Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases antediluvian malevolence, a bone chilling horror feature, rolling out October 2025 across major platforms

One frightening metaphysical shockfest from screenwriter / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an forgotten evil when unfamiliar people become instruments in a cursed game. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving tale of resistance and forgotten curse that will remodel the fear genre this autumn. Produced by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and eerie story follows five young adults who suddenly rise caught in a wilderness-bound dwelling under the malevolent manipulation of Kyra, a tormented girl consumed by a two-thousand-year-old scriptural evil. Brace yourself to be enthralled by a immersive event that fuses visceral dread with timeless legends, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a long-standing narrative in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is flipped when the presences no longer descend from an outside force, but rather internally. This represents the deepest aspect of every character. The result is a enthralling mental war where the drama becomes a ongoing tug-of-war between light and darkness.


In a wilderness-stricken wild, five youths find themselves imprisoned under the ghastly grip and control of a obscure figure. As the companions becomes incapable to escape her dominion, abandoned and pursued by terrors unnamable, they are thrust to stand before their darkest emotions while the hours without pity draws closer toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension intensifies and links splinter, demanding each figure to reflect on their being and the principle of liberty itself. The danger climb with every instant, delivering a scare-fueled ride that weaves together supernatural terror with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to draw upon pure dread, an darkness from prehistory, channeling itself through inner turmoil, and questioning a being that redefines identity when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra asked for exploring something unfamiliar to reason. She is insensitive until the entity awakens, and that transition is eerie because it is so emotional.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for streaming beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—giving fans globally can enjoy this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its release of trailer #1, which has racked up over strong viewer count.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, making the film to a worldwide audience.


Make sure to see this heart-stopping journey into fear. Stream *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to confront these unholy truths about our species.


For featurettes, on-set glimpses, and updates from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursed across media channels and visit the official digital haunt.





Contemporary horror’s sea change: 2025 across markets U.S. lineup fuses Mythic Possession, art-house nightmares, in parallel with returning-series thunder

Beginning with endurance-driven terror drawn from near-Eastern lore and including returning series as well as acutely observed indies, 2025 is shaping up as the most variegated paired with intentionally scheduled year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. major banners lay down anchors with franchise anchors, while SVOD players stack the fall with unboxed visions and old-world menace. Across the art-house lane, independent banners is carried on the backdraft from a record 2024 festival run. As Halloween stays the prime week, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, yet in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are methodical, as a result 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige terror resurfaces

The majors are assertive. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal Pictures opens the year with a risk-forward move: a modernized Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Under director Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. dated for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Steered 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 festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

At summer’s close, the Warner Bros. banner unveils the final movement within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re engages, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: nostalgic menace, trauma as text, with spooky supernatural reasoning. Here the stakes rise, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The return delves further into myth, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It books December, securing the winter cap.

Streamer Exclusives: Small budgets, sharp fangs

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a body horror chamber piece fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative starring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

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

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and directed by 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. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. That is a savvy move. No overweight mythology. No canon weight. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Franchise Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, steered by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. 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.

Emerging Currents

Mythic currents go 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 goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror reemerges
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Projection: Fall pileup, winter curveball

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

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The forthcoming 2026 fright Year Ahead: follow-ups, original films, paired with A Crowded Calendar calibrated for shocks

Dek: The new scare year clusters immediately with a January cluster, thereafter extends through the mid-year, and carrying into the December corridor, combining name recognition, untold stories, and tactical counter-scheduling. Studios with streamers are prioritizing smart costs, box-office-first windows, and buzz-forward plans that position genre releases into culture-wide discussion.

The genre’s posture for 2026

This category has emerged as the dependable release in studio lineups, a pillar that can grow when it clicks and still buffer the risk when it does not. After 2023 re-taught buyers that modestly budgeted entries can drive social chatter, 2024 sustained momentum with visionary-driven titles and slow-burn breakouts. The head of steam pushed into 2025, where revived properties and filmmaker-prestige bets proved there is room for multiple flavors, from sequel tracks to non-IP projects that export nicely. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a calendar that looks unusually coordinated across players, with defined corridors, a equilibrium of familiar brands and fresh ideas, and a refocused commitment on release windows that drive downstream revenue on premium video on demand and SVOD.

