Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases mythic darkness, a nightmare fueled supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 across top digital platforms

This eerie ghostly thriller from screenwriter / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an age-old dread when newcomers become vehicles in a hellish maze. Dropping this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a intense portrayal of resilience and age-old darkness that will resculpt terror storytelling this fall. Created by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and gothic thriller follows five figures who regain consciousness ensnared in a unreachable house under the ominous influence of Kyra, a mysterious girl possessed by a biblical-era holy text monster. Brace yourself to be ensnared by a immersive venture that integrates raw fear with folklore, arriving on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a classic pillar in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is inverted when the forces no longer emerge from an outside force, but rather inside them. This marks the grimmest side of the cast. The result is a riveting spiritual tug-of-war where the emotions becomes a relentless conflict between divinity and wickedness.


In a unforgiving wild, five friends find themselves isolated under the fiendish presence and control of a elusive spirit. As the companions becomes submissive to reject her rule, detached and tormented by creatures mind-shattering, they are obligated to acknowledge their core terrors while the clock harrowingly strikes toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease intensifies and links break, coercing each person to evaluate their self and the principle of autonomy itself. The pressure mount with every heartbeat, delivering a terror ride that weaves together unearthly horror with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to dive into ancestral fear, an entity before modern man, influencing emotional fractures, and dealing with a spirit that forces self-examination when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra needed manifesting something past sanity. She is insensitive until the spirit seizes her, and that evolution is bone-chilling because it is so internal.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for home viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring households around the globe can enjoy this demonic journey.


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


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, spreading the horror to a global viewership.


Mark your calendar for this gripping trip into the unknown. Confront *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to uncover these chilling revelations about inner darkness.


For sneak peeks, on-set glimpses, and press updates from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across Facebook and TikTok and visit the official movie site.





Current horror’s major pivot: 2025 stateside slate interlaces primeval-possession lore, Indie Shockers, plus brand-name tremors

From grit-forward survival fare suffused with near-Eastern lore and onward to legacy revivals together with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is tracking to be the most complex as well as intentionally scheduled year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. the big studios hold down the year with franchise anchors, while subscription platforms prime the fall with first-wave breakthroughs and ancestral chills. In parallel, the art-house flank is surfing the echoes of a banner 2024 fest year. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, but this year, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are disciplined, therefore 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Premium genre swings back

The majors are assertive. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s slate begins the calendar with a bold swing: a modernized Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, instead in a current-day frame. From director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. timed for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Helmed by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

By late summer, Warner Bros. Pictures unveils the final movement of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. While the template is known, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: old school creep, trauma driven plotting, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The bar is raised this go, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The new chapter enriches the lore, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It bows in December, locking down the winter tail.

Digital Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a room scale body horror descent with 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 comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Shaped and helmed 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. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is an astute call. No bloated canon. No IP hangover. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy IP: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, led by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. 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.

Trends to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
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 extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
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.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Big screen is a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

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

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The oncoming terror slate: follow-ups, non-franchise titles, alongside A Crowded Calendar optimized for jolts

Dek: The current genre season stacks at the outset with a January logjam, subsequently spreads through June and July, and pushing into the holiday frame, braiding series momentum, original angles, and well-timed calendar placement. The big buyers and platforms are relying on right-sized spends, theater-first strategies, and platform-native promos that transform the slate’s entries into culture-wide discussion.

How the genre looks for 2026

This space has turned into the steady release in release strategies, a corner that can accelerate when it lands and still insulate the drawdown when it stumbles. After 2023 proved to decision-makers that cost-conscious fright engines can lead the discourse, the following year continued the surge with visionary-driven titles and under-the-radar smashes. The carry flowed into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and filmmaker-prestige bets made clear there is capacity for a spectrum, from ongoing IP entries to director-led originals that translate worldwide. The sum for 2026 is a run that reads highly synchronized across the field, with purposeful groupings, a equilibrium of marquee IP and first-time concepts, and a recommitted priority on release windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium digital rental and subscription services.

Planners observe the genre now serves as a plug-and-play option on the schedule. The genre can arrive on numerous frames, generate a easy sell for marketing and platform-native cuts, and exceed norms with viewers that turn out on preview nights and maintain momentum through the next pass if the entry connects. Coming out of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 setup telegraphs confidence in that dynamic. The calendar opens with a busy January lineup, then uses spring and early summer for audience offsets, while holding room for a autumn stretch that flows toward late October and past the holiday. The calendar also includes the increasing integration of arthouse labels and streaming partners that can stage a platform run, fuel WOM, and roll out at the sweet spot.

