Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primeval malevolence, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, landing Oct 2025 on top streamers

One unnerving mystic thriller from cinematographer / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an forgotten fear when drifters become tools in a supernatural ordeal. Streaming on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, the YouTube platform, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching journey of endurance and old world terror that will revolutionize genre cinema this fall. Produced by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and gothic story follows five unknowns who arise stranded in a isolated house under the sinister dominion of Kyra, a troubled woman controlled by a prehistoric Old Testament spirit. Be prepared to be enthralled by a visual event that unites primitive horror with ancient myths, landing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a classic foundation in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is redefined when the demons no longer appear outside the characters, but rather internally. This echoes the most terrifying shade of the group. The result is a psychologically brutal mental war where the events becomes a soul-crushing struggle between righteousness and malevolence.


In a barren wild, five teens find themselves marooned under the fiendish sway and infestation of a shadowy character. As the cast becomes defenseless to escape her influence, isolated and hunted by unknowns ungraspable, they are driven to confront their emotional phantoms while the time without pause pushes forward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease intensifies and friendships collapse, pushing each member to challenge their core and the idea of liberty itself. The risk magnify with every minute, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that blends paranormal dread with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to dive into elemental fright, an force that predates humanity, influencing emotional vulnerability, and exposing a presence that challenges autonomy when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra was centered on something far beyond human desperation. She is clueless until the curse activates, and that pivot is gut-wrenching because it is so emotional.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for home viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing watchers no matter where they are can dive into this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its first preview, which has garnered over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, delivering the story to a global viewership.


Make sure to see this gripping exploration of dread. Watch *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to experience these ghostly lessons about free will.


For sneak peeks, special features, and reveals via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your socials and visit the official movie site.





Today’s horror pivotal crossroads: 2025 domestic schedule melds biblical-possession ideas, indie terrors, stacked beside Franchise Rumbles

From fight-to-live nightmare stories drawn from ancient scripture as well as brand-name continuations as well as acutely observed indies, 2025 stands to become horror’s most layered and precision-timed year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. Major studios lock in tentpoles using marquee IP, in parallel digital services flood the fall with new voices in concert with legend-coded dread. At the same time, the art-house flank is surfing the afterglow of a banner 2024 fest year. As Halloween stays the prime week, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, distinctly in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are precise, as a result 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Premium genre swings back

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s distribution arm begins the calendar with a headline swing: a modernized Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Directed by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. targeting mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

Toward summer’s end, the Warner Bros. banner bows the concluding entry from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the tone that worked before is intact: nostalgic menace, trauma in the foreground, paired with unsettling supernatural order. Here the stakes rise, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, thickens the animatronic pantheon, courting teens and the thirty something base. It books December, securing the winter cap.

Streamer Exclusives: Economy, maximum dread

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

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a tight space body horror vignette with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story featuring Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a smart play. No bloated canon. No brand fatigue. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Long Running Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

What to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

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

SVOD originals harden up
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Cinemas are a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Season Ahead: Autumn density and winter pivot

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The oncoming fear season: Sequels, filmmaker-first projects, plus A busy Calendar geared toward shocks

Dek: The emerging horror cycle lines up right away with a January pile-up, subsequently extends through summer, and far into the holiday frame, weaving series momentum, original angles, and calculated counter-scheduling. Studios and platforms are relying on efficient budgets, big-screen-first runs, and viral-minded pushes that elevate the slate’s entries into cross-demo moments.

How the genre looks for 2026

The field has proven to be the steady play in programming grids, a vertical that can lift when it clicks and still cushion the losses when it stumbles. After the 2023 year reminded buyers that efficiently budgeted scare machines can dominate the zeitgeist, the following year kept energy high with buzzy auteur projects and slow-burn breakouts. The upswing extended into the 2025 frame, where reboots and critical darlings highlighted there is space for several lanes, from brand follow-ups to one-and-done originals that travel well. The result for the 2026 slate is a schedule that feels more orchestrated than usual across the field, with clear date clusters, a mix of recognizable IP and untested plays, and a re-energized stance on exhibition windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium digital and subscription services.

Insiders argue the genre now slots in as a swing piece on the programming map. The genre can kick off on virtually any date, deliver a simple premise for promo reels and vertical videos, and exceed norms with demo groups that line up on advance nights and maintain momentum through the follow-up frame if the entry lands. Following a work stoppage lag, the 2026 configuration indicates confidence in that engine. The calendar gets underway with a busy January lineup, then taps spring and early summer for contrast, while keeping space for a fall corridor that stretches into late October and beyond. The grid also features the expanded integration of specialty distributors and streaming partners that can launch in limited release, spark evangelism, and move wide at the strategic time.