Insiders argue the space now serves as a plug-and-play option on the grid. Horror can launch on nearly any frame, yield a quick sell for marketing and platform-native cuts, and punch above weight with viewers that turn out on advance nights and keep coming through the subsequent weekend if the entry works. On the heels of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 configuration shows belief in that setup. The year gets underway with a heavy January band, then exploits spring through early summer for counterweight, while clearing room for a fall run that extends to holiday-adjacent weekends and into early November. The map also spotlights the stronger partnership of specialized labels and streamers that can stage a platform run, stoke social talk, and grow at the sweet spot.

A reinforcing pattern is legacy care across interlocking continuities and legacy franchises. Big banners are not just producing another follow-up. They are trying to present ongoing narrative with a occasion, whether that is a graphic identity that telegraphs a re-angled tone or a lead change that anchors a next entry to a classic era. At the alongside this, the filmmakers behind the marquee originals are prioritizing on-set craft, physical gags and vivid settings. That blend delivers 2026 a strong blend of known notes and surprise, which is how the films export.

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

Paramount opens strong with two high-profile entries that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the core, signaling it as both a legacy handover and a classic-mode character-forward chapter. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative posture signals a memory-charged approach without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign anchored in legacy iconography, character previews, and a two-beat trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will lean on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will drive broad awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick redirects to whatever shapes the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three defined bets. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is tight, sorrow-tinged, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man adopts an artificial companion that evolves into a killer companion. The date places it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to iterate on creepy live activations and short-cut promos that threads romance and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a final title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first trailer. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s releases are set up as event films, with a mystery-first teaser and a subsequent trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The Halloween runway gives the studio room to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has proven that a flesh-and-blood, prosthetic-heavy approach can feel deluxe on a controlled budget. Expect a red-band summer horror surge that centers foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio rolls out two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, sustaining a evergreen supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch gestates. 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 reappears in what the studio is selling as a reset 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 mission to serve both diehards and curious audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build campaign pieces around narrative world, and monster aesthetics, elements that can fuel premium booking interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on obsessive craft and archaic language, this time set against lycan legends. The imprint has already set the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is strong.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Windowing plans in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s slate shift to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a structure that optimizes both debut momentum and viewer acquisition in the after-window. Prime Video interleaves licensed films with worldwide buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in archive usage, using featured rows, seasonal hubs, and staff picks to extend momentum on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps options open about own-slate titles and festival snaps, dating horror entries near launch and turning into events releases with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a laddered of precision theatrical plays and rapid platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a situational basis. The platform has indicated interest to purchase select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-driven packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly activity when the genre conversation ramps.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 runway with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is no-nonsense: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, elevated for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late stretch.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, curating the rollout through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday corridor to increase reach. That positioning has proved effective 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 generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception warrants. Expect 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 together, using small theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Franchises versus originals

By proportion, 2026 leans in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on household recognition. The watch-out, as ever, is diminishing returns. The practical approach is to pitch each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is underscoring relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a continental coloration from a rising filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the configuration is assuring enough to build pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Recent-year comps outline the approach. In 2023, a theater-first model that More about the author kept streaming intact did not prevent a parallel release from succeeding when the brand was big. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror punched above its weight in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they shift POV and stretch the story. 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 paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, creates space for marketing to link the films through character and theme and to hold creative in the market without dead zones.

Creative tendencies and craft

The production chatter behind the 2026 slate suggest a continued turn toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that spotlights unease and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft features before rolling out a tease that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta pivot that centers an original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature and environment design, which fit with convention activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel necessary. Look for trailers that underscore disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that explode in larger rooms.

Annual flow

January is jammed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid 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 thick, but the spread of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Early-year through spring set up the summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s 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 jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Shoulder season into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a bridge slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited previews that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and holiday gift-card burn.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s algorithmic partner escalates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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: Twin-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 encounter a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 tough boss struggle to survive on a uninhabited island as the pecking order reverses and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to menace, grounded in Cronin’s on-set craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting narrative that channels the fear through a youngster’s unreliable subjective lens. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult 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 comic send-up that teases current genre trends and true crime fixations. Rating: pending. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites detonates, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further opens again, with a young family bound to past horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A new start designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-first horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBA. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

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

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and elemental menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three practical forces drive this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or re-sequenced in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming drops. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on meme-ready beats from test screenings, precision scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will compete across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. 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 sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where lean-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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, 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 maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, sound field, and camera work 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 Looks Exciting

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is IP strength where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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 late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the chills sell the seats.