Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primordial evil, a hair raising feature, launching October 2025 across top digital platforms

This unnerving paranormal shockfest from scriptwriter / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an ancient entity when drifters become instruments in a devilish ordeal. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching saga of survival and primeval wickedness that will resculpt horror this season. Guided by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and emotionally thick cinema piece follows five strangers who snap to locked in a secluded cottage under the hostile manipulation of Kyra, a haunted figure overtaken by a legendary ancient fiend. Brace yourself to be seized by a screen-based experience that melds soul-chilling terror with timeless legends, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a well-established pillar in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is subverted when the entities no longer come from elsewhere, but rather from deep inside. This represents the haunting shade of the cast. The result is a gripping inner struggle where the events becomes a unforgiving clash between moral forces.


In a isolated outland, five friends find themselves contained under the ghastly rule and inhabitation of a enigmatic female presence. As the group becomes incapacitated to resist her manipulation, marooned and chased by entities indescribable, they are made to wrestle with their inner demons while the seconds relentlessly winds toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension builds and friendships erode, urging each character to reconsider their existence and the idea of self-determination itself. The pressure intensify with every beat, delivering a nightmarish journey that combines otherworldly panic with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to draw upon elemental fright, an power from prehistory, operating within our fears, and testing a spirit that erodes the self when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra meant evoking something more primal than sorrow. She is uninformed until the curse activates, and that transformation is haunting because it is so deep.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for horror fans beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing horror lovers no matter where they are can engage with this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its initial teaser, which has pulled in over notable views.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, taking the terror to lovers of terror across nations.


Be sure to catch this soul-jarring descent into darkness. Enter *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to confront these unholy truths about existence.


For sneak peeks, filmmaker commentary, and news directly from production, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across social media and visit the film’s website.





Contemporary horror’s sea change: 2025 U.S. release slate weaves myth-forward possession, signature indie scares, set against series shake-ups

From fight-to-live nightmare stories infused with primordial scripture and including legacy revivals plus keen independent perspectives, 2025 is tracking to be the genre’s most multifaceted in tandem with calculated campaign year in the past ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. major banners bookend the months using marquee IP, while SVOD players saturate the fall with first-wave breakthroughs and mythic dread. In the indie lane, indie storytellers is buoyed by the echoes of a banner 2024 fest year. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, however this time, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are precise, and 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige terror resurfaces

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal lights the fuse with a bold swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, but a sharp contemporary setting. Steered by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. Booked into mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Eli Craig directs fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

At summer’s close, Warner’s pipeline drops the final chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Despite a known recipe, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the tone that worked before is intact: retro dread, trauma foregrounded, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This run ups the stakes, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The continuation widens the legend, grows the animatronic horror lineup, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It opens in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streamer Exclusives: Low budgets, big teeth

While the big screen favors titles you know, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a body horror chamber piece featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale led by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Conceived 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. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No puffed out backstory. No IP hangover. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, with Francis Lawrence directing, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

What to Watch

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror resurges
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

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

Outlook: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The upcoming genre slate: Sequels, standalone ideas, paired with A busy Calendar aimed at chills

Dek The current horror cycle packs right away with a January glut, thereafter spreads through the summer months, and carrying into the year-end corridor, balancing legacy muscle, untold stories, and tactical calendar placement. Studios and platforms are committing to tight budgets, cinema-first plans, and social-fueled campaigns that frame genre titles into mainstream chatter.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This space has become the sturdy play in studio slates, a vertical that can break out when it connects and still safeguard the exposure when it fails to connect. After 2023 re-taught executives that lean-budget horror vehicles can shape cultural conversation, 2024 kept energy high with director-led heat and quiet over-performers. The energy pushed into the 2025 frame, where revivals and elevated films confirmed there is a lane for a variety of tones, from continued chapters to fresh IP that scale internationally. The end result for the 2026 slate is a run that shows rare alignment across the field, with clear date clusters, a mix of marquee IP and new concepts, and a refocused eye on theater exclusivity that boost PVOD and platform value on premium rental and subscription services.

Insiders argue the space now acts as a plug-and-play option on the rollout map. The genre can launch on open real estate, supply a clean hook for creative and short-form placements, and outpace with moviegoers that come out on Thursday nights and stick through the week two if the title fires. Following a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 pattern telegraphs faith in that equation. The year starts with a busy January corridor, then targets spring into early summer for audience offsets, while reserving space for a fall corridor that carries into holiday-adjacent weekends and into post-Halloween. The map also features the tightening integration of specialty arms and subscription services that can nurture a platform play, create conversation, and broaden at the right moment.

