Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing October 2025 on premium platforms

One haunting otherworldly suspense film from author / director Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an timeless fear when drifters become instruments in a hellish struggle. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing portrayal of resilience and ancient evil that will redefine genre cinema this cool-weather season. Directed by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and eerie story follows five teens who emerge stuck in a wilderness-bound hideaway under the unfriendly command of Kyra, a haunted figure occupied by a timeless sacred-era entity. Prepare to be seized by a immersive presentation that melds deep-seated panic with legendary tales, premiering on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a historical element in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is turned on its head when the monsters no longer appear from external sources, but rather deep within. This represents the most primal version of the victims. The result is a gripping mind game where the suspense becomes a intense fight between righteousness and malevolence.


In a forsaken outland, five friends find themselves cornered under the unholy effect and overtake of a enigmatic apparition. As the protagonists becomes helpless to escape her manipulation, isolated and preyed upon by powers ungraspable, they are pushed to wrestle with their worst nightmares while the doomsday meter without pity pushes forward toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease mounts and relationships crack, demanding each individual to rethink their self and the principle of decision-making itself. The threat magnify with every tick, delivering a fear-soaked story that connects otherworldly suspense with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to explore deep fear, an curse that existed before mankind, channeling itself through human fragility, and exposing a spirit that challenges autonomy when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra needed manifesting something beyond human emotion. She is clueless until the control shifts, and that flip is shocking because it is so raw.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for audiences beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—providing users everywhere can enjoy this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first preview, which has pulled in over strong viewer count.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, making the film to lovers of terror across nations.


Mark your calendar for this visceral descent into darkness. Face *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to see these nightmarish insights about our species.


For featurettes, extra content, and announcements straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACFilm across Facebook and TikTok and visit our film’s homepage.





Contemporary horror’s Turning Point: 2025 domestic schedule Mixes myth-forward possession, festival-born jolts, stacked beside brand-name tremors

Kicking off with survival horror saturated with biblical myth through to brand-name continuations paired with acutely observed indies, 2025 looks like the richest combined with intentionally scheduled year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. leading studios are anchoring the year using marquee IP, simultaneously subscription platforms prime the fall with emerging auteurs alongside archetypal fear. At the same time, horror’s indie wing is riding the echoes from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, distinctly in 2025, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are precise, accordingly 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: The Return of Prestige Fear

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal camp opens the year with a marquee bet: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, inside today’s landscape. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. landing in mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. From director Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. releases the last chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson returns, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: throwback unease, trauma explicitly handled, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The ante is higher this round, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, speaking to teens and older millennials. It hits in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Offerings: Slim budgets, major punch

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a close quarters body horror study fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable led by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by 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 terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is a calculated bet. No overstuffed canon. No canon weight. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. 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. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Brands: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, led by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Trend Lines

Mythic lanes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror reemerges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

The Road Ahead: Fall stack and winter swing card

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The upcoming chiller slate: brand plays, universe starters, and also A loaded Calendar geared toward screams

Dek The arriving terror year clusters early with a January wave, subsequently spreads through June and July, and deep into the late-year period, marrying brand heft, original angles, and tactical calendar placement. The major players are focusing on cost discipline, big-screen-first runs, and buzz-forward plans that shape these pictures into national conversation.

How the genre looks for 2026

The genre has solidified as the predictable play in studio lineups, a category that can expand when it connects and still safeguard the losses when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year re-taught strategy teams that responsibly budgeted scare machines can shape cultural conversation, the following year carried the beat with filmmaker-forward plays and surprise hits. The head of steam extended into the 2025 frame, where reboots and arthouse crossovers showed there is demand for multiple flavors, from legacy continuations to original one-offs that translate worldwide. The result for the 2026 slate is a schedule that seems notably aligned across studios, with purposeful groupings, a pairing of known properties and untested plays, and a renewed commitment on theatrical windows that increase tail monetization on premium digital rental and streaming.

Insiders argue the genre now works like a plug-and-play option on the release plan. The genre can kick off on nearly any frame, offer a quick sell for marketing and UGC-friendly snippets, and lead with fans that lean in on Thursday previews and maintain momentum through the sophomore frame if the entry satisfies. On the heels of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 configuration underscores faith in that engine. The calendar rolls out with a weighty January lineup, then leans on spring and early summer for contrast, while holding room for a autumn push that connects to the Halloween corridor and into early November. The calendar also reflects the continuing integration of indie arms and home platforms that can platform a title, grow buzz, and widen at the right moment.

