Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons ancient dread, a spine tingling horror feature, rolling out October 2025 across leading streamers

A hair-raising occult horror tale from author / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an archaic terror when foreigners become victims in a satanic trial. Releasing on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking story of survival and ancient evil that will reshape fear-driven cinema this ghoul season. Brought to life by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and gothic suspense flick follows five unacquainted souls who snap to trapped in a far-off cottage under the aggressive will of Kyra, a cursed figure haunted by a 2,000-year-old biblical force. Be warned to be drawn in by a screen-based ride that fuses bone-deep fear with folklore, premiering on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a long-standing foundation in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is inverted when the entities no longer manifest from external sources, but rather internally. This portrays the malevolent facet of the protagonists. The result is a bone-chilling spiritual tug-of-war where the conflict becomes a relentless struggle between good and evil.


In a haunting woodland, five campers find themselves trapped under the dark dominion and control of a obscure being. As the team becomes incapable to resist her influence, abandoned and hunted by creatures indescribable, they are cornered to stand before their emotional phantoms while the timeline without pause runs out toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety surges and teams collapse, forcing each soul to rethink their being and the principle of self-determination itself. The cost mount with every heartbeat, delivering a terror ride that harmonizes ghostly evil with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to tap into raw dread, an spirit from prehistory, emerging via our fears, and wrestling with a evil that forces self-examination when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra involved tapping into something deeper than fear. She is insensitive until the entity awakens, and that change is deeply unsettling because it is so intimate.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing viewers globally can be part of this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its original clip, which has pulled in over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, offering the tale to global fright lovers.


Witness this cinematic journey into fear. Experience *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to explore these haunting secrets about the human condition.


For film updates, special features, and news from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across entertainment pages and visit our horror hub.





Today’s horror major pivot: 2025 in focus U.S. calendar integrates Mythic Possession, festival-born jolts, in parallel with returning-series thunder

Across endurance-driven terror drawn from scriptural legend as well as brand-name continuations paired with focused festival visions, 2025 stands to become the most variegated paired with tactically planned year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. Major studios bookend the months with known properties, even as premium streamers flood the fall with discovery plays set against legend-coded dread. In parallel, the artisan tier is propelled by the uplift from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, however this time, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are intentional, therefore 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige terror resurfaces

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal camp sets the tone with a marquee bet: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. Guided by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. landing in 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.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. From director Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

When summer tapers, Warner Bros. bows the concluding entry within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re engages, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: nostalgic menace, trauma as narrative engine, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time, the stakes are raised, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The return delves further into myth, thickens the animatronic pantheon, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It drops in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a sealed box body horror arc starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is virtually assured for fall.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of 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.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No puffed out backstory. No series drag. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced 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. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Series Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, helmed 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.

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

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror comes roaring back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival glow translates 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.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn density and winter pivot

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

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 forthcoming 2026 scare Year Ahead: returning titles, standalone ideas, plus A brimming Calendar engineered for jolts

Dek The fresh scare slate crams early with a January glut, before it runs through the summer months, and deep into the December corridor, marrying brand heft, original angles, and tactical alternatives. Studio marketers and platforms are doubling down on mid-range economics, theatrical exclusivity first, and shareable marketing that shape these releases into mainstream chatter.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The field has proven to be the consistent release in annual schedules, a space that can spike when it connects and still hedge the drag when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year reminded decision-makers that modestly budgeted chillers can dominate the zeitgeist, the following year kept energy high with director-led heat and stealth successes. The momentum extended into the 2025 frame, where revivals and premium-leaning entries highlighted there is an opening for a spectrum, from returning installments to original one-offs that scale internationally. The upshot for 2026 is a grid that feels more orchestrated than usual across players, with planned clusters, a blend of household franchises and first-time concepts, and a revived eye on release windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium on-demand and SVOD.

Marketers add the space now functions as a plug-and-play option on the schedule. The genre can debut on most weekends, supply a grabby hook for teasers and shorts, and overperform with demo groups that come out on early shows and maintain momentum through the next pass if the movie satisfies. Emerging from a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 plan shows faith in that setup. The year kicks off with a loaded January lineup, then plants flags in spring and early summer for audience offsets, while saving space for a autumn push that connects to late October and into post-Halloween. The gridline also spotlights the ongoing integration of specialty arms and home platforms that can platform a title, build word of mouth, and widen at the right moment.

