Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes primeval malevolence, a fear soaked thriller, bowing October 2025 across top streamers

One spine-tingling metaphysical suspense story from storyteller / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an ancient curse when strangers become vehicles in a cursed ceremony. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish portrayal of resistance and timeless dread that will reimagine the horror genre this October. Crafted by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and claustrophobic suspense flick follows five strangers who emerge trapped in a remote wooden structure under the oppressive manipulation of Kyra, a haunted figure inhabited by a prehistoric religious nightmare. Ready yourself to be seized by a big screen journey that integrates intense horror with biblical origins, streaming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demonic control has been a iconic pillar in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is flipped when the beings no longer come beyond the self, but rather from deep inside. This echoes the most hidden side of every character. The result is a edge-of-seat inner struggle where the events becomes a constant tug-of-war between moral forces.


In a desolate backcountry, five teens find themselves caught under the possessive force and overtake of a secretive entity. As the companions becomes incapacitated to reject her manipulation, abandoned and chased by creatures unfathomable, they are cornered to reckon with their emotional phantoms while the time coldly ticks toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease grows and links shatter, forcing each member to doubt their personhood and the foundation of conscious will itself. The stakes accelerate with every tick, delivering a cinematic nightmare that connects otherworldly panic with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to uncover pure dread, an darkness rooted in antiquity, emerging via inner turmoil, and testing a being that peels away humanity when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra meant channeling something beyond human emotion. She is unaware until the evil takes hold, and that transformation is gut-wrenching because it is so raw.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for audiences beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing audiences in all regions can watch this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its first trailer, which has racked up over strong viewer count.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, delivering the story to international horror buffs.


Avoid skipping this heart-stopping descent into hell. Watch *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to confront these unholy truths about human nature.


For featurettes, on-set glimpses, and promotions from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursed across platforms and visit the film’s website.





U.S. horror’s sea change: the year 2025 U.S. Slate braids together old-world possession, independent shockers, and Franchise Rumbles

Kicking off with pressure-cooker survival tales steeped in legendary theology and stretching into canon extensions set beside keen independent perspectives, 2025 is shaping up as the genre’s most multifaceted paired with blueprinted year in ten years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. Major studios bookend the months using marquee IP, even as digital services saturate the fall with unboxed visions paired with scriptural shivers. On another front, independent banners is catching the uplift of a banner 2024 fest year. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A fat September–October lane is customary now, notably this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are surgical, which means 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: The Return of Prestige Fear

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal Pictures begins the calendar with a big gambit: a reimagined Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in a clear present-tense world. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. timed for 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.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Directed by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer wanes, Warner Bros. rolls out the capstone inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Though the outline is tried, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re engages, and the tone that worked before is intact: retrograde shiver, trauma in the foreground, and eerie supernatural logic. The ante is higher this round, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, thickens the animatronic pantheon, reaching teens and game grownups. It drops in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Firsts: Economy, maximum dread

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a room scale body horror descent starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It reads as sharp positioning. No bloated mythology. No continuity burden. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

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

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Series Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

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.

Dials to Watch

Old myth goes broad
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror retakes ground
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Forecast: Autumn density and winter pivot

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The 2026 Horror season: entries, filmmaker-first projects, And A loaded Calendar calibrated for screams

Dek: The fresh horror calendar crams early with a January glut, from there extends through the warm months, and well into the winter holidays, weaving brand heft, novel approaches, and shrewd calendar placement. The big buyers and platforms are embracing responsible budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and social-driven marketing that pivot genre releases into water-cooler talk.

The genre’s posture for 2026

This space has proven to be the predictable counterweight in studio slates, a pillar that can break out when it clicks and still insulate the drawdown when it falls short. After the 2023 year reminded decision-makers that lean-budget fright engines can shape pop culture, the following year carried the beat with signature-voice projects and sleeper breakouts. The run translated to 2025, where re-entries and arthouse crossovers signaled there is space for many shades, from franchise continuations to director-led originals that carry overseas. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a calendar that presents tight coordination across studios, with strategic blocks, a balance of known properties and new packages, and a tightened stance on theatrical windows that fuel later windows on premium home window and digital services.

Planners observe the genre now behaves like a plug-and-play option on the slate. Horror can kick off on almost any weekend, provide a sharp concept for ad units and platform-native cuts, and exceed norms with patrons that turn out on preview nights and continue through the week two if the picture pays off. Exiting a production delay era, the 2026 setup reflects comfort in that playbook. The calendar launches with a front-loaded January band, then targets spring into early summer for off-slot scheduling, while clearing room for a autumn stretch that stretches into the Halloween corridor and into post-Halloween. The program also spotlights the tightening integration of boutique distributors and home platforms that can platform a title, generate chatter, and expand at the optimal moment.

