Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites age-old dread, a fear soaked thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on global platforms

An blood-curdling paranormal horror tale from creator / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an long-buried fear when unfamiliar people become tools in a demonic game. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving episode of endurance and ancient evil that will reshape terror storytelling this ghoul season. Produced by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and claustrophobic thriller follows five unacquainted souls who wake up confined in a wilderness-bound lodge under the unfriendly sway of Kyra, a female presence claimed by a legendary Old Testament spirit. Brace yourself to be absorbed by a audio-visual display that harmonizes instinctive fear with ancient myths, landing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a iconic pillar in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is subverted when the forces no longer form outside their bodies, but rather from their core. This represents the grimmest part of these individuals. The result is a gripping psychological battle where the plotline becomes a unyielding push-pull between righteousness and malevolence.


In a desolate no-man's-land, five characters find themselves marooned under the ghastly rule and curse of a shadowy female presence. As the victims becomes unable to withstand her control, cut off and chased by unknowns mind-shattering, they are cornered to wrestle with their darkest emotions while the clock unceasingly edges forward toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia mounts and relationships collapse, pressuring each cast member to question their personhood and the idea of self-determination itself. The consequences accelerate with every tick, delivering a fear-soaked story that merges otherworldly panic with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to uncover basic terror, an force from prehistory, working through mental cracks, and exposing a evil that tests the soul when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra asked for exploring something rooted in terror. She is blind until the control shifts, and that transformation is bone-chilling because it is so unshielded.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for horror fans beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing viewers across the world can experience this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its first preview, which has racked up over a viral response.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, making the film to fans of fear everywhere.


Do not miss this cinematic descent into hell. Experience *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to witness these terrifying truths about our species.


For behind-the-scenes access, production insights, and updates from behind the lens, follow @YACMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit the official digital haunt.





Current horror’s sea change: calendar year 2025 domestic schedule Mixes primeval-possession lore, signature indie scares, plus IP aftershocks

Across pressure-cooker survival tales rooted in primordial scripture and stretching into IP renewals set beside sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is tracking to be the most textured plus carefully orchestrated year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio powerhouses lock in tentpoles using marquee IP, as subscription platforms front-load the fall with emerging auteurs in concert with primordial unease. Meanwhile, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is riding the afterglow from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. As Halloween stays the prime week, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and now, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are intentional, so 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige terror resurfaces

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the base, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s pipeline starts the year with a risk-forward move: a reimagined Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, within a sleek contemporary canvas. From director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. set for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Directed by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer eases, the Warner lot unveils the final movement of its steadiest horror franchise: 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. Despite a known recipe, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Scott Derrickson is back, and the tone that worked before is intact: vintage toned fear, trauma driven plotting, with ghostly inner logic. The bar is raised this go, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, broadens the animatronic terror cast, reaching teens and game grownups. It posts in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Digital Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a tight space body horror vignette including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it looks like a certain fall stream.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable with Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Written 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 chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. 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 looks like sharp programming. No bloated mythology. No continuity burden. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Lines: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, led by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

What to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror ascends again
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Laurels convert to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Projection: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The next chiller lineup: continuations, fresh concepts, together with A busy Calendar optimized for shocks

Dek: The current scare cycle packs at the outset with a January pile-up, before it extends through the warm months, and pushing into the December corridor, mixing brand heft, new concepts, and tactical counterweight. Studios with streamers are betting on lean spends, theatrical leads, and shareable marketing that transform these films into all-audience topics.

How the genre looks for 2026

Horror filmmaking has become the dependable swing in release strategies, a pillar that can grow when it hits and still mitigate the floor when it doesn’t. After 2023 showed buyers that responsibly budgeted genre plays can drive the zeitgeist, 2024 extended the rally with festival-darling auteurs and word-of-mouth wins. The upswing translated to the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and filmmaker-prestige bets confirmed there is space for many shades, from continued chapters to fresh IP that scale internationally. The result for the 2026 slate is a roster that is strikingly coherent across studios, with obvious clusters, a blend of recognizable IP and first-time concepts, and a revived focus on theater exclusivity that power the aftermarket on paid VOD and OTT platforms.

Planners observe the horror lane now acts as a flex slot on the calendar. The genre can arrive on open real estate, provide a easy sell for creative and UGC-friendly snippets, and outpace with crowds that come out on Thursday nights and sustain through the second frame if the picture satisfies. In the wake of a production delay era, the 2026 mapping signals conviction in that setup. The calendar opens with a crowded January schedule, then uses spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while clearing room for a October build that runs into the Halloween corridor and past Halloween. The calendar also highlights the stronger partnership of specialized labels and SVOD players that can nurture a platform play, fuel WOM, and roll out at the right moment.

