Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons ancient dread, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, landing Oct 2025 on global platforms

One blood-curdling occult thriller from author / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an age-old nightmare when outsiders become pawns in a supernatural contest. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching account of overcoming and old world terror that will redefine horror this scare season. Crafted by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and eerie cinema piece follows five lost souls who find themselves caught in a remote house under the aggressive manipulation of Kyra, a troubled woman claimed by a 2,000-year-old biblical demon. Brace yourself to be ensnared by a big screen event that intertwines intense horror with timeless legends, coming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a long-standing narrative in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is reversed when the spirits no longer originate from elsewhere, but rather inside them. This echoes the malevolent corner of all involved. The result is a edge-of-seat cognitive warzone where the story becomes a brutal fight between right and wrong.


In a haunting wilderness, five campers find themselves marooned under the dark rule and infestation of a haunted figure. As the protagonists becomes vulnerable to withstand her influence, abandoned and pursued by entities unimaginable, they are obligated to face their worst nightmares while the deathwatch harrowingly edges forward toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease amplifies and teams fracture, requiring each participant to contemplate their true nature and the nature of free will itself. The cost mount with every breath, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that marries demonic fright with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to dig into deep fear, an evil born of forgotten ages, channeling itself through human fragility, and examining a will that redefines identity when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra meant evoking something outside normal anguish. She is ignorant until the invasion happens, and that flip is haunting because it is so internal.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for digital release beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—allowing households across the world can dive into this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its first trailer, which has received over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, giving access to the movie to global fright lovers.


Avoid skipping this unforgettable descent into darkness. Explore *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to confront these haunting secrets about human nature.


For director insights, set experiences, and announcements straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across platforms and visit the official digital haunt.





Modern horror’s sea change: the 2025 season U.S. rollouts weaves myth-forward possession, festival-born jolts, paired with brand-name tremors

From life-or-death fear inspired by mythic scripture and onward to IP renewals alongside surgical indie voices, 2025 is coalescing into the most variegated paired with strategic year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. top-tier distributors lay down anchors with familiar IP, at the same time digital services stack the fall with unboxed visions together with primordial unease. In parallel, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is drafting behind the backdraft from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The fall stretch is the proving field, yet in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are intentional, and 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The majors are assertive. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 doubles down.

Universal fires the first shot with an audacious swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a crisp modern milieu. With Leigh Whannell at the helm featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. Slated for mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Eli Craig directs anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. bows the concluding entry of its steadiest horror franchise: 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. Though the outline is tried, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson returns, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: nostalgic menace, trauma driven plotting, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This time, the stakes are raised, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It books December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streamer Exclusives: Slim budgets, major punch

While the big screen favors titles you know, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a body horror chamber piece led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story led by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked 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. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by 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 menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in 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 looks like sharp programming. No bloated mythology. No canon weight. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Long Running Lines: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, from Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Signals and Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror reemerges
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: 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 will scrap for air. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The approaching chiller slate: follow-ups, non-franchise titles, alongside A packed Calendar tailored for shocks

Dek: The new genre calendar loads immediately with a January traffic jam, following that extends through the warm months, and deep into the December corridor, fusing IP strength, untold stories, and tactical alternatives. The major players are prioritizing cost discipline, cinema-first plans, and buzz-forward plans that frame genre titles into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The field has emerged as the steady release in release strategies, a vertical that can spike when it clicks and still protect the exposure when it falls short. After the 2023 year re-taught decision-makers that cost-conscious fright engines can own cultural conversation, 2024 extended the rally with auteur-driven buzzy films and slow-burn breakouts. The carry moved into 2025, where re-entries and premium-leaning entries showed there is an opening for different modes, from sequel tracks to filmmaker-driven originals that carry overseas. The result for 2026 is a lineup that feels more orchestrated than usual across the major shops, with purposeful groupings, a mix of household franchises and original hooks, and a sharpened eye on theatrical windows that drive downstream revenue on premium rental and home streaming.

Buyers contend the category now functions as a flex slot on the programming map. The genre can debut on many corridors, generate a sharp concept for trailers and social clips, and outpace with fans that lean in on previews Thursday and stick through the next pass if the release works. Coming out of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 pattern shows conviction in that approach. The calendar rolls out with a crowded January band, then targets spring into early summer for counterweight, while leaving room for a autumn push that runs into spooky season and afterwards. The gridline also shows the tightening integration of indie distributors and SVOD players that can grow from platform, generate chatter, and move wide at the inflection point.