A second macro trend is IP stewardship across connected story worlds and legacy franchises. The players are not just mounting another return. They are shaping as brand continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a title presentation that announces a re-angled tone or a lead change that bridges a fresh chapter to a first wave. At the same time, the visionaries behind the most anticipated originals are prioritizing on-set craft, real effects and grounded locations. That fusion hands 2026 a lively combination of brand comfort and novelty, which is the formula for international play.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount establishes early momentum with two high-profile moves that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the spine, angling it as both a handoff and a back-to-basics character-centered film. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the creative posture telegraphs a legacy-leaning approach without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Count on a promo wave centered on classic imagery, first images of characters, and a trailer cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reignites 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 behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will feature. As a counterweight in summer, this one will build mass reach through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format supporting quick adjustments to whatever owns trend lines that spring.

Universal has three defined lanes. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is efficient, sorrow-tinged, and concept-forward: a grieving man adopts an digital partner that turns into a fatal companion. The date locates it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to mirror eerie street stunts and short-form creative that hybridizes romance and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a name unveil to become an fan moment closer to the teaser. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. His entries are sold as filmmaker events, with a teaser that reveals little and a next wave of trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The pre-Halloween slot lets the studio to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use 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 leads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has demonstrated that a flesh-and-blood, hands-on effects method can feel big on a moderate cost. Look for a gore-forward summer horror jolt that leans into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio places two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, maintaining a evergreen supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is billing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both loyalists and novices. The fall slot provides the studio time to build campaign creative around narrative world, and creature design, elements that can lift deluxe auditorium demand and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by immersive craft and linguistic texture, this time orbiting lycan myth. The label has already locked the day for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is warm.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform windowing in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre entries head to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a stair-step that fortifies both first-week urgency and sign-up spikes in the post-theatrical. Prime Video continues to mix licensed content with cross-border buys and short theatrical plays when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in library pulls, using seasonal hubs, holiday hubs, and handpicked rows to sustain interest on 2026 genre cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about first-party entries and festival grabs, timing horror entries near launch and elevating as drops releases with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a staged of targeted cinema placements and fast windowing that turns chatter to conversion. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a curated basis. The platform has shown a willingness to take on select projects with award winners or star packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for platform stickiness when the genre conversation swells.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 sequence with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is simple: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, reimagined for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the fall weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, shepherding the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday slot to increase reach. That positioning has paid off for arthouse horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception prompts. 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 together, using boutique theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Series vs standalone

By skew, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap name recognition. The question, as ever, is audience fatigue. The workable fix is to present each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is underscoring character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a European tilt from a emerging director. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and auteur plays supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the cast-creatives package is familiar enough to accelerate early sales and first-night audiences.

Comparable trends from recent years frame the template. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that observed windows did not foreclose a dual release from performing when the brand was big. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror over-performed in premium formats. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they pivot perspective and raise the stakes. 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 two-step approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to thread films through character spine and themes and to continue assets in field without extended gaps.

How the films are being made

The filmmaking conversations behind these films signal a continued turn toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that spotlights mood and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft coverage before rolling out a first look that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta recalibration that centers its original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature craft and set design, which fit with fan-con activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel must-have. Look for trailers that elevate fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that benefit on big speakers.

The schedule at a glance

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 quiet contrast amid bigger brand plays. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the palette of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Q1 into Q2 prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

August into fall leans franchise. 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 bridge slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited disclosures that stress concept over spoilers.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and holiday gift-card burn.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s artificial companion grows into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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

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 meet a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. 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 difficult boss struggle to survive on a cut-off island as the chain of command reverses and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to chill, built on Cronin’s hands-on craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting piece that twists the horror of a child’s wobbly senses. Rating: forthcoming. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-financed and marquee-led supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that riffs on current genre trends and true-crime manias. Rating: TBD. Production: filming slated 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 ignites, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a different family linked to residual nightmares. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A restart designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survivalist horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: pending. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: not yet rated. Production: ongoing. 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 elemental dread. Rating: not yet rated. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three practical forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or migrated in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming placements. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage shareable moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can control a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will trade weekends across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R More about the author 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where modest-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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two 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 wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, sound field, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand gravity where needed, filmmaker vision where it matters, 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the shocks sell the seats.