A parallel macro theme is brand curation across ongoing universes and established properties. The players are not just mounting another sequel. They are setting up threaded continuity with a specialness, whether that is a logo package that flags a refreshed voice or a lead change that anchors a fresh chapter to a classic era. At the concurrently, the directors behind the high-profile originals are doubling down on physical effects work, makeup and prosthetics and distinct locales. That combination provides the 2026 slate a vital pairing of familiarity and shock, which is how the films export.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount marks the early tempo with two high-profile releases that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, have a peek at these guys with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, framing it as both a baton pass and a back-to-basics character-forward chapter. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach suggests a memory-charged strategy without going over the last two entries’ family thread. Plan for a rollout driven by iconic art, early character teases, and a promo sequence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also relaunches 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 creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will lean on. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will go after broad awareness through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format enabling quick pivots to whatever dominates trend lines that spring.

Universal has three differentiated strategies. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is elegant, soulful, and easily pitched: a grieving man brings home an virtual partner that escalates into a harmful mate. The date locates it at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s marketing likely to echo eerie street stunts and bite-size content that fuses love and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a title drop to become an marketing beat closer to the first look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s releases are framed as filmmaker events, with a mystery-first teaser and a later creative that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The late-October frame lets the studio to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to 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 heads, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has made clear that a flesh-and-blood, on-set effects led approach can feel elevated on a tight budget. Expect a hard-R summer horror shot that centers worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio rolls out two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, sustaining a proven supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is calling a reimagined restart 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 clearer mandate to serve both loyalists and novices. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign pieces around universe detail, and creature work, elements that can stoke PLF interest and community activity.

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 carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on minute detail and dialect, this time engaging werewolf myth. The imprint has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Digital platform strategies

Windowing plans in 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre entries transition to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a ladder that enhances both FOMO and trial spikes in the back half. Prime Video stitches together third-party pickups with world buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in archive usage, using editorial spots, holiday hubs, and curated rows to lengthen the tail on overall cume. Netflix stays nimble about first-party entries and festival deals, timing horror entries toward the drop and turning into events releases with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a laddered of limited theatrical footprints and rapid platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has indicated interest to acquire select projects with name filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for platform stickiness when the genre conversation peaks.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 pipeline with two name-brand moves. 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 mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, updated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late-season weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the Christmas window to open out. That positioning has worked well for arthouse horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception prompts. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using limited runs to fuel evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Brands and originals

By share, the 2026 slate tips toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage name recognition. The question, as ever, is audience fatigue. The near-term solution is to pitch each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is leading with character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a European tilt from a rising filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles movies and auteur plays supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the packaging is assuring enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Three-year comps contextualize the playbook. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that held distribution windows did not obstruct a dual release from delivering when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror rose in premium screens. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they reorient and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters shot consecutively, builds a path for marketing to tie installments through character arcs and themes and to continue assets in field without long breaks.

How the look and feel evolve

The director conversations behind these films indicate a continued shift toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that underscores creep and texture rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in feature stories and craft spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric 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 tuned for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and earns shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta pivot that centers an original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature design and production design, which align with convention activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that foreground fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that land in premium houses.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is crowded. 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 brooding contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the tone spread lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth holds.

Winter into spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads 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 playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil follows September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a slow-reveal plan and limited information drops that trade in concept over detail.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can win the holiday when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card burn.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s virtual companion mutates into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

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 shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 scramble to survive on a far-flung island as the control dynamic inverts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to fear, founded on Cronin’s hands-on craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting chiller that frames the panic through a preteen’s uncertain POV. Rating: to be announced. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that needles hot-button genre motifs and true crime fervors. Rating: pending. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites bursts, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new clan linked to past horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: underway. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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: awaiting classification. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 lands now

Three workable forces inform this lineup. First, production that eased or rearranged in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming placements. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage clippable moments from test screenings, managed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Calendar math also matters. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will jostle across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 low-to-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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first quiet 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. 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, 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 seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, acoustics, 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 Promising 2026

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand heft where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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, deliver taut trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the shudders sell the seats.