Age-old Horror Stirs in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising chiller, debuting Oct 2025 on top digital platforms

An bone-chilling spectral horror tale from writer / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an ancient evil when strangers become conduits in a supernatural ceremony. Going live on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing story of endurance and prehistoric entity that will remodel terror storytelling this cool-weather season. Visualized by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and atmospheric cinema piece follows five unknowns who awaken imprisoned in a off-grid cabin under the hostile rule of Kyra, a female lead dominated by a timeless sacred-era entity. Be prepared to be hooked by a audio-visual venture that combines soul-chilling terror with spiritual backstory, debuting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a historical motif in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is subverted when the forces no longer appear from beyond, but rather within themselves. This depicts the most sinister side of the victims. The result is a emotionally raw internal warfare where the narrative becomes a intense battle between innocence and sin.


In a abandoned wild, five individuals find themselves sealed under the possessive rule and control of a obscure woman. As the youths becomes powerless to reject her rule, abandoned and preyed upon by forces beyond reason, they are cornered to face their inner horrors while the deathwatch brutally moves toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension rises and links collapse, demanding each protagonist to rethink their identity and the integrity of decision-making itself. The threat grow with every beat, delivering a fear-soaked story that harmonizes spiritual fright with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to explore basic terror, an spirit born of forgotten ages, embedding itself in our weaknesses, and confronting a force that forces self-examination when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra called for internalizing something more primal than sorrow. She is uninformed until the haunting manifests, and that transformation is bone-chilling because it is so visceral.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for horror fans beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing fans no matter where they are can dive into this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first trailer, which has pulled in over a viral response.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, making the film to a global viewership.


Witness this unforgettable voyage through terror. Watch *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to explore these nightmarish insights about mankind.


For cast commentary, on-set glimpses, and reveals from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursed across your favorite networks and visit the movie’s homepage.





Horror’s decisive shift: the year 2025 U.S. lineup weaves primeval-possession lore, indie terrors, plus franchise surges

From endurance-driven terror inspired by legendary theology and onward to brand-name continuations and incisive indie visions, 2025 stands to become the richest as well as calculated campaign year in ten years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Major studios plant stakes across the year with known properties, even as premium streamers prime the fall with emerging auteurs together with scriptural shivers. Across the art-house lane, the artisan tier is riding the tailwinds of a peak 2024 circuit. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are intentional, which means 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: The Return of Prestige Fear

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal lights the fuse with a headline swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in a modern-day environment. From director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. landing in mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Directed by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

When summer tapers, Warner’s pipeline drops the final chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson again directs, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: throwback unease, trauma centered writing, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The stakes escalate here, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The new chapter enriches the lore, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, speaking to teens and older millennials. It hits in December, pinning the winter close.

Platform Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold case horror anthology knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a sealed box body horror arc featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

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, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

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. That is a savvy move. No swollen lore. No IP hangover. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, from Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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.

Key Trends

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror comes roaring back
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Season Ahead: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

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



The upcoming scare slate: continuations, new stories, as well as A packed Calendar optimized for goosebumps

Dek The current terror calendar loads from the jump with a January pile-up, after that spreads through the summer months, and continuing into the holidays, balancing brand heft, new concepts, and strategic release strategy. Studios and platforms are betting on right-sized spends, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that shape these releases into broad-appeal conversations.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the bankable play in distribution calendars, a segment that can scale when it resonates and still safeguard the losses when it falls short. After the 2023 year re-taught decision-makers that modestly budgeted pictures can command the zeitgeist, the following year maintained heat with auteur-driven buzzy films and under-the-radar smashes. The carry fed into 2025, where reawakened brands and awards-minded projects made clear there is room for diverse approaches, from franchise continuations to non-IP projects that scale internationally. The upshot for 2026 is a schedule that shows rare alignment across studios, with mapped-out bands, a equilibrium of brand names and fresh ideas, and a recommitted priority on theater exclusivity that power the aftermarket on premium digital and streaming.

Executives say the space now performs as a wildcard on the release plan. Horror can open on open real estate, generate a easy sell for teasers and social clips, and over-index with ticket buyers that come out on early shows and keep coming through the next pass if the picture fires. Exiting a production delay era, the 2026 setup telegraphs certainty in that engine. The slate begins with a busy January run, then taps spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while reserving space for a October build that connects to late October and past the holiday. The layout also shows the tightening integration of specialty arms and streaming partners that can launch in limited release, spark evangelism, and broaden at the strategic time.

