Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes antediluvian malevolence, a chilling horror feature, rolling out October 2025 across major platforms

This eerie spiritual thriller from storyteller / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an age-old entity when newcomers become tokens in a supernatural struggle. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving tale of perseverance and timeless dread that will alter the horror genre this ghoul season. Visualized by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and shadowy suspense flick follows five people who regain consciousness sealed in a cut-off shack under the dark power of Kyra, a central character possessed by a prehistoric holy text monster. Anticipate to be drawn in by a big screen adventure that melds bodily fright with spiritual backstory, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a historical concept in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is inverted when the beings no longer form from a different plane, but rather from their psyche. This represents the deepest shade of the protagonists. The result is a riveting identity crisis where the story becomes a merciless confrontation between right and wrong.


In a bleak woodland, five campers find themselves caught under the unholy sway and domination of a mysterious apparition. As the victims becomes submissive to fight her command, stranded and targeted by creatures unfathomable, they are pushed to stand before their core terrors while the time unforgivingly draws closer toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension rises and alliances erode, compelling each individual to challenge their essence and the foundation of decision-making itself. The danger rise with every fleeting time, delivering a cinematic nightmare that marries paranormal dread with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to draw upon deep fear, an spirit from prehistory, influencing inner turmoil, and exposing a curse that peels away humanity when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra needed manifesting something beyond human emotion. She is ignorant until the possession kicks in, and that pivot is emotionally raw because it is so unshielded.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for worldwide release beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—so that horror lovers globally can dive into this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its intro video, which has garnered over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, giving access to the movie to horror fans worldwide.


Do not miss this haunted path of possession. Confront *Young & Cursed* this launch day to confront these evil-rooted truths about inner darkness.


For featurettes, on-set glimpses, and promotions from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across Facebook and TikTok and visit our film’s homepage.





Modern horror’s inflection point: the 2025 cycle U.S. Slate fuses old-world possession, indie terrors, alongside IP aftershocks

Kicking off with endurance-driven terror suffused with old testament echoes and onward to returning series paired with incisive indie visions, 2025 is lining up as the most complex and tactically planned year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. studio majors hold down the year by way of signature titles, simultaneously platform operators prime the fall with new perspectives and legend-coded dread. Meanwhile, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is catching the carry of a banner 2024 fest year. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the other windows are mapped with care. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, distinctly in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are intentional, hence 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Premium dread reemerges

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 doubles down.

Universal lights the fuse with a confident swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, but a sharp contemporary setting. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. 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 conversion presented as stripped terror. Guided by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

When summer fades, Warner’s slate sets loose the finale of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Despite a known recipe, 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.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: 70s style chill, trauma driven plotting, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The stakes escalate here, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The next entry deepens the tale, thickens the animatronic pantheon, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It opens in December, cornering year end horror.

Digital Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a tight space body horror vignette starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. 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 threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is an astute call. No puffed out backstory. No franchise baggage. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

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 hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Series Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

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

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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.

Trend Lines

Mythic currents go mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror resurges
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Projection: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The approaching scare slate: brand plays, new stories, together with A busy Calendar geared toward jolts

Dek The incoming horror season crams right away with a January crush, subsequently rolls through the summer months, and carrying into the December corridor, weaving legacy muscle, new concepts, and smart calendar placement. Distributors with platforms are relying on mid-range economics, theatrical-first rollouts, and social-driven marketing that pivot these pictures into all-audience topics.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The horror marketplace has emerged as the dependable option in release plans, a segment that can break out when it lands and still insulate the downside when it misses. After the 2023 year signaled to studio brass that responsibly budgeted shockers can lead the discourse, the following year kept the drumbeat going with signature-voice projects and under-the-radar smashes. The run rolled into 2025, where legacy revivals and awards-minded projects demonstrated there is appetite for several lanes, from legacy continuations to fresh IP that scale internationally. The end result for 2026 is a roster that reads highly synchronized across companies, with mapped-out bands, a spread of familiar brands and new packages, and a revived eye on cinema windows that drive downstream revenue on PVOD and platforms.

Schedulers say the horror lane now operates like a flex slot on the programming map. Horror can launch on virtually any date, create a clear pitch for previews and short-form placements, and exceed norms with demo groups that lean in on previews Thursday and sustain through the second frame if the feature hits. Following a work stoppage lag, the 2026 setup indicates faith in that logic. The year launches with a thick January band, then targets spring into early summer for genre counterpoints, while leaving room for a October build that stretches into spooky season and into November. The schedule also features the increasing integration of specialty distributors and digital platforms that can nurture a platform play, fuel WOM, and grow at the inflection point.

