Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primeval horror, a nerve shredding chiller, launching October 2025 across major platforms

One frightening mystic terror film from creator / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an age-old entity when unknowns become puppets in a dark ordeal. Airings begin this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking depiction of overcoming and primordial malevolence that will reshape horror this autumn. Brought to life by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and shadowy motion picture follows five characters who wake up sealed in a wilderness-bound cottage under the oppressive control of Kyra, a central character controlled by a biblical-era Old Testament spirit. Brace yourself to be gripped by a cinematic venture that integrates gut-punch terror with ancient myths, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a recurring pillar in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is redefined when the dark entities no longer appear from a different plane, but rather from their psyche. This suggests the haunting aspect of the protagonists. The result is a edge-of-seat mind game where the suspense becomes a unyielding struggle between virtue and vice.


In a unforgiving no-man's-land, five souls find themselves trapped under the malevolent control and grasp of a uncanny spirit. As the team becomes submissive to deny her control, left alone and stalked by presences beyond reason, they are obligated to battle their worst nightmares while the hours without pause counts down toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia amplifies and teams crack, pushing each soul to contemplate their values and the structure of self-determination itself. The risk rise with every fleeting time, delivering a frightening tale that connects demonic fright with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to tap into instinctual horror, an entity from ancient eras, manifesting in emotional vulnerability, and examining a curse that forces self-examination when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra needed manifesting something far beyond human desperation. She is unseeing until the haunting manifests, and that transformation is emotionally raw because it is so deep.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for home viewing beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—making sure viewers everywhere can get immersed in this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its intro video, which has collected over notable views.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, extending the thrill to global fright lovers.


Be sure to catch this mind-warping voyage through terror. Join *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to explore these chilling revelations about the mind.


For exclusive trailers, director cuts, and press updates from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursed across online outlets and visit our horror hub.





U.S. horror’s major pivot: the 2025 cycle stateside slate fuses ancient-possession motifs, festival-born jolts, stacked beside legacy-brand quakes

Ranging from grit-forward survival fare suffused with biblical myth and including brand-name continuations together with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 appears poised to be the most variegated together with tactically planned year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. the big studios set cornerstones with franchise anchors, at the same time OTT services stack the fall with new voices as well as mythic dread. At the same time, the art-house flank is riding the backdraft of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the other windows are mapped with care. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, though in this cycle, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are methodical, which means 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

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

The majors are assertive. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s schedule begins the calendar with a marquee bet: a reimagined Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, inside today’s landscape. Under director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. Slated for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Guided by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

When summer fades, the WB camp rolls out the capstone within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. While the template is known, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re engages, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: throwback unease, trauma centered writing, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The stakes escalate here, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The follow up digs further into canon, stretches the animatronic parade, reaching teens and game grownups. It hits in December, pinning the winter close.

SVOD Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a room scale body horror descent including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is a calculated bet. No heavy handed lore. No canon weight. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

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

Legacy IP: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

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

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, guided by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Outlook: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

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 will grind for attention. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The next scare lineup: entries, new stories, alongside A brimming Calendar calibrated for nightmares

Dek The new horror cycle clusters immediately with a January crush, from there stretches through the warm months, and pushing into the holiday frame, marrying IP strength, novel approaches, and well-timed counterweight. Distributors with platforms are focusing on right-sized spends, theatrical exclusivity first, and shareable marketing that turn these releases into culture-wide discussion.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The horror marketplace has solidified as the most reliable move in distribution calendars, a pillar that can spike when it hits and still cushion the downside when it underperforms. After the 2023 year showed top brass that responsibly budgeted chillers can dominate pop culture, the following year kept the drumbeat going with signature-voice projects and sleeper breakouts. The head of steam extended into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and awards-minded projects demonstrated there is demand for a spectrum, from franchise continuations to director-led originals that resonate abroad. The takeaway for 2026 is a slate that reads highly synchronized across the field, with clear date clusters, a equilibrium of marquee IP and fresh ideas, and a renewed strategy on big-screen windows that drive downstream revenue on PVOD and subscription services.

Planners observe the horror lane now functions as a utility player on the schedule. Horror can arrive on almost any weekend, deliver a tight logline for creative and UGC-friendly snippets, and outpace with ticket buyers that respond on early shows and return through the follow-up frame if the picture pays off. Following a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration underscores assurance in that setup. The year begins with a front-loaded January stretch, then uses spring and early summer for balance, while reserving space for a September to October window that extends to the Halloween frame and afterwards. The map also includes the deeper integration of arthouse labels and digital platforms that can build gradually, generate chatter, and expand at the precise moment.

