Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a nerve shredding chiller, premiering Oct 2025 on top streamers

One frightening occult horror tale from cinematographer / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an archaic horror when unrelated individuals become tools in a demonic ordeal. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching tale of endurance and mythic evil that will reimagine the horror genre this cool-weather season. Brought to life by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and emotionally thick fearfest follows five strangers who are stirred locked in a wooded shack under the malignant will of Kyra, a female presence controlled by a prehistoric biblical force. Steel yourself to be ensnared by a motion picture display that harmonizes raw fear 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.


Diabolic occupation has been a legendary fixture in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is flipped when the presences no longer come from a different plane, but rather from within. This depicts the most primal layer of the victims. The result is a gripping spiritual tug-of-war where the story becomes a merciless tug-of-war between good and evil.


In a wilderness-stricken wild, five adults find themselves caught under the dark influence and overtake of a elusive person. As the protagonists becomes helpless to oppose her manipulation, cut off and targeted by evils ungraspable, they are cornered to encounter their core terrors while the doomsday meter relentlessly pushes forward toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust deepens and relationships crack, pressuring each survivor to contemplate their being and the concept of autonomy itself. The hazard grow with every breath, delivering a scare-fueled ride that intertwines otherworldly panic with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to dig into primitive panic, an force from ancient eras, emerging via mental cracks, and questioning a curse that erodes the self when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra was centered on something beneath mortal despair. She is uninformed until the demon emerges, and that change is emotionally raw because it is so deep.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—giving households internationally can be part of this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its first trailer, which has garnered over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, delivering the story to scare fans abroad.


Do not miss this bone-rattling voyage through terror. Enter *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to dive into these terrifying truths about existence.


For cast commentary, set experiences, and insider scoops straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACMovie across media channels and visit youngandcursed.com.





U.S. horror’s decisive shift: the year 2025 U.S. calendar weaves archetypal-possession themes, signature indie scares, set against franchise surges

Running from life-or-death fear suffused with ancient scripture as well as legacy revivals set beside cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 appears poised to be the most variegated in tandem with strategic year in years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio powerhouses lock in tentpoles with franchise anchors, concurrently SVOD players flood the fall with debut heat paired with archetypal fear. Across the art-house lane, festival-forward creators is fueled by the uplift of a banner 2024 fest year. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the other windows are mapped with care. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, and in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are precise, which means 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: High-craft horror returns

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s pipeline begins the calendar with an audacious swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in an immediate now. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. Booked into mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. From director Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

At summer’s close, the Warner lot delivers the closing chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the tone that worked before is intact: period tinged dread, trauma in the foreground, plus otherworld rules that chill. This run ups the stakes, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, grows the animatronic horror lineup, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It bows in December, pinning the winter close.

Platform Plays: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also rising is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through 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 all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No heavy handed lore. No series drag. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Franchise Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, steered 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.

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

Signals and Trends

Myth turns mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror resurges
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Projection: Fall pileup, winter curveball

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

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 brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The approaching spook slate: brand plays, fresh concepts, alongside A packed Calendar engineered for Scares

Dek The upcoming scare year builds early with a January logjam, following that unfolds through summer corridors, and straight through the year-end corridor, balancing franchise firepower, new voices, and smart release strategy. Studios with streamers are committing to responsible budgets, box-office-first windows, and shareable marketing that frame the slate’s entries into cross-demo moments.

How the genre looks for 2026

This category has proven to be the sturdy swing in distribution calendars, a vertical that can spike when it clicks and still safeguard the losses when it under-delivers. After 2023 reminded executives that modestly budgeted entries can drive pop culture, the following year carried the beat with visionary-driven titles and under-the-radar smashes. The carry fed into 2025, where legacy revivals and premium-leaning entries showed there is a lane for a variety of tones, from legacy continuations to director-led originals that perform internationally. The end result for the 2026 slate is a lineup that feels more orchestrated than usual across players, with planned clusters, a balance of familiar brands and novel angles, and a sharpened strategy on big-screen windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium home window and OTT platforms.

Distribution heads claim the category now works like a versatile piece on the programming map. Horror can roll out on open real estate, create a easy sell for marketing and platform-native cuts, and exceed norms with patrons that turn out on preview nights and maintain momentum through the sophomore frame if the title lands. Emerging from a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 plan reflects certainty in that engine. The slate commences with a thick January corridor, then exploits spring through early summer for contrast, while leaving room for a October build that connects to late October and past Halloween. The calendar also features the increasing integration of specialty distributors and SVOD players that can build gradually, ignite recommendations, and expand at the timely point.

