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

An bone-chilling metaphysical thriller from dramatist / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an mythic entity when guests become proxies in a supernatural experiment. Hitting screens on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a intense journey of endurance and ancient evil that will reimagine horror this October. Created by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and tone-heavy cinema piece follows five young adults who are stirred caught in a far-off dwelling under the menacing control of Kyra, a troubled woman claimed by a legendary holy text monster. Steel yourself to be immersed by a cinematic presentation that blends soul-chilling terror with spiritual backstory, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a time-honored narrative in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is twisted when the fiends no longer form from external sources, but rather inside them. This depicts the grimmest element of all involved. The result is a psychologically brutal psychological battle where the story becomes a unforgiving fight between moral forces.


In a desolate backcountry, five adults find themselves caught under the evil sway and curse of a haunted entity. As the characters becomes powerless to resist her grasp, marooned and chased by terrors mind-shattering, they are driven to battle their deepest fears while the seconds mercilessly draws closer toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease builds and links fracture, requiring each survivor to question their character and the philosophy of decision-making itself. The stakes climb with every breath, delivering a nightmarish journey that marries supernatural terror with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to awaken deep fear, an darkness beyond recorded history, feeding on emotional vulnerability, and wrestling with a entity that peels away humanity when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra demanded embodying something beyond human emotion. She is unaware until the takeover begins, and that evolution is harrowing because it is so close.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be available for horror fans beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—allowing watchers anywhere can enjoy this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its original promo, which has pulled in over 100K plays.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, delivering the story to viewers around the world.


Make sure to see this life-altering fall into madness. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to uncover these fearful discoveries about the human condition.


For teasers, on-set glimpses, and alerts from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across media channels and visit our spooky domain.





Horror’s pivotal crossroads: 2025 in focus U.S. Slate braids together legend-infused possession, independent shockers, together with IP aftershocks

Beginning with endurance-driven terror rooted in mythic scripture through to returning series and incisive indie visions, 2025 looks like the genre’s most multifaceted and blueprinted year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio powerhouses bookend the months through proven series, simultaneously SVOD players saturate the fall with emerging auteurs paired with mythic dread. In parallel, horror’s indie wing is surfing the afterglow of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, but this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are exacting, and 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal camp starts the year with a risk-forward move: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in a modern-day environment. With Leigh Whannell at the helm featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. Slated for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. From director Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

When summer fades, Warner’s slate bows the concluding entry from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson returns, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: vintage toned fear, trauma in the foreground, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The bar is raised this go, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The new chapter enriches the lore, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, speaking to teens and older millennials. It hits in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Digital Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a body horror chamber piece anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend led by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to 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 unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It reads as sharp positioning. No bloated canon. No brand fatigue. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

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

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy Brands: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Trends Worth Watching

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror ascends again
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

The Road Ahead: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The approaching fright Year Ahead: installments, Originals, alongside A brimming Calendar calibrated for chills

Dek The current genre calendar loads up front with a January glut, and then carries through summer, and far into the December corridor, fusing name recognition, new concepts, and smart calendar placement. Studio marketers and platforms are betting on smart costs, big-screen-first runs, and short-form initiatives that position horror entries into water-cooler talk.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This space has established itself as the consistent swing in studio lineups, a lane that can break out when it catches and still safeguard the risk when it under-delivers. After 2023 reassured studio brass that low-to-mid budget entries can steer pop culture, the following year extended the rally with buzzy auteur projects and slow-burn breakouts. The upswing extended into 2025, where re-entries and filmmaker-prestige bets made clear there is an opening for a spectrum, from ongoing IP entries to fresh IP that perform internationally. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a grid that shows rare alignment across studios, with strategic blocks, a pairing of known properties and first-time concepts, and a tightened stance on release windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium home window and subscription services.

Insiders argue the space now acts as a plug-and-play option on the rollout map. The genre can roll out on almost any weekend, yield a grabby hook for teasers and TikTok spots, and outpace with moviegoers that appear on advance nights and return through the subsequent weekend if the release fires. Exiting a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 rhythm exhibits certainty in that approach. The slate gets underway with a thick January band, then primes spring and early summer for counterweight, while leaving room for a late-year stretch that stretches into Halloween and into early November. The map also shows the deeper integration of specialty arms and platforms that can launch in limited release, stoke social talk, and move wide at the strategic time.

