Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes antediluvian malevolence, a chilling supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 across major platforms

This hair-raising paranormal scare-fest from narrative craftsman / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an long-buried force when unfamiliar people become pawns in a malevolent trial. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful saga of resilience and ancient evil that will reshape fear-driven cinema this scare season. Visualized by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and atmospheric fearfest follows five characters who awaken isolated in a secluded structure under the oppressive sway of Kyra, a female presence dominated by a two-thousand-year-old ancient fiend. Brace yourself to be enthralled by a visual adventure that unites gut-punch terror with arcane tradition, arriving on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a time-honored element in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is reversed when the spirits no longer emerge outside their bodies, but rather through their own souls. This symbolizes the shadowy corner of the victims. The result is a intense internal warfare where the conflict becomes a merciless tug-of-war between innocence and sin.


In a desolate landscape, five figures find themselves stuck under the fiendish force and curse of a obscure woman. As the companions becomes paralyzed to oppose her dominion, abandoned and hunted by terrors impossible to understand, they are required to wrestle with their soulful dreads while the hours mercilessly edges forward toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear builds and relationships break, compelling each survivor to scrutinize their identity and the structure of free will itself. The risk surge with every heartbeat, delivering a nightmarish journey that harmonizes supernatural terror with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to awaken pure dread, an malevolence before modern man, manipulating fragile psyche, and confronting a being that threatens selfhood when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra asked for exploring something darker than pain. She is oblivious until the haunting manifests, and that metamorphosis is haunting because it is so internal.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for home viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—ensuring watchers across the world can get immersed in this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first preview, which has gathered over 100K plays.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, offering the tale to international horror buffs.


Mark your calendar for this bone-rattling ride through nightmares. Explore *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to confront these evil-rooted truths about existence.


For sneak peeks, filmmaker commentary, and press updates from the creators, follow @YACMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit the official digital haunt.





American horror’s pivotal crossroads: the 2025 cycle domestic schedule blends archetypal-possession themes, art-house nightmares, paired with franchise surges

From last-stand terror steeped in biblical myth as well as IP renewals paired with focused festival visions, 2025 appears poised to be the richest as well as strategic year in recent memory.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio powerhouses are anchoring the year with franchise anchors, as premium streamers flood the fall with unboxed visions set against primordial unease. At the same time, horror’s indie wing is drafting behind the kinetic energy from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. With Halloween holding the peak, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, though in this cycle, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are disciplined, as a result 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige terror resurfaces

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s schedule lights the fuse with a confident swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, inside today’s landscape. Directed by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. dated for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. From director Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

By late summer, the Warner lot releases the last chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, 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 seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: period tinged dread, trauma foregrounded, and eerie supernatural logic. Here the stakes rise, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The return delves further into myth, grows the animatronic horror lineup, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It hits in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streamer Exclusives: Tight funds, wide impact

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a sealed box body horror arc starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with 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.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. That is a savvy move. No heavy handed lore. No continuity burden. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, with Francis Lawrence directing, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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.

Key Trends

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror ascends again
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theaters are a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn density and winter pivot

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

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 assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The coming 2026 chiller slate: entries, universe starters, in tandem with A hectic Calendar optimized for nightmares

Dek: The brand-new genre calendar lines up in short order with a January traffic jam, following that extends through the mid-year, and deep into the late-year period, combining legacy muscle, new concepts, and tactical counterplay. Studios with streamers are embracing lean spends, exclusive theatrical windows first, and platform-native promos that frame these offerings into mainstream chatter.

How the genre looks for 2026

The horror marketplace has turned into the bankable move in studio lineups, a genre that can scale when it connects and still insulate the downside when it doesn’t. After 2023 signaled to studio brass that responsibly budgeted horror vehicles can own the national conversation, the following year kept energy high with filmmaker-forward plays and slow-burn breakouts. The upswing translated to 2025, where legacy revivals and premium-leaning entries underscored there is space for multiple flavors, from returning installments to non-IP projects that resonate abroad. The end result for 2026 is a programming that presents tight coordination across the industry, with strategic blocks, a pairing of marquee IP and untested plays, and a renewed priority on release windows that drive downstream revenue on premium on-demand and platforms.

Schedulers say the space now functions as a flex slot on the distribution slate. Horror can bow on open real estate, supply a simple premise for promo reels and shorts, and outstrip with viewers that appear on advance nights and continue through the next pass if the release lands. Emerging from a production delay era, the 2026 pattern demonstrates faith in that approach. The slate kicks off with a loaded January lineup, then exploits spring through early summer for genre counterpoints, while making space for a fall corridor that runs into the fright window and into early November. The program also shows the increasing integration of indie distributors and streamers that can platform and widen, generate chatter, and move wide at the sweet spot.

