Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites age-old dread, a fear soaked horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on global platforms

An haunting metaphysical suspense film from cinematographer / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an primeval terror when unknowns become subjects in a cursed maze. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing chronicle of staying alive and timeless dread that will resculpt the fear genre this season. Created by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and emotionally thick suspense flick follows five people who arise locked in a isolated cabin under the malignant manipulation of Kyra, a central character dominated by a biblical-era sacred-era entity. Anticipate to be immersed by a cinematic display that melds raw fear with mythic lore, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a mainstay trope in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is redefined when the dark entities no longer originate from beyond, but rather from their psyche. This marks the malevolent aspect of every character. The result is a harrowing emotional conflict where the intensity becomes a ongoing conflict between purity and corruption.


In a barren backcountry, five youths find themselves cornered under the fiendish control and haunting of a enigmatic female presence. As the ensemble becomes helpless to combat her grasp, exiled and targeted by presences unimaginable, they are pushed to confront their raw vulnerabilities while the doomsday meter relentlessly moves toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension escalates and alliances collapse, pushing each survivor to reconsider their core and the notion of liberty itself. The tension mount with every heartbeat, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that intertwines demonic fright with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to tap into instinctual horror, an power that predates humanity, operating within fragile psyche, and exposing a will that peels away humanity when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra required summoning something outside normal anguish. She is unseeing until the evil takes hold, and that flip is shocking because it is so raw.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for streaming beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing subscribers around the globe can experience this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original promo, which has seen over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, making the film to global fright lovers.


Mark your calendar for this cinematic descent into hell. Experience *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to experience these dark realities about free will.


For previews, director cuts, and reveals from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursed across online outlets and visit the official website.





Contemporary horror’s pivotal crossroads: the 2025 season U.S. calendar Mixes myth-forward possession, independent shockers, together with legacy-brand quakes

From fight-to-live nightmare stories saturated with biblical myth all the way to brand-name continuations in concert with acutely observed indies, 2025 looks like horror’s most layered as well as tactically planned year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. top-tier distributors set cornerstones using marquee IP, while OTT services front-load the fall with emerging auteurs set against legend-coded dread. At the same time, independent banners is surfing the echoes of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the other windows are mapped with care. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, though in this cycle, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are precise, so 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Premium genre swings back

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s slate starts the year with a marquee bet: a contemporary Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in an immediate now. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. dated for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Led by Eli Craig featuring turns by 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. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

At summer’s close, the WB camp delivers the closing chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson resumes command, and those signature textures resurface: period tinged dread, trauma driven plotting, and a cold supernatural calculus. The stakes escalate here, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It arrives in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Originals: No Budget, No Problem

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a body horror duet starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using 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 explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Scripted and led 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 terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed 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. It looks like sharp programming. No swollen lore. No canon weight. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Long Running Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

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

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Signals and Trends

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror comes roaring back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

The Road Ahead: Fall stack and winter swing card

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The approaching fright calendar year ahead: follow-ups, non-franchise titles, alongside A packed Calendar aimed at frights

Dek The fresh scare slate crams in short order with a January crush, then carries through the mid-year, and straight through the holiday stretch, mixing legacy muscle, new voices, and savvy counterplay. Studios and streamers are committing to smart costs, box-office-first windows, and social-driven marketing that position genre releases into all-audience topics.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

This space has emerged as the consistent play in studio calendars, a space that can accelerate when it breaks through and still hedge the losses when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for strategy teams that modestly budgeted horror vehicles can own the discourse, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with auteur-driven buzzy films and quiet over-performers. The tailwind carried into the 2025 frame, where reboots and arthouse crossovers showed there is a market for many shades, from continued chapters to original one-offs that export nicely. The combined impact for 2026 is a roster that is strikingly coherent across studios, with planned clusters, a harmony of brand names and novel angles, and a renewed priority on exhibition windows that boost PVOD and platform value on PVOD and home platforms.

Planners observe the space now serves as a versatile piece on the rollout map. The genre can roll out on nearly any frame, deliver a tight logline for marketing and vertical videos, and lead with audiences that show up on preview nights and return through the week two if the film works. Emerging from a production delay era, the 2026 mapping shows certainty in that logic. The year opens with a loaded January band, then primes spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while holding room for a autumn stretch that stretches into All Hallows period and into post-Halloween. The arrangement also highlights the ongoing integration of indie distributors and SVOD players that can grow from platform, generate chatter, and roll out at the optimal moment.

