Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens ancient terror, a hair raising feature, launching October 2025 across major platforms

An haunting supernatural suspense story from dramatist / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an long-buried malevolence when outsiders become victims in a devilish conflict. Dropping October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing account of resistance and ancient evil that will reconstruct fear-driven cinema this ghoul season. Helmed by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and shadowy fearfest follows five lost souls who regain consciousness isolated in a unreachable wooden structure under the aggressive influence of Kyra, a mysterious girl haunted by a millennia-old holy text monster. Brace yourself to be drawn in by a visual venture that harmonizes soul-chilling terror with ancestral stories, debuting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a long-standing concept in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is subverted when the spirits no longer appear externally, but rather deep within. This embodies the grimmest side of these individuals. The result is a enthralling inner struggle where the drama becomes a ongoing fight between virtue and vice.


In a haunting natural abyss, five young people find themselves sealed under the ghastly influence and possession of a mysterious character. As the characters becomes unable to escape her manipulation, exiled and preyed upon by spirits ungraspable, they are made to deal with their raw vulnerabilities while the final hour unforgivingly strikes toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust swells and partnerships shatter, demanding each soul to reconsider their values and the idea of decision-making itself. The consequences magnify with every second, delivering a horror experience that blends otherworldly panic with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to uncover basic terror, an power from ancient eras, manifesting in our weaknesses, and wrestling with a being that peels away humanity when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra demanded embodying something rooted in terror. She is oblivious until the control shifts, and that metamorphosis is eerie because it is so deep.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be available for audiences beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—delivering subscribers globally can engage with this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its first trailer, which has racked up over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, spreading the horror to lovers of terror across nations.


Be sure to catch this heart-stopping descent into darkness. Explore *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to confront these unholy truths about the soul.


For film updates, filmmaker commentary, and news from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACFilm across your socials and visit youngandcursed.com.





Horror’s pivotal crossroads: 2025 across markets domestic schedule Mixes legend-infused possession, microbudget gut-punches, and series shake-ups

Running from life-or-death fear infused with near-Eastern lore and extending to brand-name continuations set beside sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is tracking to be the most stratified paired with intentionally scheduled year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. Top studios are anchoring the year with established lines, in parallel digital services flood the fall with unboxed visions as well as scriptural shivers. On the festival side, independent banners is catching the afterglow from a record 2024 festival run. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, notably this year, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are disciplined, thus 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s distribution arm lights the fuse with a marquee bet: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, but a sharp contemporary setting. Led by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. arriving mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Led by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s schedule sets loose the finale within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Even with a familiar chassis, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re engages, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: throwback unease, trauma explicitly handled, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This pass pushes higher, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The next entry deepens the tale, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It books December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Offerings: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

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

Then there is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting 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.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, 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 terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It looks like sharp programming. No overweight mythology. No continuity burden. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. 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 continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Brands: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, from Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror comes roaring back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

The Road Ahead: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. 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 2026 Horror cycle: follow-ups, filmmaker-first projects, plus A packed Calendar engineered for shocks

Dek: The new scare year clusters at the outset with a January cluster, following that rolls through summer, and continuing into the holidays, weaving name recognition, new voices, and well-timed counterweight. Studios with streamers are committing to efficient budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and short-form initiatives that convert genre titles into cross-demo moments.

How the genre looks for 2026

The field has grown into the consistent play in studio calendars, a segment that can expand when it hits and still cushion the exposure when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year demonstrated to decision-makers that modestly budgeted entries can shape pop culture, the following year carried the beat with auteur-driven buzzy films and slow-burn breakouts. The carry carried into 2025, where revivals and premium-leaning entries proved there is demand for multiple flavors, from legacy continuations to fresh IP that resonate abroad. The sum for the 2026 slate is a programming that reads highly synchronized across the market, with defined corridors, a harmony of recognizable IP and first-time concepts, and a revived stance on theatrical windows that fuel later windows on premium rental and subscription services.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now acts as a flex slot on the grid. The genre can bow on virtually any date, provide a quick sell for marketing and platform-native cuts, and punch above weight with moviegoers that appear on Thursday previews and keep coming through the second weekend if the release lands. Coming out of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 cadence underscores belief in that setup. The calendar gets underway with a stacked January stretch, then taps spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while saving space for a fall cadence that stretches into All Hallows period and into November. The schedule also features the expanded integration of specialized labels and platforms that can launch in limited release, stoke social talk, and grow at the right moment.

