Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases antediluvian malevolence, a bone chilling horror feature, rolling out October 2025 across top streaming platforms

A haunting supernatural fear-driven tale from narrative craftsman / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an archaic nightmare when strangers become vehicles in a hellish ceremony. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish chronicle of perseverance and old world terror that will alter horror this ghoul season. Visualized by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and immersive film follows five unacquainted souls who awaken sealed in a far-off shelter under the menacing sway of Kyra, a young woman dominated by a ancient sacrosanct terror. Be prepared to be gripped by a audio-visual adventure that blends gut-punch terror with mystical narratives, streaming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a classic narrative in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is reimagined when the forces no longer form outside their bodies, but rather internally. This symbolizes the deepest corner of the group. The result is a intense mind game where the conflict becomes a unforgiving tug-of-war between good and evil.


In a bleak wilderness, five young people find themselves confined under the evil presence and grasp of a haunted person. As the survivors becomes unresisting to escape her power, detached and chased by forces indescribable, they are made to stand before their emotional phantoms while the timeline ruthlessly runs out toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion amplifies and connections implode, requiring each character to contemplate their values and the notion of free will itself. The stakes escalate with every short lapse, delivering a paranormal ride that weaves together supernatural terror with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to draw upon instinctual horror, an entity born of forgotten ages, manifesting in inner turmoil, and highlighting a curse that threatens selfhood when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra asked for exploring something outside normal anguish. She is oblivious until the curse activates, and that transition is bone-chilling because it is so visceral.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing audiences across the world can be part of this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its initial teaser, which has earned over six-figure audience.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, presenting the nightmare to thrill-seekers globally.


Don’t miss this haunted path of possession. Face *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to survive these haunting secrets about existence.


For featurettes, behind-the-scenes content, and insider scoops from those who lived it, follow @YACFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit youngandcursed.com.





U.S. horror’s pivotal crossroads: 2025 across markets U.S. release slate fuses ancient-possession motifs, indie terrors, set against brand-name tremors

Beginning with endurance-driven terror steeped in mythic scripture and including series comebacks together with focused festival visions, 2025 looks like the genre’s most multifaceted as well as tactically planned year in a decade.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio majors bookend the months via recognizable brands, simultaneously platform operators stack the fall with discovery plays alongside old-world menace. Across the art-house lane, independent banners is fueled by the momentum from a record 2024 festival run. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A fat September–October lane is customary now, distinctly in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are precise, and 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal Pictures starts the year with an audacious swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, in a modern-day environment. From director Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. timed for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Guided by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer winds down, the Warner lot bows the concluding entry from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. While the template is known, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 follows. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re boards, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: 70s style chill, trauma foregrounded, with ghostly inner logic. Here the stakes rise, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The follow up digs further into canon, broadens the animatronic terror cast, courting teens and the thirty something base. It bows in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Firsts: Economy, maximum dread

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a body horror chamber piece including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga featuring Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Written 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 unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of 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 bloated mythology. No canon weight. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Long Running Lines: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, under Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult 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.

Trends to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror returns
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Season Ahead: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The new fear year to come: returning titles, filmmaker-first projects, paired with A jammed Calendar designed for chills

Dek The upcoming genre calendar stacks at the outset with a January logjam, subsequently flows through midyear, and running into the holidays, marrying legacy muscle, new voices, and smart counter-scheduling. Studios with streamers are focusing on cost discipline, exclusive theatrical windows first, and influencer-ready assets that pivot these offerings into culture-wide discussion.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The horror marketplace has shown itself to be the steady tool in annual schedules, a corner that can surge when it resonates and still protect the downside when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year signaled to executives that low-to-mid budget horror vehicles can own the discourse, the following year kept energy high with buzzy auteur projects and sleeper breakouts. The trend translated to 2025, where legacy revivals and filmmaker-prestige bets confirmed there is capacity for multiple flavors, from returning installments to non-IP projects that export nicely. The combined impact for 2026 is a calendar that looks unusually coordinated across the major shops, with obvious clusters, a equilibrium of familiar brands and new packages, and a revived eye on theatrical windows that boost PVOD and platform value on PVOD and SVOD.

