Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes antediluvian malevolence, a pulse pounding shocker, debuting Oct 2025 on major platforms

An hair-raising mystic fear-driven tale from author / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an age-old evil when outsiders become subjects in a supernatural experiment. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking account of perseverance and old world terror that will remodel terror storytelling this spooky time. Created by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and immersive thriller follows five teens who snap to stuck in a secluded cottage under the oppressive sway of Kyra, a female presence controlled by a two-thousand-year-old religious nightmare. Prepare to be immersed by a cinematic spectacle that integrates deep-seated panic with mythic lore, premiering on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a legendary element in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is flipped when the fiends no longer form from external sources, but rather from within. This represents the darkest version of the players. The result is a emotionally raw internal warfare where the emotions becomes a intense contest between moral forces.


In a forsaken no-man's-land, five youths find themselves contained under the malicious dominion and possession of a haunted entity. As the survivors becomes defenseless to deny her manipulation, cut off and stalked by terrors unimaginable, they are thrust to stand before their worst nightmares while the time ruthlessly ticks toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust deepens and associations crack, driving each participant to reflect on their identity and the concept of volition itself. The intensity escalate with every second, delivering a cinematic nightmare that weaves together demonic fright with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to tap into primal fear, an spirit older than civilization itself, working through emotional fractures, and highlighting a curse that strips down our being when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra asked for exploring something beneath mortal despair. She is in denial until the entity awakens, and that transition is gut-wrenching because it is so emotional.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for horror fans beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing fans no matter where they are can watch this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its first preview, which has collected over notable views.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, bringing the film to horror fans worldwide.


Tune in for this mind-warping spiral into evil. Confront *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to face these fearful discoveries about human nature.


For previews, director cuts, and alerts from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit our spooky domain.





Today’s horror Turning Point: the year 2025 U.S. lineup braids together primeval-possession lore, microbudget gut-punches, paired with legacy-brand quakes

Kicking off with grit-forward survival fare drawn from scriptural legend and extending to brand-name continuations plus sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 looks like the most variegated plus blueprinted year of the last decade.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. leading studios plant stakes across the year with established lines, at the same time premium streamers crowd the fall with new perspectives alongside scriptural shivers. At the same time, the art-house flank is buoyed by the tailwinds of a peak 2024 circuit. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and now, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are intentional, therefore 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Premium dread reemerges

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal camp starts the year with a marquee bet: a modernized Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, within a sleek contemporary canvas. With Leigh Whannell at the helm anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. Slated 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.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Directed by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer wanes, the Warner lot delivers the closing chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re teams, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: period tinged dread, trauma centered writing, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time the stakes climb, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, stretches the animatronic parade, courting teens and the thirty something base. It posts in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Firsts: Modest spend, serious shock

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn led by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. That is a savvy move. No swollen lore. No sequel clutter. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Series Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

What to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror resurges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forecast: Autumn density and winter pivot

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The next Horror year to come: next chapters, standalone ideas, in tandem with A Crowded Calendar Built For screams

Dek: The new terror calendar crowds at the outset with a January bottleneck, subsequently rolls through midyear, and far into the holiday frame, fusing brand heft, novel approaches, and shrewd alternatives. Studios and streamers are prioritizing smart costs, theater-first strategies, and social-fueled campaigns that pivot these films into culture-wide discussion.

Horror momentum into 2026

The genre has grown into the predictable tool in programming grids, a genre that can accelerate when it clicks and still limit the downside when it misses. After 2023 re-taught strategy teams that modestly budgeted horror vehicles can lead pop culture, 2024 continued the surge with visionary-driven titles and slow-burn breakouts. The run fed into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and premium-leaning entries confirmed there is appetite for different modes, from brand follow-ups to director-led originals that travel well. The combined impact for 2026 is a slate that shows rare alignment across the major shops, with mapped-out bands, a mix of household franchises and novel angles, and a renewed commitment on exclusive windows that feed downstream value on premium home window and platforms.

Marketers add the space now operates like a wildcard on the schedule. Horror can debut on numerous frames, offer a tight logline for ad units and TikTok spots, and overperform with patrons that appear on Thursday nights and hold through the next weekend if the title satisfies. Post a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 pattern shows certainty in that setup. The calendar kicks off with a busy January window, then uses spring and early summer for audience offsets, while keeping space for a fall cadence that connects to the Halloween corridor and into November. The arrangement also reflects the tightening integration of boutique distributors and platforms that can grow from platform, spark evangelism, and go nationwide at the sweet spot.

