shift or a cast configuration that anchors a next film to a vintage era. At the alongside this, the directors behind the most anticipated originals are championing physical effects work, practical effects and site-specific worlds. That blend affords 2026 a confident blend of familiarity and shock, which is why the genre exports well.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount opens strong with two front-of-slate projects that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the center, framing it as both a relay and a back-to-basics character-driven entry. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture telegraphs a nostalgia-forward mode without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Look for a marketing run stacked with iconic art, early character teases, and a rollout cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also brings back 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 in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will emphasize. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will go after wide appeal through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format enabling quick shifts to whatever tops horror talk that spring.

Universal has three separate pushes. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is tidy, grief-rooted, and high-concept: a grieving man implements an artificial companion that escalates into a dangerous lover. The date nudges it to the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s team likely to recreate strange in-person beats and short-cut promos that melds intimacy and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a title drop to become an headline beat closer to the first look. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. His projects are set up as creative events, with a minimalist tease and a next wave of trailers that signal tone without plot the concept. The spooky-season slot affords Universal to saturate 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a raw, hands-on effects style can feel big on a lean spend. Position this as a splatter summer horror blast that embraces international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio sets two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, maintaining a steady supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is presenting as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both core fans and newcomers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build campaign creative around environmental design, and monster aesthetics, elements that can stoke premium screens and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in meticulous craft and textual fidelity, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is supportive.

Digital platform strategies

Platform tactics for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s horror titles head to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a tiered path that expands both FOMO and sub growth in the later phase. More about the author Prime Video pairs acquired titles with global acquisitions and select theatrical runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library engagement, using featured rows, genre hubs, and handpicked rows to sustain interest on 2026 genre cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about internal projects and festival grabs, timing horror entries closer to launch and framing as events launches with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a two-step of targeted cinema placements and rapid platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a curated basis. The platform has shown a willingness to acquire select projects with award winners or headline-cast packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for monthly activity when the genre conversation ramps.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 runway with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is simple: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, elevated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a cinema-first plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late stretch.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, marshalling the project through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then using the holiday frame to increase reach. That positioning has delivered for craft-driven horror 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 typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception allows. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using limited runs to spark the evangelism that fuels their user base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By weight, 2026 tilts in favor of the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit marquee value. The concern, as ever, is audience fatigue. The near-term solution is to package each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is foregrounding character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a Francophone tone from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the configuration is familiar enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Recent-year comps help explain the template. In 2023, a cinema-first model that preserved streaming windows did not hamper a same-day experiment from succeeding when the brand was sticky. In 2024, director-craft horror popped in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they reframe POV 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 paired-chapter approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, enables marketing to connect the chapters through character arcs and themes and to keep assets in-market without dead zones.

Craft and creative trends

The craft rooms behind these films indicate a continued bias toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that elevates atmosphere and fear rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in feature stories and technical spotlights before rolling out a first look that leans on mood over plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for red-band excess, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and spurs shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta pivot that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature work and production design, which match well with convention activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that emphasize pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that land in premium houses.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is loaded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid bigger brand plays. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the variety of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late Q1 and spring tee up summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Shoulder season into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a tease-and-hold strategy and limited previews that prioritize concept over plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Title briefs within the narrative

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s machine mate grows into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

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 changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. 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 tough boss fight to survive on a desolate island as the pecking order upends and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to dread, anchored by Cronin’s tactile craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting narrative that pipes the unease through a minor’s uneven POV. Rating: rating pending. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal 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 send-up revival that teases of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime obsessions. Rating: to be announced. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 detonates, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new household anchored to past horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: pending. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: to be announced. Production: moving forward. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 antique diction and elemental dread. Rating: to be announced. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three workable forces inform this lineup. First, production that stalled or shuffled in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and compressed schedules. 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 surpassed straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams get redirected here behind these titles will leverage social-ready stingers from test screenings, select scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Another factor is the scheduling math. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, providing runway for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will stack across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, 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 value-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 sleeper overperformer 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, 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 beat and breadth. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit 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 chilly, 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 ratchet upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, sound field, and framing 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 evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand gravity where needed, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the chills sell the seats.