Marketers add the category now slots in as a plug-and-play option on the slate. Horror can bow on a wide range of weekends, furnish a tight logline for creative and shorts, and overperform with patrons that arrive on Thursday previews and return through the sophomore frame if the picture delivers. Post a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 mapping reflects faith in that model. The year launches with a weighty January schedule, then exploits spring through early summer for off-slot scheduling, while holding room for a fall corridor that runs into late October and into post-Halloween. The map also highlights the increasing integration of specialty arms and digital platforms that can grow from platform, grow buzz, and grow at the sweet spot.

A further high-level trend is franchise tending across interlocking continuities and legacy IP. The players are not just rolling another installment. They are aiming to frame lore continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a logo package that conveys a recalibrated tone or a cast configuration that connects a new entry to a initial period. At the meanwhile, the creative leads behind the most anticipated originals are prioritizing hands-on technique, practical effects and grounded locations. That interplay hands 2026 a strong blend of home base and newness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount establishes early momentum with two spotlight moves that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the front, steering it as both a succession moment and a foundation-forward character-centered film. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach hints at a classic-referencing strategy without looping the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Expect a marketing push rooted in legacy iconography, first images of characters, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm landing toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical through 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 back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will emphasize. As a summer relief option, this one will chase wide buzz through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format allowing quick reframes to whatever leads the social talk that spring.

Universal has three clear plays. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is tidy, melancholic, and big-hook: a grieving man installs an synthetic partner that mutates into a dangerous lover. The date locates it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to mirror uncanny-valley stunts and bite-size content that melds love and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a name unveil to become an event moment closer to the first trailer. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. His projects are presented as auteur events, with a mystery-first teaser and a second wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor gives the studio room to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a raw, practical-effects forward strategy can feel top-tier on a efficient spend. Look for a blood-soaked summer horror surge that pushes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio books two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, carrying a reliable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is presenting as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both franchise faithful and curious audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign pieces around universe detail, and creature work, elements that can amplify premium screens and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by minute detail and textual fidelity, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is robust.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s slate transition to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a structure that amplifies both initial urgency and sign-up momentum in the later window. Prime Video continues to mix licensed titles with international acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in deep cuts, using in-app campaigns, fright rows, and curated strips to prolong the run on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix stays nimble about internal projects and festival buys, confirming horror entries with shorter lead times and turning into events rollouts with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a paired of limited theatrical footprints and quick platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has been willing to secure select projects with accomplished filmmakers or star-driven packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for retention when the genre conversation intensifies.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 track 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 angle is uncomplicated: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, elevated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has positioned a big-screen first plan for the title, an promising marker for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the fall weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, stewarding the film through festival season if the cut is ready, then using the holiday corridor to expand. That positioning has paid off for director-led genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception justifies. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using mini theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Franchise entries versus originals

By tilt, 2026 bends toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate franchise value. The trade-off, as ever, is overexposure. The near-term solution is to package each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is emphasizing relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a European tilt from a new voice. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a island survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the assembly is familiar enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that respected streaming windows did not foreclose a hybrid test from delivering when the brand was potent. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror rose in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they rotate perspective and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, provides the means for marketing to tie installments through character web and themes and to continue assets in field without dead zones.

Creative tendencies and craft

The craft rooms behind the upcoming entries telegraph a continued shift toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that centers texture and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft journalism and artisan spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and sparks shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-aware reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature work and production design, which fit with fan conventions and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel irresistible. Look for trailers that foreground razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that play in premium auditoriums.

The schedule at a glance

January is loaded. 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 tonal palate cleanser amid macro-brand pushes. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the menu of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Post-January through spring stage summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s 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 lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

End of summer through fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder season window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a slow-reveal plan and limited advance reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s AI companion grows into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. 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 unyielding boss struggle to survive on a uninhabited island as the pecking order upends and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to menace, driven by Cronin’s physical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting premise that interrogates the horror of a child’s unreliable senses. Rating: pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A satire sequel that needles in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime obsessions. Rating: TBA. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 surges, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further opens again, with a unlucky family tethered to returning horrors. Rating: TBD. 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: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A new start designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survivalist horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: not yet rated. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: pending. Production: in progress. 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 period-specific language and primal menace. Rating: TBA. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three grounded forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or re-slotted in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming launches. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can command a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will share space across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to work those windows. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a buffet, 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 goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, acoustics, 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.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is IP strength where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, guard the secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.