Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primordial evil, a nerve shredding chiller, launching October 2025 on major platforms

This haunting spectral nightmare movie from screenwriter / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an archaic fear when unfamiliar people become pawns in a diabolical ritual. Hitting screens on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing tale of endurance and age-old darkness that will revolutionize the horror genre this October. Brought to life by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and emotionally thick feature follows five unknowns who arise confined in a secluded shelter under the dark power of Kyra, a troubled woman overtaken by a prehistoric holy text monster. Be prepared to be shaken by a motion picture event that weaves together gut-punch terror with ancestral stories, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a historical narrative in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is flipped when the forces no longer emerge outside the characters, but rather from their psyche. This marks the most sinister shade of each of them. The result is a edge-of-seat internal warfare where the events becomes a brutal face-off between innocence and sin.


In a bleak no-man's-land, five campers find themselves cornered under the evil influence and control of a unknown character. As the team becomes submissive to oppose her dominion, abandoned and stalked by evils unimaginable, they are pushed to encounter their deepest fears while the clock relentlessly moves toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease grows and ties collapse, coercing each soul to doubt their self and the notion of decision-making itself. The consequences escalate with every short lapse, delivering a fear-soaked story that merges ghostly evil with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to explore primal fear, an power that existed before mankind, channeling itself through emotional fractures, and navigating a being that redefines identity when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra required summoning something rooted in terror. She is clueless until the entity awakens, and that pivot is gut-wrenching because it is so intimate.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for home viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—offering fans in all regions can face this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its first trailer, which has gathered over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, taking the terror to fans of fear everywhere.


Tune in for this visceral fall into madness. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to uncover these terrifying truths about our species.


For exclusive trailers, making-of footage, and promotions from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your favorite networks and visit the official digital haunt.





Today’s horror watershed moment: 2025 American release plan melds archetypal-possession themes, Indie Shockers, set against IP aftershocks

Running from life-or-death fear drawn from near-Eastern lore all the way to legacy revivals plus cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 looks like the richest in tandem with strategic year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio powerhouses hold down the year by way of signature titles, concurrently platform operators pack the fall with discovery plays paired with scriptural shivers. Across the art-house lane, horror’s indie wing is catching the afterglow from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. As Halloween stays the prime week, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, and in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are calculated, accordingly 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Premium genre swings back

The majors are assertive. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s distribution arm begins the calendar with a big gambit: a reconceived Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a sharp contemporary setting. From director Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. arriving mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Led by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

By late summer, Warner’s slate bows the concluding entry from its bankable horror series: 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 outline is tried, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re teams, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: old school creep, trauma as text, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This pass pushes higher, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, stretches the animatronic parade, speaking to teens and older millennials. It drops in December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Plays: Slim budgets, major punch

While theaters lean on names and sequels, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a sealed box body horror arc including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale with Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of 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. That is a savvy move. No overweight mythology. No IP hangover. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Brands: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, under Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Signals and Trends

Mythic dread mainstreams
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

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

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

What’s Next: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The next scare Year Ahead: returning titles, standalone ideas, and also A brimming Calendar engineered for shocks

Dek The arriving horror season clusters immediately with a January wave, thereafter rolls through the summer months, and running into the holiday stretch, weaving marquee clout, new concepts, and savvy calendar placement. Major distributors and platforms are betting on right-sized spends, theatrical-first rollouts, and shareable marketing that convert these offerings into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror momentum into 2026

Horror has established itself as the most reliable counterweight in annual schedules, a genre that can accelerate when it catches and still safeguard the floor when it stumbles. After 2023 reminded strategy teams that lean-budget fright engines can drive cultural conversation, the following year kept the drumbeat going with buzzy auteur projects and under-the-radar smashes. The carry rolled into 2025, where revivals and critical darlings showed there is demand for multiple flavors, from franchise continuations to original features that export nicely. The sum for the 2026 slate is a programming that seems notably aligned across the major shops, with clear date clusters, a balance of marquee IP and new concepts, and a reinvigorated priority on cinema windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium rental and SVOD.

Studio leaders note the category now acts as a flex slot on the release plan. Horror can launch on almost any weekend, yield a sharp concept for marketing and shorts, and overperform with audiences that appear on opening previews and stick through the week two if the feature hits. Following a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 plan reflects comfort in that model. The calendar rolls out with a crowded January lineup, then plants flags in spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while holding room for a late-year stretch that carries into All Hallows period and beyond. The grid also highlights the ongoing integration of arthouse labels and subscription services that can grow from platform, build word of mouth, and expand at the timely point.

