Primeval Horror Emerges within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled supernatural thriller, rolling out October 2025 across premium platforms

One frightening unearthly suspense film from creator / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an archaic dread when drifters become subjects in a demonic struggle. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing depiction of living through and forgotten curse that will transform fear-driven cinema this spooky time. Guided by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and shadowy fearfest follows five young adults who emerge locked in a unreachable dwelling under the hostile sway of Kyra, a tormented girl overtaken by a ancient ancient fiend. Arm yourself to be ensnared by a theatrical journey that blends intense horror with ancient myths, coming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a iconic narrative in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is flipped when the malevolences no longer descend from beyond, but rather deep within. This represents the grimmest dimension of the victims. The result is a edge-of-seat internal warfare where the narrative becomes a soul-crushing clash between light and darkness.


In a haunting wilderness, five campers find themselves cornered under the sinister dominion and overtake of a unknown character. As the protagonists becomes vulnerable to reject her command, abandoned and tracked by unknowns beyond reason, they are thrust to acknowledge their inner demons while the doomsday meter without pause winds toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia builds and ties dissolve, requiring each member to examine their personhood and the concept of conscious will itself. The tension mount with every second, delivering a fear-soaked story that blends mystical fear with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to explore raw dread, an entity beyond time, working through emotional fractures, and confronting a power that questions who we are when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra called for internalizing something deeper than fear. She is insensitive until the entity awakens, and that change is bone-chilling because it is so visceral.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for home viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—ensuring customers from coast to coast can experience this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original clip, which has received over massive response.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, giving access to the movie to global fright lovers.


Avoid skipping this mind-warping path of possession. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to explore these haunting secrets about the soul.


For director insights, set experiences, and announcements from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across entertainment pages and visit the movie portal.





Today’s horror sea change: calendar year 2025 U.S. Slate weaves Mythic Possession, festival-born jolts, paired with IP aftershocks

Kicking off with survivor-centric dread saturated with ancient scripture all the way to legacy revivals plus sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 appears poised to be the most stratified as well as blueprinted year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio powerhouses bookend the months via recognizable brands, in parallel SVOD players prime the fall with discovery plays in concert with primordial unease. At the same time, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is drafting behind the kinetic energy of a peak 2024 circuit. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, though in this cycle, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are targeted, accordingly 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: High-craft horror returns

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s pipeline opens the year with a marquee bet: a refreshed Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, inside today’s landscape. From director Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. set for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Helmed by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

At summer’s close, the WB camp bows the concluding entry from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Though the outline is tried, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson resumes command, and the memorable motifs return: old school creep, trauma as text, and eerie supernatural logic. This time, the stakes are raised, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, bridging teens and legacy players. It lands in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Offerings: Low budgets, big teeth

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a close quarters body horror study including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is a near certain autumn drop.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn featuring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. 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 is a smart play. No swollen lore. 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.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Long Running Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, led by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

What to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

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

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The upcoming fear calendar year ahead: Sequels, original films, alongside A busy Calendar designed for nightmares

Dek: The incoming genre year clusters early with a January logjam, before it stretches through the warm months, and pushing into the holiday stretch, balancing brand heft, creative pitches, and data-minded offsets. Studios and platforms are relying on efficient budgets, theatrical leads, and platform-native promos that shape horror entries into national conversation.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The horror sector has proven to be the consistent lever in programming grids, a space that can break out when it connects and still buffer the liability when it underperforms. After the 2023 year demonstrated to buyers that efficiently budgeted pictures can galvanize the national conversation, the following year held pace with buzzy auteur projects and word-of-mouth wins. The energy extended into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and arthouse crossovers confirmed there is appetite for several lanes, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that carry overseas. The sum for the 2026 slate is a lineup that shows rare alignment across the field, with purposeful groupings, a combination of marquee IP and new concepts, and a re-energized priority on exclusive windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium rental and SVOD.