A further high-level trend is series management across brand ecosystems and legacy IP. The studios are not just producing another installment. They are moving to present brand continuity with a occasion, whether that is a art treatment that broadcasts a re-angled tone or a casting choice that ties a latest entry to a vintage era. At the alongside this, the creative leads behind the most watched originals are celebrating material texture, makeup and prosthetics and concrete locations. That mix produces 2026 a smart balance of recognition and freshness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount establishes early momentum with two high-profile bets that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, steering it as both a passing of the torch and a back-to-basics character-centered film. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the artistic posture signals a nostalgia-forward mode without looping the last two entries’ sisters thread. Plan for a rollout anchored in legacy iconography, character previews, and a tiered teaser plan arriving in 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 as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will stress. As a summer alternative, this one will go after large awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format permitting quick redirects to whatever dominates the discourse that spring.

Universal has three differentiated releases. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe my review here from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is clean, grief-rooted, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man implements an algorithmic mate that grows into a fatal companion. The date positions it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s team likely to reprise uncanny-valley stunts and short reels that mixes companionship and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a final title to become an PR pop closer to the initial tease. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. His entries are framed as event films, with a teaser that reveals little and a second beat that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The Halloween runway affords Universal to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has shown that a gritty, practical-first approach can feel cinematic on a middle budget. Frame it as a grime-caked summer horror jolt that maximizes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio books two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, keeping a trusty supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is framing as a ground-zero restart 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 sharper mandate to serve both franchise faithful and new audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build promo materials around mythos, and monster design, elements that can lift premium screens and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by obsessive craft and textual fidelity, this time exploring werewolf lore. The company has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is strong.

Platform lanes and windowing

Digital strategies for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal titles head to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a cadence that boosts both initial urgency and platform bumps in the later phase. Prime Video blends catalogue additions 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, spooky hubs, and curated strips to stretch the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix stays opportunistic about first-party entries and festival buys, slotting horror entries near their drops and eventizing drops with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a laddered of tailored theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a situational basis. The platform has indicated interest to pick up select projects with top-tier auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for retention when the genre conversation builds.

Boutique label prospects

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 proposition is uncomplicated: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, retooled for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a theatrical-first plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the back half.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, managing the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then working the holiday slot to broaden. That positioning has served the company well for craft-driven 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 generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception justifies. Keep an eye on 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 targeted theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By tilt, the 2026 slate bends toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate brand equity. The concern, as ever, is brand wear. The practical approach is to package each entry as a fresh his comment is here tone. Paramount is leading with character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating news a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-tinted vision from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and director-driven titles deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the deal build is steady enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Rolling three-year comps help explain the playbook. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that kept streaming intact did not stop a hybrid test from winning when the brand was trusted. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror hit big in premium formats. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they angle differently and increase ambition. 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 two-film strategy, with chapters lensed back-to-back, creates space for marketing to tie installments through relationships and themes and to continue assets in field without long gaps.

Production craft signals

The craft conversations behind the 2026 slate telegraph a continued tilt toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that leans on texture and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and era-true language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in deep-dive features and guild coverage before rolling out a initial teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for red-band excess, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta recalibration that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster work and world-building, which work nicely for convention activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel necessary. Look for trailers that elevate disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that play in premium auditoriums.

From winter to holidays

January is full. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid marquee brands. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the range of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth sticks.

February through May prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late summer into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a opaque tease strategy and limited asset reveals that center concept over reveals.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift card usage.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s digital partner unfolds into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: aura-driven 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 hard-edged boss fight to survive on a lonely island as the hierarchy upends and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to dread, driven by Cronin’s in-camera craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting story that toys with the fear of a child’s wobbly perspective. Rating: to be announced. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A genre lampoon that needles present-day genre chatter and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBD. Production: filming slated 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 bursts, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new clan entangled with residual nightmares. Rating: not yet rated. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A restart designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: pending. Production: active. 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 antique diction and ancient menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three grounded forces structure this lineup. First, production that decelerated or migrated in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming placements. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest bite-size scare clips from test screenings, metered scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

A fourth factor is programming math. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will coexist across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, 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 pace and range. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, soundscape, 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.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts rotate. 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 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, cut sharp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the shudders sell the seats.