Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing October 2025 on premium platforms

An bone-chilling metaphysical shockfest from screenwriter / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an ancient dread when unknowns become subjects in a cursed ritual. Airings begin on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing episode of resistance and old world terror that will reimagine genre cinema this cool-weather season. Crafted by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and atmospheric screenplay follows five teens who are stirred stuck in a wooded wooden structure under the malevolent manipulation of Kyra, a troubled woman inhabited by a time-worn holy text monster. Anticipate to be drawn in by a filmic display that intertwines primitive horror with arcane tradition, dropping on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a well-established pillar in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is redefined when the fiends no longer appear outside their bodies, but rather inside them. This depicts the haunting version of every character. The result is a emotionally raw emotional conflict where the tension becomes a relentless conflict between good and evil.


In a desolate no-man's-land, five campers find themselves isolated under the ominous aura and spiritual invasion of a shadowy spirit. As the group becomes powerless to withstand her curse, exiled and targeted by terrors unimaginable, they are required to battle their soulful dreads while the countdown coldly winds toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust builds and teams erode, pressuring each survivor to evaluate their true nature and the concept of autonomy itself. The cost surge with every heartbeat, delivering a paranormal ride that harmonizes ghostly evil with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to tap into elemental fright, an evil that existed before mankind, manifesting in inner turmoil, and dealing with a evil that threatens selfhood when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra was centered on something beneath mortal despair. She is blind until the curse activates, and that turn is harrowing because it is so personal.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for audiences beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—ensuring users in all regions can witness this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its original promo, which has gathered over a viral response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, presenting the nightmare to horror fans worldwide.


Tune in for this life-altering journey into fear. Join *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to experience these spiritual awakenings about mankind.


For bonus footage, filmmaker commentary, and news straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACFilm across social media and visit the official website.





Horror’s sea change: the year 2025 U.S. Slate melds legend-infused possession, festival-born jolts, paired with brand-name tremors

Spanning endurance-driven terror infused with ancient scripture and stretching into canon extensions and keen independent perspectives, 2025 is shaping up as the most variegated plus strategic year since the mid-2010s.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio powerhouses lock in tentpoles with franchise anchors, in parallel premium streamers load up the fall with fresh voices together with mythic dread. In the indie lane, festival-forward creators is drafting behind the momentum of a banner 2024 fest year. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, yet in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are calculated, thus 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige terror resurfaces

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s schedule leads off the quarter with a risk-forward move: a refreshed Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Led by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Booked into mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Directed by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

By late summer, the Warner Bros. banner rolls out the capstone from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re boards, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: throwback unease, trauma foregrounded, and eerie supernatural logic. The bar is raised this go, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The return delves further into myth, builds out the animatronic fear crew, reaching teens and game grownups. It arrives in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Platform Plays: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a tight space body horror vignette anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable with Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Scripted and led 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. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It reads as sharp positioning. No overinflated mythology. No legacy baggage. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

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 rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing 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.

Franchise Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Signals and Trends

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror retakes ground
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

What’s Next: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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 anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

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 plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The coming 2026 fear cycle: follow-ups, new stories, paired with A hectic Calendar designed for goosebumps

Dek The brand-new scare calendar packs early with a January bottleneck, before it runs through summer corridors, and far into the holidays, fusing name recognition, creative pitches, and strategic calendar placement. Distributors with platforms are committing to smart costs, theatrical-first rollouts, and platform-native promos that shape these pictures into water-cooler talk.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The field has solidified as the dependable lever in studio slates, a genre that can grow when it clicks and still mitigate the liability when it underperforms. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for leaders that mid-range genre plays can galvanize cultural conversation, the following year kept the drumbeat going with auteur-driven buzzy films and sleeper breakouts. The trend moved into 2025, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers highlighted there is appetite for a spectrum, from continued chapters to director-led originals that perform internationally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a slate that reads highly synchronized across the market, with clear date clusters, a pairing of household franchises and fresh ideas, and a re-energized stance on exhibition windows that drive downstream revenue on premium video on demand and platforms.

Studio leaders note the space now behaves like a versatile piece on the slate. Horror can open on open real estate, create a tight logline for previews and UGC-friendly snippets, and outpace with crowds that show up on first-look nights and stick through the follow-up frame if the movie hits. Emerging from a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 layout demonstrates assurance in that logic. The slate starts with a busy January window, then plants flags in spring and early summer for contrast, while keeping space for a October build that stretches into holiday-adjacent weekends and past Halloween. The calendar also includes the expanded integration of indie arms and platforms that can build gradually, build word of mouth, and broaden at the precise moment.