A further high-level trend is IP cultivation across interlocking continuities and storied titles. Major shops are not just turning out another follow-up. They are setting up continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a title design that signals a reframed mood or a casting pivot that binds a new installment to a foundational era. At the very same time, the creative leads behind the most watched originals are returning to hands-on technique, special makeup and site-specific worlds. That blend offers the 2026 slate a robust balance of recognition and shock, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount leads early with two marquee entries that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the center, angling it as both a succession moment and a classic-mode character-centered film. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the story approach telegraphs a fan-service aware bent without rehashing the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Watch for a push centered on franchise iconography, initial cast looks, and a rollout cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reawakens 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 as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will play up. As a summer alternative, this one will seek four-quadrant chatter through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format allowing quick turns to whatever leads the discourse that spring.

Universal has three defined lanes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is elegant, sorrow-tinged, and logline-clear: a grieving man adopts an artificial companion that mutates into a harmful mate. The date locates it at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s campaign likely to replay strange in-person beats and brief clips that mixes intimacy and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a public title to become an earned moment closer to the first look. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s work are branded as filmmaker events, with a teaser that holds back and a second trailer wave that shape mood without giving away the concept. The pre-Halloween slot gives the studio room to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a gnarly, in-camera leaning approach can feel prestige on a controlled budget. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror rush that spotlights global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio launches two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, extending a trusty supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is billing as a clean-slate approach 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 core fans and new audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build artifacts around environmental design, and creature builds, elements that can accelerate premium screens and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by minute detail and period speech, this time steeped in lycan lore. The specialty arm has already set the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is favorable.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Digital strategies for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s slate head to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a tiered path that expands both opening-weekend urgency and sub growth in the tail. Prime Video blends acquired titles with worldwide buys and limited cinema engagements when the data points to it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog engagement, using timely promos, Halloween hubs, and curated rows to stretch the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix plays opportunist about in-house releases and festival buys, timing horror entries tight to release and staging as events debuts with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a paired of targeted cinema placements and fast windowing that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown appetite to acquire select projects with recognized filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for platform stickiness when the genre conversation ramps.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 corridor with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is tight: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, elevated for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a big-screen first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late-season weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, shepherding the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then working the holiday corridor to increase reach. That positioning has paid off for arthouse horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception supports. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using precision theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subs.

Balance of brands and originals

By tilt, 2026 skews toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness brand equity. The caveat, as ever, is diminishing returns. The preferred tactic is to brand each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is elevating 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 French-tinted vision from a ascendant talent. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the configuration is steady enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Comparable trends from recent years clarify the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that preserved streaming windows did not stop a parallel release from working when the brand was sticky. In 2024, art-forward horror over-performed in premium large format. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they pivot perspective and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward 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 shot in tandem, provides the means for marketing to cross-link entries through cast and motif and to maintain a flow of assets without long gaps.

Craft and creative trends

The production chatter behind the 2026 slate foreshadow a continued move toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that leans on texture and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for textured sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in craft journalism and craft features before rolling out a atmospheric tease that elevates tone over story, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and gathers shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a self-aware reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature craft and set design, which work nicely for fan-con activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel essential. Look for trailers that spotlight disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in big rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is stacked. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month caps 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 variety of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth persists.

Q1 into Q2 tee up summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now can handle 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 spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

End of summer through fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a early fall window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a slow-reveal plan and limited information drops that prioritize concept over plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card redemption.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s digital partner turns into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography movies complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse 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 collide with a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 difficult boss claw to survive on a far-flung island as the hierarchy inverts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to nightmare, built on Cronin’s hands-on craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 family-home haunting chiller that pipes the unease through a preteen’s wavering POV. Rating: pending. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that riffs on contemporary horror memes and true-crime crazes. Rating: TBD. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new household caught in older hauntings. Rating: forthcoming. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A fresh restart designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: forthcoming. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: to be announced. Production: proceeding. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and elemental fear. Rating: TBA. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why this year, why now

Three practical forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or recalendared in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage bite-size scare clips from test screenings, metered scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will line up across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where value-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, disciplined footprints, 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 surface detail, sonics, and image-making that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand gravity where needed, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.