A parallel macro theme is IP cultivation across shared IP webs and legacy IP. The studios are not just greenlighting another installment. They are seeking to position brand continuity with a occasion, whether that is a typeface approach that conveys a refreshed voice or a lead change that bridges a new installment to a original cycle. At the same time, the visionaries behind the marquee originals are championing material texture, makeup and prosthetics and distinct locales. That convergence delivers the 2026 slate a strong blend of trust and shock, which is the formula for international play.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount plants an early flag with two big-ticket titles that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the heart, steering it as both a handoff and a origin-leaning character-first story. Production is active in Atlanta, and the story approach conveys a roots-evoking mode without going over the last two entries’ sibling arc. Expect a marketing push built on legacy iconography, first-look character reveals, and a trailer cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will spotlight. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will go after wide appeal through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format supporting quick redirects to whatever tops the social talk that spring.

Universal has three differentiated strategies. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is straightforward, tragic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man purchases an AI companion that turns into a murderous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a busy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to recreate eerie street stunts and bite-size content that mixes companionship and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a proper title to become an fan moment closer to the initial promo. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s work are branded as filmmaker events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second trailer wave that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The late-October frame gives Universal room to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has consistently shown that a gnarly, practical-effects forward execution can feel elevated on a lean spend. Position this as a hard-R summer horror jolt that spotlights international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio mounts two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, extending a dependable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is marketing as a reset 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 directive to serve both diehards and newcomers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build materials around universe detail, and creature effects, elements that can amplify large-format demand and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in minute detail and textual fidelity, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus Features has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is warm.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform plans for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s releases move to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a cadence that fortifies both launch urgency and trial spikes in the later phase. Prime Video interleaves licensed titles with international acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu lean on this page their strengths in back-catalog play, using seasonal hubs, horror hubs, and handpicked rows to extend momentum on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps optionality about first-party entries and festival additions, slotting horror entries near launch and eventizing rollouts with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a staged of tailored theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that translates talk to trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to board select projects with accomplished filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 lane with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is no-nonsense: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, retooled for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the Christmas corridor to broaden. That positioning has been successful for director-led genre with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception prompts. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using limited theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their community.

Legacy titles versus originals

By tilt, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness brand equity. The risk, as ever, is fatigue. The near-term solution is to pitch each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is underscoring relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a continental coloration from a ascendant talent. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the bundle is familiar enough to drive advance ticketing and early previews.

Past-three-year patterns contextualize the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that preserved streaming windows did not preclude a same-day experiment from succeeding when the brand was trusted. In 2024, auteur craft horror surged in premium screens. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel new when they change perspective and raise the stakes. 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, creates space for marketing to link the films through cast and motif and to sustain campaign assets without doldrums.

How the look and feel evolve

The filmmaking conversations behind 2026 horror signal a continued emphasis on tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 his comment is here date. The push will likely that leans on creep and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft coverage before rolling out a first look 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 geared for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta reframe that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature execution and sets, which match well with con floor moments and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel key. Look for trailers that spotlight precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that benefit on big speakers.

The schedule at a glance

January is packed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid heftier brand moves. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the spread of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth holds.

Pre-summer months load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

August into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a shoulder season window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited previews that center concept over reveals.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can win the holiday when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft click to read more coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card burn.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s artificial companion mutates into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. 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 difficult boss fight to survive on a cut-off island as the pecking order shifts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to chill, rooted in Cronin’s on-set craft and encroaching 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 setup that pipes the unease through a child’s shifting subjective lens. Rating: rating pending. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-supported and name-above-title supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that targets today’s horror trends and true-crime crazes. Rating: pending. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 global twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further opens again, with a young family bound to returning horrors. Rating: TBD. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-core horror over action fireworks. Rating: pending. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: TBD. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on antique diction and elemental menace. Rating: TBD. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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

Why 2026 and why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces organize this lineup. First, production that paused or shifted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, 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 beaten straight-to-streaming drops. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage turnkey scare beats from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can control a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will share space across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, soundscape, and visuals 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, Ready To Roar

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is recognizable IP where it plays, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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, roll out exact trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the screams sell the seats.