Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primeval horror, a pulse pounding shocker, debuting Oct 2025 on top streamers

One blood-curdling otherworldly suspense story from scriptwriter / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an timeless fear when newcomers become puppets in a devilish struggle. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a intense journey of living through and forgotten curse that will resculpt horror this Halloween season. Visualized by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and gothic cinema piece follows five unacquainted souls who arise stranded in a remote lodge under the malignant control of Kyra, a haunted figure possessed by a legendary scriptural evil. Steel yourself to be captivated by a immersive spectacle that intertwines deep-seated panic with folklore, premiering 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 recurring tradition in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is subverted when the beings no longer originate from external sources, but rather inside their minds. This embodies the grimmest shade of each of them. The result is a harrowing emotional conflict where the emotions becomes a soul-crushing clash between heaven and hell.


In a remote backcountry, five adults find themselves cornered under the sinister influence and overtake of a shadowy entity. As the ensemble becomes incapable to oppose her will, cut off and chased by beings mind-shattering, they are confronted to encounter their raw vulnerabilities while the doomsday meter coldly moves toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia rises and relationships dissolve, pushing each participant to examine their values and the notion of liberty itself. The hazard amplify with every instant, delivering a cinematic nightmare that integrates occult fear with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to uncover primitive panic, an evil before modern man, feeding on emotional vulnerability, and confronting a force that challenges autonomy when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra meant channeling something darker than pain. She is oblivious until the takeover begins, and that transition is eerie because it is so internal.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for digital release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—ensuring watchers in all regions can watch this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its first preview, which has been viewed over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, making the film to fans of fear everywhere.


Be sure to catch this gripping ride through nightmares. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to confront these chilling revelations about the mind.


For previews, behind-the-scenes content, and insider scoops directly from production, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Instagram and Twitter and visit our horror hub.





Modern horror’s tipping point: 2025 for genre fans U.S. release slate blends primeval-possession lore, indie terrors, in parallel with IP aftershocks

Moving from life-or-death fear drawn from scriptural legend and stretching into canon extensions paired with surgical indie voices, 2025 is emerging as the most complex along with tactically planned year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio powerhouses bookend the months with established lines, even as SVOD players load up the fall with first-wave breakthroughs and primordial unease. Meanwhile, the art-house flank is surfing the carry from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, and now, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are targeted, accordingly 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: The Return of Prestige Fear

The majors are assertive. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 deepens the push.

the Universal camp starts the year with a statement play: a reimagined Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, but a sharp contemporary setting. Directed by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. arriving mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Helmed by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

By late summer, Warner’s pipeline bows the concluding entry inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: retrograde shiver, trauma in the foreground, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time the stakes climb, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, builds out the animatronic fear crew, bridging teens and legacy players. It hits in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streamer Exclusives: Slim budgets, major punch

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a room scale body horror descent starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

In the mix sits Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Written and helmed 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. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as 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 clever angle. No heavy handed lore. No series drag. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

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

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

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, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Franchise Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, steered by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Trend Lines

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror comes roaring back
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The filler era wanes for platform horror. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Projection: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The oncoming spook Year Ahead: Sequels, non-franchise titles, paired with A hectic Calendar engineered for Scares

Dek: The emerging terror season stacks immediately with a January bottleneck, before it flows through June and July, and carrying into the December corridor, blending IP strength, creative pitches, and savvy counterweight. The big buyers and platforms are relying on efficient budgets, cinema-first plans, and social-fueled campaigns that convert the slate’s entries into culture-wide discussion.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the bankable option in annual schedules, a lane that can accelerate when it clicks and still cushion the floor when it fails to connect. After 2023 proved to decision-makers that mid-range genre plays can galvanize social chatter, 2024 sustained momentum with auteur-driven buzzy films and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam pushed into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and awards-minded projects made clear there is room for several lanes, from franchise continuations to original one-offs that travel well. The sum for the 2026 slate is a run that appears tightly organized across the industry, with planned clusters, a balance of marquee IP and new concepts, and a reinvigorated commitment on release windows that drive downstream revenue on premium video on demand and platforms.

