Age-old Dread surfaces: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling horror thriller, premiering Oct 2025 across top digital platforms

One eerie paranormal suspense story from scriptwriter / director Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an archaic terror when unrelated individuals become conduits in a supernatural maze. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a intense journey of living through and mythic evil that will transform genre cinema this fall. Brought to life by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and tone-heavy story follows five young adults who suddenly rise stuck in a isolated dwelling under the oppressive dominion of Kyra, a female presence claimed by a prehistoric biblical demon. Ready yourself to be captivated by a big screen journey that integrates soul-chilling terror with folklore, debuting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a classic concept in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is reimagined when the presences no longer originate from elsewhere, but rather from within. This depicts the most hidden layer of the group. The result is a psychologically brutal psychological battle where the plotline becomes a ongoing fight between righteousness and malevolence.


In a desolate woodland, five youths find themselves confined under the malevolent control and overtake of a mysterious woman. As the companions becomes incapacitated to break her power, abandoned and chased by entities indescribable, they are made to reckon with their core terrors while the deathwatch unforgivingly moves toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread escalates and associations disintegrate, demanding each person to doubt their essence and the philosophy of autonomy itself. The tension magnify with every beat, delivering a nightmarish journey that integrates supernatural terror with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to tap into elemental fright, an evil born of forgotten ages, manipulating soul-level flaws, and confronting a force that threatens selfhood when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra was centered on something beyond human emotion. She is uninformed until the possession kicks in, and that conversion is deeply unsettling because it is so intimate.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for home viewing beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—making sure horror lovers across the world can engage with this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its release of trailer #1, which has attracted over notable views.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, spreading the horror to a worldwide audience.


Tune in for this cinematic descent into darkness. Enter *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to survive these nightmarish insights about the mind.


For featurettes, special features, and announcements straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACFilm across social media and visit youngandcursed.com.





American horror’s inflection point: the 2025 cycle U.S. Slate fuses ancient-possession motifs, microbudget gut-punches, set against brand-name tremors

Kicking off with endurance-driven terror suffused with primordial scripture and stretching into IP renewals as well as incisive indie visions, 2025 is tracking to be the most stratified along with carefully orchestrated year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. Top studios are anchoring the year with franchise anchors, concurrently digital services flood the fall with new perspectives paired with primordial unease. At the same time, independent banners is catching the afterglow from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Since Halloween is the prized date, the other windows are mapped with care. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, but this year, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are targeted, therefore 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: High-craft horror returns

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

Universal’s slate begins the calendar with a big gambit: a refashioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, inside today’s landscape. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. timed for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Eli Craig directs anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer eases, Warner’s pipeline launches the swan song within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re engages, and those signature textures resurface: nostalgic menace, trauma centered writing, and a cold supernatural calculus. This time, the stakes are raised, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It opens in December, locking down the winter tail.

Digital Originals: Economy, maximum dread

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a close quarters body horror study led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Also notable is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga featuring Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with 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. 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 each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is an astute call. No swollen lore. No IP hangover. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

From Festivals to Market

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’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, with Francis Lawrence directing, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

What to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

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

SVOD originals harden up
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

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

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Forward View: Fall stack and winter swing card

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The approaching fright release year: follow-ups, non-franchise titles, together with A Crowded Calendar optimized for frights

Dek The fresh scare year builds at the outset with a January pile-up, subsequently spreads through June and July, and carrying into the winter holidays, blending legacy muscle, new voices, and savvy counterweight. Major distributors and platforms are committing to smart costs, box-office-first windows, and shareable marketing that elevate the slate’s entries into culture-wide discussion.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The field has solidified as the dependable swing in studio slates, a category that can grow when it clicks and still safeguard the floor when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for decision-makers that responsibly budgeted horror vehicles can steer audience talk, 2024 carried the beat with signature-voice projects and stealth successes. The momentum pushed into 2025, where re-entries and awards-minded projects made clear there is capacity for varied styles, from brand follow-ups to one-and-done originals that perform internationally. The net effect for 2026 is a grid that looks unusually coordinated across the industry, with planned clusters, a blend of legacy names and new packages, and a renewed emphasis on theater exclusivity that power the aftermarket on PVOD and platforms.