A notable top-line trend is legacy care across ongoing universes and long-running brands. Studio teams are not just pushing another follow-up. They are trying to present threaded continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a title treatment that indicates a tonal shift or a lead change that reconnects a next film to a heyday. At the same time, the creative teams behind the most watched originals are prioritizing real-world builds, practical effects and place-driven backdrops. That fusion affords 2026 a vital pairing of brand comfort and unexpected turns, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount establishes early momentum with two big-ticket entries that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, framing it as both a relay and a foundation-forward character piece. Production is active in Atlanta, and the directional approach hints at a classic-referencing angle without going over the last two entries’ sisters storyline. A campaign is expected centered on classic imagery, first-look character reveals, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

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 set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will stress. As a counterweight in summer, this one will hunt wide buzz through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format allowing quick updates to whatever drives pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three specific projects. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is crisp, soulful, and commercial: a grieving man adopts an AI companion that shifts into a harmful mate. The date locates it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s promo team likely to bring back uncanny-valley stunts and quick hits that mixes intimacy and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a title reveal to become an PR pop closer to the early tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele projects are positioned as auteur events, with a hinting teaser and a next wave of trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date gives Universal room to saturate 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, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a tactile, physical-effects centered execution can feel top-tier on a moderate cost. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror jolt that centers foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio launches two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, holding a consistent supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is calling a reimagined restart 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 franchise faithful and new audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build assets Check This Out around environmental design, and practical creature work, elements that can drive IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by rigorous craft and period language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The distributor has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is warm.

Platform lanes and windowing

Digital strategies for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s genre entries flow to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a stair-step that enhances both initial urgency and subscriber lifts in the downstream. Prime Video pairs licensed content with global acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in catalog discovery, using editorial spots, fright rows, and programmed rows to sustain interest on lifetime take. Netflix stays opportunistic about originals and festival buys, locking in horror entries tight to release and making event-like launches with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a hybrid of precision theatrical plays and quick platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a selective basis. The platform has indicated interest to acquire select projects with recognized filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 sequence 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 appeal is straightforward: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, elevated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a cinema-first plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday slot to scale. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-first horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception justifies. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using mini theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Known brands versus new stories

By volume, the 2026 slate leans toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit cultural cachet. The challenge, as ever, is brand erosion. The operating solution is to package each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is elevating character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a Francophone tone from a ascendant talent. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and director-driven titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the package is grounded enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Three-year comps illuminate the approach. In 2023, a exclusive window model that maintained windows did not foreclose a day-date try from thriving when the brand was strong. In 2024, auteur craft horror punched above its weight in premium screens. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reframe POV and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters filmed consecutively, provides the means for marketing to link the films through personae and themes and to keep assets in-market without lulls.

Craft and creative trends

The director conversations behind the upcoming entries foreshadow a continued bias toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that leans on tone and tension rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and creates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta-horror reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature craft and set design, which match well with convention floor stunts and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel primary. Look for trailers that emphasize disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that sing on PLF.

Release calendar overview

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 atmospheric change-up amid larger brand plays. The month buttons 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 tone spread lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth spreads.

Late Q1 and spring load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens 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 home to genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Shoulder season into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a transitional slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited teasers that stress concept over spoilers.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card burn.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s core. 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 intelligent companion grows into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns 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: 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 battle to survive on a desolate island as the control balance upends and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to nightmare, based on Cronin’s practical effects and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 intimate haunting chiller that threads the dread through a little one’s unsteady internal vantage. Rating: to be announced. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-supported and celebrity-led supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that teases today’s horror trends and true-crime manias. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 global twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a fresh family caught in returning horrors. Rating: pending. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward true survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: development underway with firm date. 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: carefully shrouded. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving forward. 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 time-true diction and primordial menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three workable forces shape this lineup. First, production that downshifted or shuffled in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more strict 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 premieres. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work social-ready stingers from test screenings, controlled scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can control a weekend or serve as the mature-skew 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 spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

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

The sleeper chase continues in Q1, where disciplined-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, 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 flow and breadth. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit 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 icy, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, 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 Looks Exciting

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is franchise muscle where it helps, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the scares sell the seats.