A companion trend is series management across connected story worlds and long-running brands. The companies are not just making another entry. They are seeking to position continuity with a occasion, whether that is a art treatment that telegraphs a new vibe or a star attachment that bridges a new installment to a vintage era. At the parallel to that, the writer-directors behind the high-profile originals are championing practical craft, on-set effects and location-forward worlds. That pairing yields 2026 a smart balance of comfort and freshness, which is why the genre exports well.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount fires first with two big-ticket pushes that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the lead, signaling it as both a succession moment and a origin-leaning character study. Production is active in Atlanta, and the artistic posture signals a legacy-leaning angle without repeating the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Watch for a push rooted in franchise iconography, first images of characters, and a tiered teaser plan hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

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 together, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will feature. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will pursue general-audience talk through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format permitting quick updates to whatever tops pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three defined entries. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is tight, somber, and commercial: a grieving man installs an artificial companion that turns into a fatal companion. The date locates it at the front of a front-loaded month, with marketing at Universal likely to mirror strange in-person beats and quick hits that hybridizes love and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title drop to become an marketing beat closer to the initial tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s releases are presented as marquee events, with a mystery-first teaser and a later creative that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The late-October frame opens a lane to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has consistently shown that a in-your-face, makeup-driven strategy can feel big on a moderate cost. Position this as a blood-and-grime summer horror jolt that leans hard into global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio deploys two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, keeping a evergreen supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is selling as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both fans and first-timers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build campaign creative around universe detail, and creature work, elements that can fuel premium format interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in minute detail and language, this time engaging werewolf myth. The distributor has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is robust.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform windowing in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s slate head to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a stair-step that expands both debut momentum and sign-up spikes in the later window. Prime Video continues to mix licensed content with cross-border buys and limited cinema engagements when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library engagement, using prominent placements, holiday hubs, and programmed rows to extend momentum on the horror cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about own-slate titles and festival pickups, dating horror entries near their drops and staging as events go-lives with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a staged of targeted theatrical exposure and quick platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a selective basis. The platform has been willing to invest in select projects with acclaimed directors or celebrity-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for sustained usage when the genre conversation ramps.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 sequence with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is straightforward: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, reimagined for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the autumn weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, stewarding the film through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then turning to the December frame to expand. That positioning has served the company well for filmmaker-driven genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception supports. 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 tandem, using limited runs to ignite evangelism that fuels their audience.

Brands and originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate leans toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use legacy awareness. The risk, as ever, is staleness. The preferred tactic is to package each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is elevating character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French sensibility from a hot helmer. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the team and cast 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 stop a simultaneous release test from hitting when the brand was robust. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror surged in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reframe POV and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, allows marketing to thread films through character arcs and themes and to hold creative in the market without long gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The craft rooms behind this slate forecast a continued preference for hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that emphasizes texture and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and medieval diction, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in feature stories and technical spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that withholds plot, 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 drives shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-referential reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster work and world-building, which play well in booth activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel key. Look for trailers that foreground razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that sing on PLF.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is stacked. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid heavier IP. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the mix of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late Q1 and spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now supports 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 comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Back half into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a tease-and-hold strategy and limited asset reveals that favor idea over plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card burn.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s digital partner turns into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 prickly boss battle to survive on a desolate island as the hierarchy tilts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

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 fresh reimagining that returns the monster to fright, shaped by Cronin’s material craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 household haunting setup that routes the horror through a young child’s volatile personal vantage. Rating: TBD. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-grade and toplined ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A genre lampoon that targets contemporary horror memes and true-crime manias. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. 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 ignites, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new clan entangled with ancient dread. Rating: forthcoming. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A new start designed to reframe have a peek here the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on pure survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: to be announced. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: TBA. Production: underway. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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 era-faithful speech and ancient menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 and why now

Three execution-level forces define this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or rearranged in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more structured 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 dumps. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify bite-size scare clips from test screenings, curated scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can control a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will line up across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 midrange-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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, efficient placements, 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, soundscape, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is recognizable IP where it plays, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep secrets, and let the shocks sell the seats.