Another broad trend is brand curation across interlocking continuities and veteran brands. Studio teams are not just releasing another continuation. They are setting up connection with a premium feel, whether that is a title design that suggests a recalibrated tone or a casting pivot that reconnects a next film to a heyday. At the same time, the visionaries behind the most anticipated originals are returning to tactile craft, in-camera effects and place-driven backdrops. That pairing affords the 2026 slate a solid mix of familiarity and shock, which is what works overseas.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount marks the early tempo with two prominent plays that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the front, marketing it as both a succession moment and a rootsy character-forward chapter. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture telegraphs a heritage-honoring angle without replaying the last two entries’ sisters thread. Watch for a push fueled by classic imagery, character-first teases, and a staggered trailer plan slated for late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will lean on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will generate mass reach through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format allowing quick turns to whatever rules pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three clear strategies. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is crisp, melancholic, and concept-forward: a grieving man implements an virtual partner that escalates into a harmful mate. The date nudges it to the front of a thick month, with Universal’s team likely to iterate on strange in-person beats and short reels that melds devotion and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a official title to become an PR pop closer to the initial promo. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele titles are branded as must-see filmmaker statements, with a opaque teaser and a second beat that shape mood without giving away the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor offers Universal room to saturate 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, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has long shown that a tactile, hands-on effects method can feel elevated on a mid-range budget. Expect a grime-caked summer horror jolt that centers worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio books two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, holding a bankable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is selling as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both devotees and first-timers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build assets around mythos, and creature effects, elements that can fuel format premiums and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by obsessive craft and archaic language, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Platform lanes and windowing

Digital strategies for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s horror titles window into copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a pacing that optimizes both debut momentum and subscription bumps in the downstream. Prime Video blends licensed films with global acquisitions and small theatrical windows when the data supports it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library pulls, using prominent placements, horror hubs, and staff picks to sustain interest on lifetime take. Netflix stays nimble about Netflix originals and festival additions, confirming horror entries toward the drop and positioning as event drops drops with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a staged of precision theatrical plays and prompt platform moves that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has proven amenable to invest in select projects with recognized filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation surges.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is curating a 2026 slate 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 sell is simple: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, reimagined for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical-first plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then working the year-end corridor to move out. That positioning has proved effective for elevated genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception drives. Watch for 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 in tandem, using targeted theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their membership.

Balance of brands and originals

By tilt, 2026 is weighted toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness cultural cachet. The challenge, as ever, is brand erosion. The go-to fix have a peek at these guys is to frame each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is elevating character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-tinted vision from a ascendant talent. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and auteur plays keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the cast-creatives package is steady enough to generate pre-sales and early previews.

Comps from the last three years help explain the template. In 2023, a theater-first model that honored streaming windows did not block a day-and-date experiment from paying off when the brand was trusted. In 2024, director-craft horror popped in premium formats. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they rotate perspective and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds 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 produced back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to bridge entries through character web and themes and to keep assets in-market without extended gaps.

How the look and feel evolve

The director conversations behind these films 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 complements the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that underscores unease and texture rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and medieval diction, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and technical spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and generates shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta reframe that centers its original star. Resident Evil will live or die on monster aesthetics and world-building, which match well with fan conventions and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel compelling. Look for trailers that foreground pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in big rooms.

Calendar cadence

January is busy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid big-brand pushes. The month caps 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 meaningful, but the variety of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth spreads.

February through May stage summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

End of summer through fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a peekaboo tease plan and limited previews that put concept first.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation this content into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can increase count in check over here the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card redemption.

Title snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s algorithmic partner unfolds into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

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 confront a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 hard-edged boss scramble to survive on a rugged island as the control balance flips and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. 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 to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to horror, anchored by Cronin’s hands-on craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting chiller that explores the horror of a child’s uncertain read. Rating: to be announced. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed and marquee-led supernatural mood piece.

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 parody reboot that teases of-the-moment horror beats and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBD. 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 flares, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a new household entangled with ancient dread. Rating: TBA. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on pure survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: pending. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: undetermined. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and elemental dread. Rating: forthcoming. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three grounded forces shape this lineup. First, production that downshifted or shifted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often are location-light, 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming landings. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage repeatable beats from test screenings, select scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will line up across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 cost-efficient genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to leverage those opportunities. 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, 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 momentum and variety. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, acoustics, and camera work that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Ready To Roar

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is IP strength where it matters, 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-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, hold the mystery, and let the fear sell the seats.