A second macro trend is franchise tending across linked properties and established properties. Big banners are not just rolling another next film. They are seeking to position story carry-over with a sense of event, whether that is a title design that signals a new vibe or a lead change that links a latest entry to a vintage era. At the concurrently, the writer-directors behind the high-profile originals are prioritizing hands-on technique, special makeup and place-driven backdrops. That interplay yields 2026 a healthy mix of known notes and discovery, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount plants an early flag with two marquee pushes that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the front, positioning the film as both a relay and a origin-leaning relationship-driven entry. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance conveys a throwback-friendly bent without replaying the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Count on a promo wave built on signature symbols, character spotlights, and a tease cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will stress. As a counterweight in summer, this one will build broad awareness through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format making room for quick pivots to whatever tops pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three unique pushes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is simple, loss-driven, and easily pitched: a grieving man onboards an algorithmic mate that shifts into a dangerous lover. The date lines it up at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to renew off-kilter promo beats and short-cut promos that fuses attachment and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a proper title to become an teaser payoff closer to the initial tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele titles are branded as auteur events, with a teaser that holds back and a subsequent trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The late-month date gives the studio room to saturate 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has long shown that a in-your-face, on-set effects led strategy can feel prestige on a controlled budget. Look for a gore-forward summer horror blast that maximizes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio books two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, maintaining a trusty supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is presenting as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both core fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build promo materials around lore, and creature effects, elements that can fuel deluxe auditorium demand and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by obsessive craft and historical speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. The distributor has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is glowing.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform plans for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal titles land on copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a pacing that optimizes both week-one demand and subscription bumps in the downstream. Prime Video stitches together licensed titles with global acquisitions and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library engagement, using timely promos, October hubs, and staff picks to sustain interest on 2026 genre cume. Netflix retains agility about Netflix films and festival acquisitions, slotting horror entries with shorter lead times and turning into events launches with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a staged of selective theatrical runs and fast windowing that drives paid trials from buzz. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown a willingness to secure select projects with recognized filmmakers or star-driven packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for sustained usage when the genre conversation intensifies.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is curating a 2026 track with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is simple: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, recalibrated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a cinema-first plan for the title, an promising marker for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the October weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday corridor to increase reach. That positioning has been successful for director-led genre with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception merits. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using targeted theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their user base.

Known brands versus new stories

By proportion, 2026 tilts in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness name recognition. The caveat, as ever, is viewer burnout. The standing approach is to pitch each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is underscoring character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-accented approach from a rising filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries supply the oxygen. 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, centers Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with Raimi’s 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 recognizable brand, the configuration is comforting enough to generate pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Past-three-year patterns make sense of the model. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that held distribution windows did not obstruct a same-day experiment from performing when the brand was robust. In 2024, auteur craft horror over-performed in PLF. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they reorient and stretch the story. 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 two-film strategy, with chapters produced back-to-back, allows marketing to cross-link entries through protagonists and motifs and to keep assets in-market without doldrums.

How the films are being made

The creative meetings behind this slate telegraph a continued tilt toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that emphasizes texture and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and era-true language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in deep-dive features and guild coverage before rolling out a atmospheric tease that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and sparks shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a self-referential reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature design and production design, which work nicely for fan-con activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel definitive. Look for trailers that highlight fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that explode in larger rooms.

Release calendar overview

January is busy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid big-brand pushes. The month buttons 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 serious, but the variety of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

Post-January through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now backs 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 spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can thrive 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 excelled. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely check my blog backed by a opaque tease strategy and limited previews that elevate concept over story.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card burn.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to 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 loss-struck man’s artificial companion turns into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete 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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: gothic-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 tough boss scramble to survive on a far-flung island as the power balance swivels and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to terror, based on Cronin’s practical craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting piece that explores the fear of a child’s wobbly impressions. Rating: to be announced. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that targets in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime buzz. Rating: to be announced. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 bursts, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further opens again, with a different family linked to residual nightmares. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A restart designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survivalist horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: to be announced. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and elemental fear. Rating: pending. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. 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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 lands now

Three execution-level forces organize this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or migrated in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and compressed 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 beaten straight-to-streaming placements. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on bite-size scare clips from test screenings, metered scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Calendar math also matters. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can control a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will cluster across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, 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 cost-efficient genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first surprise 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. Expect a healthy 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 journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, horror May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with 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 tactility, 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.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand equity where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.