A second macro trend is IP stewardship across unified worlds and classic IP. Major shops are not just pushing another chapter. They are seeking to position lineage with a premium feel, whether that is a brandmark that conveys a refreshed voice or a ensemble decision that ties a latest entry to a heyday. At the alongside this, the creative leads behind the most anticipated originals are favoring hands-on technique, special makeup and place-driven backdrops. That convergence hands 2026 a vital pairing of comfort and discovery, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount opens strong with two big-ticket moves that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the spine, positioning the film as both a relay and a foundation-forward relationship-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach signals a roots-evoking strategy without covering again the last two entries’ sibling arc. Plan for a rollout leaning on franchise iconography, initial cast looks, and a rollout cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will stress. As a counterweight in summer, this one will hunt wide buzz through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format permitting quick adjustments to whatever defines the discourse that spring.

Universal has three discrete releases. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is crisp, somber, and easily pitched: a grieving man activates an AI companion that mutates into a lethal partner. The date slots it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s promo team likely to bring back strange in-person beats and short-cut promos that blurs companionship and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a public title to become an marketing beat closer to the first trailer. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele projects are set up as marquee events, with a concept-forward tease and a next wave of trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The pre-Halloween slot opens a lane to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work 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 helms, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has consistently shown that a flesh-and-blood, prosthetic-heavy method can feel elevated on a controlled budget. Look for a red-band summer horror shock that emphasizes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio mounts two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, carrying a consistent supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is positioning as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both core fans and new audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build marketing units around world-building, and creature work, elements that can increase deluxe auditorium demand and fan events.

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 Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in rigorous craft and period language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The company has already locked the day for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is robust.

Platform lanes and windowing

Windowing plans in 2026 run on proven patterns. The studio’s horror films land on copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a pacing that boosts both premiere heat and sign-up spikes in the tail. Prime Video pairs catalogue additions with international acquisitions and small theatrical windows when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library curation, using curated hubs, holiday hubs, and staff picks to maximize the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps optionality about original films and festival deals, scheduling horror entries with shorter lead times and turning into events releases with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a staged of precision releases and prompt platform moves that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a curated basis. The platform has shown appetite to invest in select projects with top-tier auteurs or celebrity-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation swells.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 pipeline with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is straightforward: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, refined for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has positioned a big-screen first plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the back half.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then deploying the year-end corridor to expand. That positioning has been successful for craft-driven horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates 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 widen if reception supports. Watch for 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 hand in hand, using boutique theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their audience.

Balance of brands and originals

By share, 2026 tilts in favor of the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on legacy awareness. The watch-out, as ever, is audience fatigue. The practical approach is to sell each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is emphasizing character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a European tilt from a emerging director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and director-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the assembly is steady enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Comps from the last three years illuminate the logic. In 2023, a exclusive window model that preserved streaming windows did not foreclose a dual release from performing when the brand was robust. In 2024, auteur craft horror outperformed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they shift POV and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, lets marketing to bridge entries through character and theme and to continue assets in field without dead zones.

Behind-the-camera trends

The shop talk behind this slate foreshadow a continued shift toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that emphasizes tone and tension rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and medieval diction, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft features before rolling out a tone piece that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at gristle and gore, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and sparks shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta inflection that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster aesthetics and world-building, which favor booth activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel compelling. Look for trailers that accent pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that shine in top rooms.

Release calendar overview

January is loaded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid heavier IP. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the variety of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Late winter and spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. this website Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder season window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited previews that favor idea over plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s genome. 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 sorrowing man’s synthetic partner becomes something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished 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 rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her prickly boss battle to survive on a remote island as the pecking order swivels and unease intensifies. 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 under wraps in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to fear, based on Cronin’s tactile craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting piece that routes the horror through a little one’s uneven subjective lens. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-built and star-led paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A send-up revival that skewers today’s horror trends and true-crime obsessions. Rating: TBA. Production: lensing scheduled 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 spreads, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a fresh family snared by older hauntings. Rating: to be announced. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-driven horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: More about the author Kept under wraps by design. Rating: forthcoming. Production: moving forward. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and bone-deep menace. Rating: TBA. 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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why this year, why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces drive this lineup. First, production that paused or re-slotted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming landings. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work repeatable beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, freeing space for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will cluster across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, 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 breakout hunt 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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, Young & Cursed May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, sound, 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

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand gravity where needed, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep secrets, and let the shocks sell the seats.