A second macro trend is brand management across brand ecosystems and veteran brands. Big banners are not just producing another follow-up. They are setting up threaded continuity with a specialness, whether that is a logo package that broadcasts a fresh attitude or a casting my review here choice that threads a next film to a initial period. At the parallel to that, the writer-directors behind the headline-grabbing originals are celebrating physical effects work, special makeup and place-driven backdrops. That alloy produces the 2026 slate a robust balance of recognition and newness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount defines the early cadence with two prominent titles that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the spine, steering it as both a lineage transfer and a DNA-forward character-first story. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the directional approach telegraphs a nostalgia-forward framework without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Look for a marketing run driven by classic imagery, intro reveals, and a two-beat trailer plan targeting 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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will stress. As a summer contrast play, this one will build general-audience talk through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick switches to whatever leads the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three discrete entries. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is crisp, somber, and concept-forward: a grieving man sets up an AI companion that becomes a deadly partner. The date positions it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the Universal machine likely to renew odd public stunts and short-cut promos that threads longing and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a branding reveal to become an PR pop closer to the opening teaser. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s releases are framed as creative events, with a concept-forward tease and a second trailer wave that signal tone without plot the concept. The prime October weekend creates space for Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has shown that a blood-soaked, hands-on effects aesthetic can feel cinematic on a lean spend. Position this as a hard-R summer horror blast that emphasizes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio sets two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, carrying a reliable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is marketing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both loyalists and curious audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign pieces around narrative world, and monster aesthetics, elements that can stoke format premiums and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by historical precision and period language, this time orbiting lycan myth. The label has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is glowing.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform windowing in 2026 run on stable tracks. The Universal horror run transition to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a cadence that fortifies both FOMO and sub growth in the back half. Prime Video combines third-party pickups with worldwide entries and limited runs in theaters when the data backs it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in catalog discovery, using editorial spots, fright rows, and programmed rows to increase tail value on overall cume. Netflix stays nimble about Netflix films and festival additions, slotting horror entries near their drops and elevating as drops drops with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a paired of targeted cinema placements and swift platform pivots that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a situational basis. The platform has shown a willingness to buy select projects with top-tier auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for monthly activity when the genre conversation builds.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 arc with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of have a peek at this web-site Konami’s classic title. The pitch is no-nonsense: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, recalibrated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the fall weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the Christmas corridor to widen. That positioning has proved effective for arthouse horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception encourages. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using limited theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Franchises versus originals

By skew, 2026 leans toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use name recognition. The trade-off, as ever, is brand erosion. The workable fix is to pitch each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is centering character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a Francophone tone from a ascendant talent. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the cast-creatives package is comforting enough to drive advance ticketing and first-night audiences.

Recent-year comps help explain the model. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that maintained windows did not block a day-date move from delivering when the brand was strong. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror outperformed in premium formats. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they angle differently and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, lets marketing to cross-link entries through character web and themes and to keep materials circulating without extended gaps.

Production craft signals

The creative meetings behind this year’s genre foreshadow a continued emphasis on 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 practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that leans on grain and menace rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in trade spotlights and department features before rolling out a tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and drives shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta reframe that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster aesthetics and world-building, which lend themselves to convention activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel compelling. Look for trailers that highlight razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that play in premium auditoriums.

Annual flow

January is busy. 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 moody palate cleanser amid marquee brands. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the mix of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Pre-summer months stage summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now accommodates 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 spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a late-September window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited pre-release reveals that trade in concept over detail.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card spend.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s DNA. 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 heartbroken man’s digital partner escalates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back 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 comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: aura-driven adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her severe boss fight to survive on a remote island as the power balance flips and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to terror, driven by Cronin’s physical craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting scenario that threads the dread through a little one’s uneven internal vantage. Rating: to be announced. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-crafted and name-above-title eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that needles in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime obsessions. Rating: TBD. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 bursts, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new household lashed to old terrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward pure survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: pending. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: pending. Production: underway. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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 bone-deep menace. Rating: pending. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. 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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three execution-level forces drive this lineup. First, production that downshifted or recalendared in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming launches. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest bite-size scare clips from test screenings, controlled scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, 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 condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, tight deployments, 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 materiality, sound field, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is IP strength where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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, edit tight trailers, protect the mystery, and let the shocks sell the seats.