A companion trend is brand strategy across connected story worlds and legacy IP. Studio teams are not just pushing another installment. They are trying to present threaded continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a art treatment that indicates a new tone or a talent selection that links a next entry to a classic era. At the same time, the writer-directors behind the headline-grabbing originals are favoring physical effects work, special makeup and specific settings. That convergence produces the 2026 slate a vital pairing of comfort and shock, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount defines the early cadence with two centerpiece bets that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the center, positioning the film as both a baton pass and a heritage-centered relationship-driven entry. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the tonal posture points to a nostalgia-forward angle without recycling the last two entries’ sibling arc. A campaign is expected centered on iconic art, intro reveals, and a staggered trailer plan hitting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through 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 back together, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will emphasize. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will build general-audience talk through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format allowing quick redirects to whatever tops pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three unique bets. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is clean, sorrow-tinged, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man onboards an virtual partner that escalates into a murderous partner. The date locates it at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s marketing likely to revisit odd public stunts and micro spots that interlaces love and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a title reveal to become an teaser payoff closer to the debut look. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has navigate to this website defined before. Peele’s releases are set up as must-see filmmaker statements, with a opaque teaser and a next wave of trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The pre-Halloween slot allows Universal to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a visceral, practical-first style can feel elevated on a tight budget. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror blast that leans into offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio deploys two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, maintaining a evergreen supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is positioning as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both players and casuals. The fall slot hands Sony window to build campaign pieces around setting detail, and creature builds, elements that can drive premium format interest and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by immersive craft and linguistic texture, this time set against lycan legends. Focus’s team has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is strong.

How the platforms plan to play it

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s releases flow to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a cadence that fortifies both week-one demand and subscriber lifts in the after-window. Prime Video stitches together library titles with global originals and select theatrical runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in catalog engagement, using curated hubs, seasonal hubs, and programmed rows to sustain interest on lifetime take. Netflix plays opportunist about in-house releases and festival acquisitions, locking in horror entries closer to drop and positioning as event drops releases with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a dual-phase of selective theatrical runs and accelerated platforming that translates talk to trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a selective basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to purchase select projects with top-tier auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

Indie and specialty outlook

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 slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the October weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, guiding the film through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday slot to widen. That positioning has delivered for elevated genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a selection 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 debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using small theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Legacy titles versus originals

By weight, 2026 tips toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate fan equity. The watch-out, as ever, is overexposure. The workable fix is to market each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is underscoring relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-inflected take from a fresh helmer. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the assembly is assuring enough to drive advance ticketing and advance-audience nights.

Recent comps make sense of the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that observed windows did not obstruct a same-day experiment from paying off when the brand was compelling. In 2024, director-craft horror surged in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they rotate perspective and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds 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 shot consecutively, builds a path for marketing to thread films through cast and motif and to leave creative active without doldrums.

Technique and craft currents

The craft rooms behind the year’s horror foreshadow a continued bias toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that emphasizes tone and tension rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft profiles and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a tease that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and drives shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta pivot that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature design and production design, which play well in convention floor stunts and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel key. Look for trailers that underscore disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that explode in larger rooms.

Calendar cadence

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. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a foggy reset amid heavier IP. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the spread of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Q1 into Q2 prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now sustains 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 spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a pre-October slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited disclosures that lean on concept not plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. 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, staging carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and holiday gift-card burn.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s machine mate escalates into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss try to survive on a cut-off island as the hierarchy swivels and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to menace, based on Cronin’s in-camera craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting piece that leverages the chill of a child’s mercurial senses. Rating: TBA. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-financed and marquee-led eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A satirical comeback that satirizes of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fixations. Rating: rating forthcoming. 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 flares, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new family bound to lingering terrors. Rating: pending. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A new start designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on pure survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: undetermined. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: to be announced. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and primal menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why this year, why now

Three workable forces define this lineup. First, production that eased or migrated in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage turnkey scare beats from test screenings, managed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can control a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will coexist across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of 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 fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where lower and mid-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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects 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 shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, tight deployments, 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 dimensionality, 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

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand gravity where needed, 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.