A reinforcing pattern is series management across ongoing universes and veteran brands. The companies are not just producing another next film. They are seeking to position continuity with a occasion, whether that is a logo package that announces a tonal shift or a lead change that anchors a new entry to a heyday. At the alongside this, the directors behind the most buzzed-about originals are returning to hands-on technique, practical gags and specific settings. That pairing produces the 2026 slate a healthy mix of trust and shock, which is what works overseas.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount establishes early momentum with two high-profile entries that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the spine, signaling it as both a cross-generational handoff and a origin-leaning character-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the creative stance conveys a heritage-honoring campaign without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Watch for a push built on franchise iconography, initial cast looks, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will double down on. As a summer relief option, this one will generate mass reach through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format enabling quick turns to whatever dominates the discourse that spring.

Universal has three defined plays. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is elegant, grief-rooted, and logline-clear: a grieving man sets up an AI companion that grows into a fatal companion. The date slots it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s team likely to renew eerie street stunts and snackable content that fuses attachment and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a name unveil to become an attention spike closer to the opening teaser. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. The filmmaker’s films are treated as director events, with a opaque teaser and a next wave of trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween runway offers Universal room to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has demonstrated that a raw, in-camera leaning strategy can feel top-tier on a mid-range budget. Frame it as a splatter summer horror hit that maximizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio books two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, holding a dependable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has recalibrated 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 describing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both longtime followers and general audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build marketing units around universe detail, 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 sustains 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 public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is glowing.

Streaming windows and tactics

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on well-known grooves. The studio’s horror films land on copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a pacing that optimizes both initial urgency and sign-up spikes in the tail. Prime Video interleaves licensed titles with worldwide buys and limited cinema engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in deep cuts, using prominent placements, genre hubs, and curated rows to stretch the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix plays opportunist about own-slate titles and festival deals, securing horror entries near their drops and staging as events go-lives with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a tiered of tailored theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a situational basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to take on select projects with top-tier auteurs or marquee packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly activity when the genre conversation ramps.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 runway with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is clean: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, upgraded for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a big-screen first plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the back half.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas corridor to widen. That positioning has delivered for elevated genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception justifies. Watch 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 in parallel, using limited theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subs.

IP versus fresh ideas

By share, the 2026 slate bends toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use legacy awareness. The question, as ever, is staleness. The operating solution is to package each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is foregrounding character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a Francophone tone from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s this content Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the configuration is grounded enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and preview-night turnout.

Rolling three-year comps announce the template. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that maintained windows did not preclude a same-day experiment from winning when the brand was robust. In 2024, precision craft horror exceeded expectations in large-format rooms. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they rotate perspective and elevate scope. 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 two-step approach, with chapters shot in tandem, enables marketing to cross-link entries through cast and motif and to keep materials circulating without long breaks.

Behind-the-camera trends

The filmmaking conversations behind the year’s horror point to a continued bias toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that foregrounds atmosphere and fear rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and sparks shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta pivot that centers an original star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature execution and sets, which work nicely for expo activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel compelling. Look for trailers that foreground pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that play in premium auditoriums.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is heavy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a foggy reset amid marquee brands. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the menu of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Q1 into Q2 prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s 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 sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

End of summer through fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a pre-October slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited information drops that center concept over reveals.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and holiday card usage.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s virtual companion shifts into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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 organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

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 encounter a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: tone-first game 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 desolate island as the power balance of power swivels and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to fear, built on Cronin’s physical craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting chiller that pipes the unease through a preteen’s flickering subjective lens. Rating: to be announced. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house 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 spoof revival that lampoons modern genre fads and true crime preoccupations. Rating: to be announced. Production: production booked 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 spreads, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a different family linked to returning horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. 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: TBD publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A new start designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-first horror over action fireworks. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: forthcoming. Production: advancing. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 historical diction and ancient menace. Rating: TBA. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three workable forces organize this lineup. First, production that slowed or recalendared in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify meme-ready beats from test screenings, managed scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, freeing space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will line up across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where disciplined-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first shock 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.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, sound, and visual design 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 Promising 2026

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is recognizable IP where it plays, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.