Insiders argue the genre now functions as a plug-and-play option on the schedule. The genre can kick off on numerous frames, furnish a tight logline for teasers and reels, and overperform with audiences that lean in on previews Thursday and sustain through the week two if the offering connects. On the heels of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 cadence underscores assurance in that setup. The year launches with a loaded January window, then turns to spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while making space for a fall cadence that carries into the fright window and into early November. The gridline also underscores the continuing integration of indie arms and subscription services that can platform a title, spark evangelism, and move wide at the strategic time.

An added macro current is series management across linked properties and heritage properties. The players are not just rolling another return. They are moving to present brand continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a logo package that flags a refreshed voice or a casting move that anchors a next entry to a heyday. At the same my review here time, the visionaries behind the eagerly awaited originals are favoring in-camera technique, makeup and prosthetics and site-specific worlds. That alloy produces 2026 a lively combination of brand comfort and discovery, which is what works overseas.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount fires first with two spotlight titles that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the heart, marketing it as both a baton pass and a classic-mode character-first story. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance points to a classic-referencing bent without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push driven by iconic art, early character teases, and a rollout cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is big-screen via 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 paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will lean on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will drive wide appeal through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick pivots to whatever tops trend lines that spring.

Universal has three differentiated releases. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tidy, soulful, and commercial: a grieving man activates an machine companion that shifts into a killer companion. The date places it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to iterate on uncanny live moments and short reels that fuses romance and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a proper title to become an teaser payoff closer to the initial tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele projects are treated as signature events, with a teaser that reveals little and a follow-up trailer set that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween runway gives Universal room to dominate 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, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has made clear that a raw, physical-effects centered aesthetic can feel premium on a efficient spend. Expect a grime-caked summer horror jolt that centers international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio rolls out two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, extending a reliable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is framing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both loyalists and new audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build artifacts around narrative world, and monster design, elements that can stoke large-format demand and cosplayer momentum.

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 maintains Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by obsessive craft and period speech, this time exploring werewolf lore. The label has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is supportive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s horror titles head to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a sequence that enhances both initial urgency and sign-up spikes in the back half. Prime Video combines licensed titles with global acquisitions and targeted theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in archive usage, using prominent placements, October hubs, and featured rows to extend momentum on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps flexible about Netflix originals and festival grabs, slotting horror entries closer to launch and making event-like debuts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a one-two of tailored theatrical exposure and quick platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a curated basis. The platform has shown appetite to secure select projects with prestige directors or celebrity-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in navigate here partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation swells.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is curating a 2026 corridor with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is clear: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, retooled for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a standard theatrical run for the title, an promising marker for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday slot to open out. That positioning has shown results for arthouse horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception merits. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using mini theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By number, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage fan equity. The concern, as ever, is viewer burnout. The workable fix his comment is here is to sell each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is centering character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-accented approach from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the team and cast is known enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Rolling three-year comps frame the template. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that respected streaming windows did not prevent a day-and-date experiment from thriving when the brand was sticky. In 2024, precision craft horror hit big in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they rotate perspective and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot in tandem, allows marketing to interlace chapters through relationships and themes and to keep assets in-market without pause points.

Creative tendencies and craft

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind these films suggest a continued lean toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that underscores tone and tension rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft coverage before rolling out a mood teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at practical nastiness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and drives shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta reframe that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature craft and set design, which favor convention activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel irresistible. Look for trailers that emphasize precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that shine in top rooms.

Annual flow

January is jammed. 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 somber counterpoint amid macro-brand pushes. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the palette of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

Pre-summer months build the summer base. Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited plot reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s synthetic partner shifts into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively 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 journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her hard-edged boss fight to survive on a lonely island as the pecking order shifts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to fear, founded on Cronin’s in-camera craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting story that filters its scares through a preteen’s uneven POV. Rating: not yet rated. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven 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 satire sequel that satirizes modern genre fads and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography set 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 breaks out, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new clan anchored to returning horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survivalist horror over action fireworks. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: forthcoming. Production: underway. 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 era-accurate language and elemental dread. Rating: pending. 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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the moment is 2026

Three grounded forces drive this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or re-sequenced in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify meme-ready beats from test screenings, select scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Calendar math also matters. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will compete across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to work those windows. 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, sonics, 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.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is franchise muscle where it helps, inventive vision where it helps, 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 late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the fear sell the seats.