Another broad trend is IP stewardship across linked properties and established properties. The players are not just greenlighting another follow-up. They are trying to present ongoing narrative with a heightened moment, whether that is a art treatment that announces a recalibrated tone or a casting move that ties a next entry to a vintage era. At the simultaneously, the creative leads behind the most watched originals are returning to real-world builds, makeup and prosthetics and specific settings. That mix produces 2026 a solid mix of comfort and unexpected turns, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount marks the early tempo with two prominent releases that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the heart, signaling it as both a passing of the torch and a back-to-basics character-driven entry. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance conveys a classic-referencing framework without covering again the last two entries’ sisters thread. The studio is likely to mount a drive driven by iconic art, initial cast looks, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm timed to late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will feature. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will go after four-quadrant chatter through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format allowing quick updates to whatever leads trend lines that spring.

Universal has three discrete lanes. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is simple, melancholic, and commercial: a grieving man onboards an algorithmic mate that turns into a lethal partner. The date lines it up at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s promo team likely to reprise strange in-person beats and snackable content that blurs attachment and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as 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 branding reveal to become an fan moment closer to the initial tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold 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 excelled in before. His projects are framed as creative events, with a concept-forward tease and a second wave of trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The prime October weekend creates space for Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has long shown that a flesh-and-blood, physical-effects centered style can feel cinematic on a efficient spend. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror charge that pushes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio deploys two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, preserving a steady supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is presenting as a clean-slate approach 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 clearer mandate to serve both franchise faithful and novices. The fall slot allows Sony to build promo materials around mythos, and monster aesthetics, elements that can drive premium booking interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by obsessive craft and period speech, this time steeped in lycan lore. The imprint has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is supportive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform strategies for 2026 run on predictable routes. The studio’s horror films move to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a sequence that elevates both FOMO and platform bumps in the downstream. Prime Video stitches together catalogue additions with world buys and limited cinema engagements when the data signals it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in library pulls, using in-app campaigns, spooky hubs, and staff picks to increase tail value on 2026 genre cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about in-house releases and festival pickups, confirming horror entries near their drops and coalescing around go-lives with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a paired of tailored theatrical exposure and quick platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a curated basis. The platform has signaled readiness to buy select projects with award winners or name-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation spikes.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 lane 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 pitch is direct: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, reimagined for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a theatrical rollout for the title, an good sign for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday slot to move out. That positioning has been successful for prestige horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception justifies. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using limited theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subs.

Franchise entries versus originals

By share, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness brand equity. The risk, as ever, is brand erosion. The standing approach is to present each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is leading with character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a continental coloration from a hot helmer. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and director-first projects navigate to this website supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the packaging is anchored enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years illuminate the strategy. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that respected streaming windows did not deter a day-and-date experiment from hitting when the brand was compelling. In 2024, precision craft horror outperformed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they alter lens and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses 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 filmed in sequence, permits marketing to relate entries through cast and motif and to keep materials circulating without hiatuses.

Creative tendencies and craft

The creative meetings behind this year’s genre suggest a continued turn toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that leans on tone and tension rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft coverage before rolling out a tone piece that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and drives shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta pivot that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster work and world-building, which lend themselves to convention floor stunts and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel key. Look for trailers that spotlight pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that work in PLF.

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. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a foggy reset amid headline IP. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the tonal variety gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

February through May set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a bridge slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a slow-reveal plan and limited pre-release reveals that elevate concept over story.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and holiday card usage.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s digital partner evolves into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography 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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: mood-led 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 prickly boss work to survive on a isolated island as the power dynamic swivels and unease intensifies. 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 not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to fright, rooted in Cronin’s material craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. 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 premise that routes the horror through a minor’s shifting personal vantage. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A parody reboot that riffs on in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime manias. Rating: to be announced. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 international twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new household caught in older hauntings. Rating: undetermined. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A reboot designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on true survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: undetermined. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBA. Production: advancing. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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 era-faithful speech and elemental fear. Rating: undetermined. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a big-screen run before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three execution-level forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that stalled or migrated in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming drops. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on social-ready stingers from test screenings, precision scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will coexist across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

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

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

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, 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 scale over time, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, acoustics, and image-making that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand power where it counts, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep secrets, and let the gasps sell the seats.