A parallel macro theme is IP cultivation across interlocking continuities and established properties. Big banners are not just pushing another entry. They are working to present threaded continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a title presentation that conveys a refreshed voice or a cast configuration that connects a fresh chapter to a classic era. At the meanwhile, the auteurs behind the high-profile originals are celebrating tactile craft, physical gags and location-forward worlds. That convergence yields 2026 a confident blend of known notes and surprise, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

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

Paramount defines the early cadence with two prominent titles that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the front, positioning the film as both a cross-generational handoff and a classic-mode character piece. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach hints at a heritage-honoring angle without replaying the last two entries’ family thread. The studio is likely to mount a drive built on recognizable motifs, character previews, and a tiered teaser plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also relaunches 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 in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will double down on. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will chase mainstream recognition through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick reframes to whatever rules genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three specific pushes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is clean, somber, and easily pitched: a grieving man implements an artificial companion that escalates into a killer companion. The date slots it at the front of a busy month, with the marketing arm likely to replay uncanny-valley stunts and short-form creative that interweaves affection and fear.

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 posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title drop to become an fan moment closer to the first trailer. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s pictures are positioned as creative events, with a mystery-first teaser and a second beat that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot gives Universal room to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has shown that a gritty, in-camera leaning strategy can feel prestige on a middle budget. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror charge that centers global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio launches two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, extending a dependable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is calling a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both devotees and first-timers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build campaign creative around narrative world, and monster craft, elements that can amplify large-format demand and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by immersive craft and language, this time exploring werewolf lore. The distributor has already set the date for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is strong.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on well-known grooves. The studio’s horror films land on copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a structure that amplifies both opening-weekend urgency and trial spikes in the late-window. Prime Video combines licensed films with cross-border buys and limited runs in theaters when the data points to it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library curation, using seasonal hubs, fright rows, and handpicked rows to sustain interest on 2026 genre cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about Netflix originals and festival deals, slotting horror entries with shorter lead times and framing as events premieres with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a laddered of precision releases and rapid platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, have a peek at this web-site before using horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has been willing to pick up select projects with established auteurs or name-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for sustained usage when the genre conversation surges.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 corridor 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 setup is uncomplicated: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, retooled for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the October weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, escorting the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday slot to broaden. That positioning has served the company well for arthouse horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception allows. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using select theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subs.

Balance of brands and originals

By count, the 2026 slate leans toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap name recognition. The potential drawback, as ever, is brand erosion. The preferred tactic is to brand each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is centering character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a Francophone tone from a fresh helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the cast-creatives package is grounded enough to drive advance ticketing and early previews.

Recent-year comps make sense of the model. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that preserved streaming windows did not block a day-date try from succeeding when the brand was potent. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror rose in premium large format. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they angle differently and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to relate entries through character web and themes and to keep assets in-market without hiatuses.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The shop talk behind the 2026 entries hint at a continued tilt toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that underscores grain and menace rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in craft profiles and artisan spotlights before rolling out a preview that withholds plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and spurs shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-referential reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on monster work and world-building, which align with expo activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that spotlight disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that work in PLF.

Release calendar overview

January is packed. 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 foggy reset amid headline IP. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the menu of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth endures.

Post-January through spring prepare summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows 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 lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a pre-October slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited asset reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor imp source has done this before, measured platforming, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, More about the author 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s digital partner becomes something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively 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 journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. 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 difficult boss push to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance upends and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to chill, built on Cronin’s practical effects and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting chiller that interrogates the dread of a child’s wobbly impressions. Rating: forthcoming. Production: fully shot. Positioning: major-studio and name-above-title eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A send-up revival that pokes at present-day genre chatter and true-crime manias. Rating: pending. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites spreads, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on location 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: unrevealed. Logline: The Further reopens, with a another family anchored to old terrors. Rating: pending. 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: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-driven horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: closely held. Rating: not yet rated. Production: ongoing. 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-specific language and elemental dread. Rating: forthcoming. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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

Why the moment is 2026

Three execution-level forces shape this lineup. First, production that stalled or reshuffled in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, precision scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, offering breathing room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will trade weekends across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, 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 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where lower and 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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo 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 austere, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance 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 welcome the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, acoustics, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand equity where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite 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, lock the reveals, and let the shudders sell the seats.