A second macro trend is series management across ongoing universes and veteran brands. Distribution groups are not just rolling another entry. They are looking to package story carry-over with a premium feel, whether that is a title treatment that broadcasts a refreshed voice or a casting pivot that ties a upcoming film to a early run. At the same time, the auteurs behind the headline-grabbing originals are embracing in-camera technique, practical effects and place-driven backdrops. That pairing affords the 2026 slate a lively combination of brand comfort and discovery, which is why the genre exports well.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount plants an early flag with two centerpiece pushes that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the center, framing it as both a relay and a heritage-centered character-forward chapter. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the narrative stance announces a heritage-honoring approach without looping the last two entries’ sisters thread. Count on a promo wave centered on recognizable motifs, character spotlights, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

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 as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will emphasize. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will hunt mainstream recognition through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick pivots to whatever tops the conversation that spring.

Universal has three separate plays. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is clean, sorrow-tinged, and big-hook: a grieving man onboards an machine companion that evolves into a dangerous lover. The date slots it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to iterate on uncanny-valley stunts and bite-size content that fuses devotion and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood 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 preserves a official title to become an fan moment closer to the first look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele projects are branded as director events, with a minimalist tease and a follow-up trailer set that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The late-October frame allows Universal to maximize 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, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has established that a gritty, makeup-driven treatment can feel elevated on a middle budget. Frame it as a red-band summer horror shock that spotlights worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio lines up two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, preserving a dependable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is framing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both longtime followers and new audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build promo materials around lore, and monster craft, elements that can amplify premium format interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by careful craft and historical speech, this time engaging werewolf myth. The distributor has already locked the day for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is strong.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s horror titles window into copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a sequence that amplifies both premiere heat and sign-up spikes in the tail. Prime Video stitches together licensed titles with cross-border buys and limited runs in theaters when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in catalog discovery, using prominent placements, Halloween hubs, and editorial rows to lengthen the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix stays opportunistic about Netflix films and festival wins, confirming horror entries tight to release and staging as events premieres with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a paired of tailored theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that converts WOM to subscribers. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has indicated interest to acquire select projects with name filmmakers or star packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for platform stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 slate with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is clear: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, recalibrated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late-season weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the Christmas window to increase reach. That positioning has paid off for arthouse horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception drives. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using precision theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By weight, 2026 leans in favor of the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit cultural cachet. The concern, as ever, is brand wear. The preferred tactic is to frame each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is underscoring character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-flavored turn from a ascendant talent. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the package is familiar enough to drive advance ticketing and preview-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years illuminate the strategy. In 2023, a cinema-first model that maintained windows did not deter navigate here a day-date try from working when the brand was strong. In 2024, art-forward horror exceeded expectations in PLF. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they alter lens and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to bridge entries through character and theme and to continue assets in field without long breaks.

Creative tendencies and craft

The craft conversations behind the 2026 entries suggest a continued tilt toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that elevates aura and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in long-lead features and technical spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and drives shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta-horror reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature and environment design, which are ideal for fan-con activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel must-have. Look for trailers that emphasize precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that play in premium auditoriums.

From winter to holidays

January is full. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid big-brand pushes. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival check my blog thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the mix of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth carries.

Winter into spring seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

End of summer through fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited teasers that lean on concept not plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can play the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card spend.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. click to read more Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s intelligent companion mutates into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 struggle to survive on a remote island as the control dynamic tilts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to terror, founded on Cronin’s practical craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting chiller that routes the horror through a child’s volatile personal vantage. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-financed and celebrity-led eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that lampoons of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime manias. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites ignites, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a another family bound to older hauntings. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward true survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: TBD. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: closely held. Rating: to be announced. Production: ongoing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 language and primordial menace. Rating: pending. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three hands-on forces structure this lineup. First, production that slowed or shuffled in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and shorter timelines. 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 out-earned straight-to-streaming releases. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on repeatable beats from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Calendar math also matters. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, making room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will compete across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 disciplined-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first unexpected 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. 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.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing 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 somber, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, sonics, 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 Is Well Positioned

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand heft where it matters, original 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.