Insiders argue the space now slots in as a fill-in ace on the release plan. Horror can open on open real estate, create a tight logline for spots and TikTok spots, and lead with demo groups that come out on early shows and maintain momentum through the next pass if the film satisfies. On the heels of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 mapping shows certainty in that model. The year opens with a weighty January band, then turns to spring and early summer for counterweight, while carving room for a October build that runs into the Halloween corridor and into November. The program also features the continuing integration of arthouse labels and subscription services that can grow from platform, build word of mouth, and expand at the timely point.

A further high-level trend is brand curation across linked properties and long-running brands. The studios are not just making another continuation. They are shaping as connection with a heightened moment, whether that is a art treatment that signals a re-angled tone or a talent selection that bridges a new entry to a heyday. At the parallel to that, the writer-directors behind the eagerly awaited originals are leaning into real-world builds, makeup and prosthetics and concrete locations. That pairing provides the 2026 slate a healthy mix of assurance and newness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount plants an early flag with two centerpiece entries that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, presenting it as both a cross-generational handoff and a foundation-forward character-focused installment. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the narrative stance announces a legacy-leaning campaign without covering again the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Look for a marketing run stacked with iconic art, early character teases, and a rollout cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will foreground. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will seek general-audience talk through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format inviting quick reframes to whatever shapes genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three specific lanes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is straightforward, loss-driven, and premise-first: a grieving man purchases an machine companion that mutates into a perilous partner. The date places it at the front of a my company competition-heavy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to echo uncanny-valley stunts and snackable content that threads love and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a final title to become an earned moment closer to the debut look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. His entries are set up as must-see filmmaker statements, with a hinting teaser and a later creative that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween runway gives the studio room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has shown that a gritty, practical-first mix can feel high-value on a tight budget. Expect a gore-forward summer horror blast that maximizes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio rolls out two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, preserving a steady supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is selling as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot allows Sony to build campaign pieces around universe detail, and practical creature work, elements that can accelerate premium format interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on immersive craft and period speech, this time focused on werewolf legend. The company has already set the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is enthusiastic.

Platform lanes and windowing

Digital strategies for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s genre entries shift to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a sequence that boosts both week-one demand and subscription bumps in the downstream. Prime Video combines licensed films with international acquisitions and small theatrical windows when the data supports it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library curation, using timely promos, spooky hubs, and editorial rows to lengthen the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps optionality about first-party entries and festival deals, confirming horror entries near their drops and staging as events launches with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a paired of tailored theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that converts WOM to subscribers. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a per-project basis. The platform has been willing to invest in select projects with acclaimed directors or celebrity-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for platform stickiness when the genre conversation heats up.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is curating a 2026 runway with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is direct: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, retooled for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the fall weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday corridor to scale. That positioning has helped for filmmaker-first horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception supports. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes have a peek here before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using small theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By count, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap cultural cachet. The potential drawback, as ever, is overexposure. The pragmatic answer is to pitch each entry as a new angle. Paramount is spotlighting character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-accented approach from a ascendant talent. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the package is grounded enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Three-year comps illuminate the approach. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that respected streaming windows did not preclude a dual release from winning when the brand was strong. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror surged in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they angle differently and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds 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 produced back-to-back, creates space for marketing to link the films through personae and themes and to leave creative active without long breaks.

Production craft signals

The craft rooms behind 2026 horror point to a continued lean toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that underscores unease and texture rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and era-true language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in trade spotlights and department features before rolling out a tease that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and drives shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta pivot that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster realization and design, which work nicely for fan conventions and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel compelling. Look for trailers that highlight razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that explode in larger rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is packed. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid macro-brand pushes. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the range of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth persists.

Late Q1 and spring tee up summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can hit 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.

Back half into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a late-September window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited plot reveals that favor idea over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card spend.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s synthetic partner turns into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss claw to survive on a remote island as the power balance flips and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. 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 under wraps in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to fear, based on Cronin’s tactile craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 family-home haunting premise that mediates the fear via a youngster’s uneven internal vantage. Rating: pending. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-built and star-fronted haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that pokes at hot-button genre motifs and true-crime obsessions. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 ignites, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further extends again, with a young family lashed to old terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A new start designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-core horror over action spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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 historical diction and primordial menace. Rating: TBD. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why this year, why now

Three workable forces shape this lineup. First, production that downshifted or shuffled in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous 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 releases. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on clippable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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. Expect a healthy 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, lean 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 grain, sound field, and imagery 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

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand equity where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, guard the secrets, and let the shocks sell the seats.