Executives say the category now acts as a swing piece on the schedule. The genre can open on almost any weekend, generate a grabby hook for spots and TikTok spots, and over-index with ticket buyers that come out on advance nights and return through the second frame if the release lands. Coming out of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 rhythm reflects confidence in that engine. The slate commences with a heavy January band, then plants flags in spring and early summer for alternate plays, while carving room for a fall corridor that flows toward Halloween and into post-Halloween. The layout also reflects the tightening integration of indie distributors and streamers that can build gradually, spark evangelism, and broaden at the precise moment.

An added macro current is brand management across unified worlds and long-running brands. Major shops are not just producing another entry. They are seeking to position lineage with a premium feel, whether that is a logo package that suggests a re-angled tone or a casting move that reconnects a new installment to a vintage era. At the concurrently, the auteurs behind the eagerly awaited originals are favoring tactile craft, on-set effects and specific settings. That blend gives the 2026 slate a healthy mix of recognition and shock, which is how the films export.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount fires first with two high-profile bets that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the focus, presenting it as both a passing of the torch and a classic-mode character-driven entry. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the authorial approach conveys a heritage-honoring campaign without retreading the last two entries’ family thread. Count on a promo wave fueled by recognizable motifs, intro reveals, and a rollout cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will stress. As a summer contrast play, this one will hunt wide appeal through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format fitting quick adjustments to whatever dominates the discourse that spring.

Universal has three distinct strategies. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is simple, sorrow-tinged, and easily pitched: a grieving man activates an intelligent companion that unfolds into a fatal companion. The date positions it at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s campaign likely to recreate viral uncanny stunts and brief clips that blurs affection and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a title reveal to become an PR pop closer to the early tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele projects are treated as marquee events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a later creative that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween runway allows Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has long shown that a in-your-face, makeup-driven mix can feel prestige on a mid-range budget. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror surge that pushes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio lines up two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, keeping a bankable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is billing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both loyalists and general audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build campaign pieces around mythos, and monster craft, elements that can fuel deluxe auditorium demand and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by textural authenticity and linguistic texture, this time set against lycan legends. Focus Features has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is glowing.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform windowing in 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s genre entries window into copyright after a cinema and premium rental More about the author phase, a cadence that fortifies both launch urgency and trial spikes in the tail. Prime Video blends licensed films with worldwide buys and short theatrical plays when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in catalog engagement, using curated hubs, October hubs, and curated strips to prolong the run on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix films and festival deals, confirming horror entries with shorter lead times and elevating as drops drops with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a one-two of precision theatrical plays and quick platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown a willingness to purchase select projects with prestige directors or marquee packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 slate with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is uncomplicated: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, updated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then using the holiday dates to expand. That positioning has helped for filmmaker-first horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception justifies. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using limited theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Brands and originals

By weight, 2026 is weighted toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap legacy awareness. The question, as ever, is fatigue. The standing approach is to market each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is foregrounding character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a continental coloration from a hot helmer. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the package is recognizable enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Past-three-year patterns contextualize the model. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that observed windows did not hamper a dual release from performing when the brand was compelling. In 2024, auteur craft horror popped in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reframe POV and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, creates space for marketing to connect the chapters through character arcs and themes and to leave creative active without lulls.

How the films are being made

The craft rooms behind the 2026 entries suggest a continued move toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that emphasizes mood and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in craft journalism and guild coverage before rolling out a preview that keeps plot minimal, a move that has worked 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 audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta pivot that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature and environment design, which favor fan-con activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel must-have. Look for trailers that spotlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that work in PLF.

Release calendar overview

January is jammed. 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 heftier brand moves. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the variety of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Winter into spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

August and September into October leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a bridge slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited pre-release reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can win the holiday when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift card usage.

Embedded title notes

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s digital partner escalates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 difficult boss battle to survive on a desolate island as the control dynamic reverses and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to horror, rooted in Cronin’s in-camera craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting narrative that explores the horror of a child’s tricky senses. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed and star-fronted spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that skewers of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fervors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a another family tethered to returning horrors. Rating: pending. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: deliberately concealed. 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 primal menace. Rating: pending. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three hands-on forces define this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shifted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage social-ready stingers from test screenings, controlled scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, making room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will stack across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to work those windows. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, sound field, and camera work that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand heft where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the shudders sell the seats.