A further high-level trend is IP stewardship across brand ecosystems and legacy IP. Distribution groups are not just rolling another continuation. They are shaping as threaded continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a logo package that flags a reframed mood or a lead change that bridges a new entry to a vintage era. At the concurrently, the writer-directors behind the eagerly awaited originals are leaning into real-world builds, makeup and prosthetics and vivid settings. That mix produces 2026 a solid mix of trust and discovery, which is the formula for international play.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount fires first with two prominent entries that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the core, marketing it as both a baton pass and a DNA-forward relationship-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the directional approach signals a heritage-honoring campaign without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Watch for a push leaning on heritage visuals, early character teases, and a promo sequence hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

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 set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will spotlight. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will hunt mainstream recognition through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format allowing quick turns to whatever tops the social talk that spring.

Universal has three clear strategies. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is tight, soulful, and high-concept: a grieving man installs an AI companion that shifts into a killer companion. The date places it at the front of a competition-heavy movies month, with Universal’s team likely to mirror uncanny live moments and brief clips that mixes romance and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a title drop to become an fan moment closer to the initial tease. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele titles are branded as must-see filmmaker statements, with a hinting teaser and a second beat that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The prime October weekend opens a lane to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage 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 guides, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has long shown that a tactile, hands-on effects method can feel elevated on a efficient spend. Expect a grime-caked summer horror charge that emphasizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio lines up two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, keeping a consistent supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is billing as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both longtime followers and new audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build promo materials around lore, and monster craft, elements that can lift premium screens and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by rigorous craft and dialect, this time circling werewolf lore. The specialty arm has already set the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is strong.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Windowing plans in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre entries flow to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a cadence that optimizes both week-one demand and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video combines licensed films with global acquisitions and limited runs in theaters when the data points to it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in catalog engagement, using curated hubs, horror hubs, and curated strips to sustain interest on 2026 genre cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about original films and festival pickups, confirming horror entries tight to release and positioning as this page event drops arrivals with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a paired of precision releases and speedy platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a curated basis. The platform has signaled readiness to buy select projects with top-tier auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation builds.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 runway 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 offer is clean: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, retooled for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical-first plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the September weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then leveraging the Christmas corridor to increase reach. That positioning has proved effective for filmmaker-driven genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception supports. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using precision theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Series vs standalone

By tilt, the 2026 slate leans toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on fan equity. The challenge, as ever, is viewer burnout. The preferred tactic is to sell each entry as a new angle. Paramount is leading with relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-tinted vision from a ascendant talent. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the packaging is assuring enough to build pre-sales and early previews.

Past-three-year patterns contextualize the method. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that maintained windows did not obstruct a dual release from performing when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror rose in premium screens. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reorient and increase ambition. 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to connect the chapters through character web and themes and to sustain campaign assets without long gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft rooms behind this slate foreshadow a continued preference for tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow 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 set for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that spotlights grain and menace rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft features before rolling out a tone piece that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and produces shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-referential reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature work and production design, which play well in fan conventions and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that highlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that sing on PLF.

The schedule at a glance

January is heavy. 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 larger brand plays. The month closes 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 stiff, but the palette of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Pre-summer months stage summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

August into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a shoulder season window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a minimalist tease strategy and limited information drops that trade in concept over detail.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card use.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s virtual companion mutates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished 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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

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 meet a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 scramble to survive on a isolated island as the power balance of power flips and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

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 renewed vision that returns the monster to fright, founded on Cronin’s material craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting setup that leverages the fright of a child’s tricky interpretations. Rating: to be announced. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural 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 spoof revival that satirizes of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime crazes. Rating: undetermined. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 detonates, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further reopens, with a unlucky family anchored to older hauntings. Rating: TBA. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A reboot designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survivalist horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: pending. Production: proceeding. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on historical diction and raw menace. Rating: TBD. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three operational forces define this lineup. First, production that stalled or reshuffled in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more Young & Cursed 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 beaten straight-to-streaming launches. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, curated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, making room for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will trade weekends across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where lean-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 capitalize on those pockets. 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. 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.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, audio design, and picture 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

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is IP strength where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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, cut sharp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the shocks sell the seats.