A further high-level trend is IP cultivation across ongoing universes and established properties. The players are not just rolling another entry. They are seeking to position lineage with a premium feel, whether that is a title treatment that broadcasts a refreshed voice or a casting pivot that ties a upcoming film to a early run. At the same time, the visionaries behind the eagerly awaited originals are doubling down on real-world builds, physical gags and specific settings. That mix produces the 2026 slate a lively combination of brand comfort and novelty, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount plants an early flag with two marquee pushes that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the spine, angling it as both a passing of the torch and a back-to-basics character-driven entry. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a heritage-honoring strategy without recycling the last two entries’ sibling arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive stacked with signature symbols, character-first teases, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

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 set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will feature. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will chase four-quadrant chatter through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format permitting quick updates to whatever rules pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three separate entries. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is tidy, somber, and concept-forward: a grieving man purchases an machine companion that escalates into a dangerous lover. The date More about the author puts it at the front of a packed window, with marketing at Universal likely to mirror creepy live activations and bite-size content that fuses longing and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a branding reveal to become an earned moment closer to the early tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. The filmmaker’s films are presented as event films, with a opaque teaser and a follow-up trailer set that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot affords Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has established that a raw, physical-effects centered method can feel big on a controlled budget. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror shock that emphasizes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio sets two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, continuing a reliable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is calling a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both diehards and casuals. The fall slot gives Sony time to build campaign creative around narrative world, and practical creature work, elements that can boost premium booking interest and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on minute detail and dialect, this time set against lycan legends. Focus’s team has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Where the platforms fit in

Windowing plans in 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s genre entries land on copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a pacing that boosts both initial urgency and sub growth in the after-window. Prime Video stitches together third-party pickups with global originals and limited cinema engagements when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in library pulls, using prominent placements, spooky hubs, and staff picks to sustain interest on aggregate take. Netflix stays opportunistic about internal projects and festival snaps, scheduling horror entries near their drops and coalescing around rollouts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a dual-phase of selective theatrical runs and speedy platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a discrete basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to invest in select projects with accomplished filmmakers or star packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 track with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is uncomplicated: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, elevated 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. Cineverse has indicated a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then relying on the December frame to broaden. That positioning has served the company well for elevated genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception supports. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using limited theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their user base.

Known brands versus new stories

By number, 2026 tilts in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate brand equity. The concern, as ever, is overexposure. The go-to fix is to present each entry as a new angle. Paramount is emphasizing relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-tinted vision from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the cast-creatives package is known enough to spark pre-sales and early previews.

Recent-year comps outline the model. In 2023, a exclusive window model that respected streaming windows did not prevent a simultaneous release test from succeeding when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror punched above its weight in premium large format. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they reframe POV and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, gives leeway to marketing to bridge entries through character arcs and themes and to leave creative active without pause points.

Production craft signals

The production chatter behind this slate point to a continued preference for hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that foregrounds creep and texture rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in craft journalism and department features before rolling out a tone piece that withholds plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and sparks shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta refresh that centers its original star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature work and production design, which align with con floor moments and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel must-have. Look for trailers that spotlight fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that shine in top rooms.

Annual flow

January is packed. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a foggy reset amid marquee brands. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the tone spread carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Late Q1 and spring set up the summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces 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 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Back half into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a early fall window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a opaque tease strategy and limited information drops that elevate concept over story.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and card redemption.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s AI companion grows into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie 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 be swallowed by a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 unyielding boss work to survive on a desolate island as the control dynamic upends and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, see here 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to nightmare, anchored by Cronin’s material craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting premise that channels the fear through a youth’s unsteady subjective lens. Rating: rating pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-supported and A-list fronted ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that targets in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime buzz. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: cameras due to roll 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 flares, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further opens again, with a different family snared by old terrors. Rating: pending. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-first horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

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

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and bone-deep menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. 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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 lands now

Three hands-on forces drive this lineup. First, production that downshifted or shifted in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly 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 drops. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate meme-ready beats from test screenings, select scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can lead a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, 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 underdog chase 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 leverage those opportunities. 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 news 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, 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.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand gravity where needed, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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, craft precise trailers, lock the reveals, and let the screams sell the seats.