A reinforcing pattern is brand management across linked properties and veteran brands. The studios are not just greenlighting another entry. They are shaping as threaded continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title design that signals a new tone or a talent selection that connects a incoming chapter to a original cycle. At the meanwhile, the creative leads behind the marquee originals are doubling down on in-camera technique, in-camera effects and vivid settings. That pairing gives the 2026 slate a vital pairing of trust and invention, which is how the genre sells abroad.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount defines the early cadence with two big-ticket plays that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the center, positioning the film as both a passing of the torch and a rootsy relationship-driven entry. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the authorial approach indicates a memory-charged approach without looping the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Look for a marketing run driven by heritage visuals, intro reveals, and a tease cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will spotlight. As a summer relief option, this one will drive large awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format enabling quick turns to whatever leads the discourse that spring.

Universal has three specific strategies. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is tight, soulful, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man activates an synthetic partner that shifts into a dangerous lover. The date locates it at the front of a packed window, with marketing at Universal likely to mirror uncanny-valley stunts and micro spots that hybridizes intimacy and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title drop to become an marketing beat closer to the initial tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele projects are marketed as creative events, with a teaser that holds back and a subsequent trailers that set the 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 steers, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has shown that a visceral, practical-first approach can feel cinematic on a middle budget. Expect a red-band summer horror charge that embraces global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio lines up two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, continuing a steady supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is describing as a clean-slate approach 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 well-defined brief to serve both devotees and general audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign creative around world-building, and monster aesthetics, elements that can increase premium format interest and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by careful craft and period speech, this time driven by werewolf stories. The specialty arm has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is positive.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s releases shift to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a stair-step that elevates both week-one demand and subscriber lifts in the later window. Prime Video stitches together acquired titles with worldwide entries and limited cinema engagements when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog engagement, using timely promos, spooky hubs, and handpicked rows to prolong the run on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps options open about Netflix films and festival grabs, finalizing horror entries near launch and positioning as event drops go-lives with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a two-step of precision releases and short jumps to platform that drives paid trials from buzz. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a per-project basis. The platform has indicated interest to purchase select projects with established auteurs or celebrity-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for platform stickiness when the genre conversation swells.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 arc with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is tight: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, retooled for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a big-screen first plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the October weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then deploying the Christmas corridor to move out. That positioning has served the company well for filmmaker-first horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception allows. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using boutique theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subs.

Franchises versus originals

By tilt, 2026 bends toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use brand equity. The watch-out, as ever, is audience fatigue. The operating solution is to position each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is elevating core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a Francophone tone from a buzzed-about director. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and visionary-led titles keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the team and cast is comforting enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and Thursday previews.

Comps from the last three years frame the strategy. In 2023, a theater-first model that preserved streaming windows did not hamper a hybrid test from hitting when the brand was compelling. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror hit big in PLF. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they angle differently and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, allows marketing to bridge entries through personae and themes and to continue assets in field without dead zones.

Behind-the-camera trends

The craft conversations behind this slate point to a continued tilt toward 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 complements the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that highlights atmosphere and fear rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and era-true language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in long-lead features and technical spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and sparks shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta inflection that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature design and production design, which work nicely for fan conventions and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that emphasize pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that land in big rooms.

Release calendar overview

January is loaded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid marquee brands. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the tonal variety creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late winter and spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

August into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a late-September window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited plot reveals that put concept first.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift card usage.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s virtual companion evolves into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy this page widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss try to survive on a lonely island as the pecking order upends and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to menace, rooted in Cronin’s hands-on craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting narrative that channels the fear through a little one’s unsteady POV. Rating: rating pending. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that teases contemporary horror memes and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 breaks out, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new family caught in past horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-core horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: pending. Production: moving forward. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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-precise speech and ancient menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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

Why the 2026 timing works

Three practical forces organize this lineup. First, production that eased or reshuffled in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming drops. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on turnkey scare beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Calendar math also matters. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can lead a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will compete across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 midrange-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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first shock 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. 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.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, optimized footprints, 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 surface detail, sound field, and visuals 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 Is Well Positioned

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is recognizable IP where it plays, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep the secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.