Antediluvian Horror Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled supernatural thriller, launching Oct 2025 on top digital platforms

An bone-chilling unearthly fright fest from author / director Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an age-old force when unrelated individuals become conduits in a cursed ceremony. Launching October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish story of struggle and prehistoric entity that will reimagine the horror genre this Halloween season. Created by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and immersive cinema piece follows five individuals who snap to sealed in a unreachable cabin under the hostile rule of Kyra, a young woman occupied by a biblical-era holy text monster. Ready yourself to be enthralled by a big screen experience that weaves together instinctive fear with biblical origins, streaming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a well-established fixture in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is redefined when the malevolences no longer originate from an outside force, but rather through their own souls. This echoes the shadowy layer of the victims. The result is a emotionally raw psychological battle where the drama becomes a perpetual confrontation between divinity and wickedness.


In a bleak natural abyss, five figures find themselves imprisoned under the sinister rule and inhabitation of a enigmatic apparition. As the team becomes helpless to escape her control, stranded and chased by terrors unfathomable, they are made to acknowledge their worst nightmares while the clock harrowingly counts down toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion rises and alliances collapse, demanding each participant to contemplate their self and the idea of personal agency itself. The stakes amplify with every fleeting time, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that weaves together otherworldly suspense with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to dig into primitive panic, an entity that existed before mankind, filtering through psychological breaks, and questioning a entity that strips down our being when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra required summoning something deeper than fear. She is innocent until the evil takes hold, and that change is bone-chilling because it is so raw.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for on-demand beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—allowing horror lovers globally can witness this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its intro video, which has seen over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, giving access to the movie to a global viewership.


Experience this mind-warping descent into darkness. Explore *Young & Cursed* this launch day to dive into these fearful discoveries about the soul.


For sneak peeks, set experiences, and social posts straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across entertainment pages and visit the official website.





Horror’s tipping point: calendar year 2025 U.S. release slate melds primeval-possession lore, independent shockers, paired with brand-name tremors

Across survivor-centric dread saturated with mythic scripture and stretching into franchise returns paired with focused festival visions, 2025 is emerging as the most stratified combined with strategic year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. Top studios hold down the year with familiar IP, simultaneously premium streamers load up the fall with discovery plays together with scriptural shivers. Meanwhile, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is propelled by the carry from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, though in this cycle, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are exacting, which means 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Premium dread reemerges

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s pipeline fires the first shot with a confident swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a sharp contemporary setting. From director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. landing in mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Directed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer wanes, the WB camp drops the final chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Scott Derrickson is back, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: old school creep, trauma in the foreground, and eerie supernatural logic. The ante is higher this round, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The follow up digs further into canon, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It hits in December, buttoning the final window.

Digital Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a close quarters body horror study fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Then there is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable with Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in 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 looks like sharp programming. No bloated canon. No continuity burden. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. 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. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, with Francis Lawrence directing, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Emerging Currents

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror ascends again
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Forward View: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

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 upcoming fear Year Ahead: entries, standalone ideas, And A jammed Calendar designed for nightmares

Dek The emerging scare slate loads from day one with a January logjam, subsequently spreads through June and July, and running into the holiday frame, balancing marquee clout, fresh ideas, and savvy counterplay. Distributors with platforms are doubling down on tight budgets, big-screen-first runs, and buzz-forward plans that frame genre titles into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The field has turned into the most reliable counterweight in annual schedules, a segment that can scale when it performs and still buffer the downside when it under-delivers. After 2023 reconfirmed for decision-makers that modestly budgeted chillers can own social chatter, 2024 carried the beat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and under-the-radar smashes. The tailwind extended into the 2025 frame, where revivals and arthouse crossovers made clear there is room for different modes, from legacy continuations to one-and-done originals that resonate abroad. The takeaway for 2026 is a lineup that reads highly synchronized across the major shops, with planned clusters, a spread of brand names and new pitches, and a renewed focus on theatrical windows that drive downstream revenue on PVOD and home streaming.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now functions as a schedule utility on the programming map. The genre can kick off on most weekends, yield a grabby hook for trailers and vertical videos, and punch above weight with audiences that come out on preview nights and stay strong through the next weekend if the title fires. Post a work stoppage lag, the 2026 configuration signals conviction in that dynamic. The slate starts with a weighty January run, then exploits spring through early summer for off-slot scheduling, while carving room for a late-year stretch that carries into holiday-adjacent weekends and into the next week. The calendar also reflects the increasing integration of specialized imprints and home platforms that can launch in limited release, spark evangelism, and roll out at the optimal moment.

A parallel macro theme is franchise tending across connected story worlds and legacy IP. Distribution groups are not just producing another follow-up. They are setting up threaded continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a graphic identity that suggests a re-angled tone or a lead change that ties a next entry to a classic era. At the in tandem, the visionaries behind the most buzzed-about originals are embracing in-camera technique, practical effects and grounded locations. That convergence gives the 2026 slate a strong blend of recognition and shock, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount opens strong with two centerpiece entries that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, setting it up as both a handoff and a back-to-basics character-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the artistic posture points to a memory-charged approach without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. A campaign is expected rooted in brand visuals, character spotlights, and a trailer cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will foreground. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will generate broad awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format supporting quick redirects to whatever dominates the discourse that spring.

Universal has three differentiated pushes. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is simple, grief-rooted, and concept-forward: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that mutates into a killer companion. The date places it at the front of a busy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to echo viral uncanny stunts and snackable content that threads love and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a public title to become an event moment closer to the opening teaser. 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 claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele projects are positioned as auteur events, with a concept-forward tease and a follow-up trailer set that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date allows Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright movies window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has established that a gnarly, practical-effects forward approach can feel high-value on a middle budget. Position this as a viscera-heavy summer horror shot that pushes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio launches two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, sustaining a bankable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has moved dates 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 steps back in what the studio is describing as a fresh restart 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 fans and new audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build materials around lore, and monster design, elements that can drive premium format interest and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by rigorous craft and language, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus Features has already locked the day for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is positive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform tactics for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s genre entries feed copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ordering that elevates both initial urgency and subscription bumps in the later window. Prime Video interleaves outside acquisitions with global pickups and short theatrical plays when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library pulls, using prominent placements, spooky hubs, and staff picks to increase tail value on lifetime take. Netflix retains agility about own-slate titles and festival deals, timing horror entries closer to drop and eventizing arrivals with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a dual-phase of precision theatrical plays and rapid platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to pick up select projects with acclaimed directors or marquee packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation swells.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 lane with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is straightforward: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, recalibrated for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late-season weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, piloting the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the year-end corridor to scale. That positioning has shown results for arthouse horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception encourages. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using small theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their audience.

Known brands versus new stories

By count, 2026 tips toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap fan equity. The concern, as ever, is viewer burnout. The workable fix is to sell each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is emphasizing character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-tinted vision from a new voice. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the packaging is steady enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Three-year comps outline the approach. In 2023, a exclusive window model that honored streaming windows did not stop a dual release from working when the brand was powerful. In 2024, art-forward horror outperformed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they pivot perspective and grow scope. 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-step approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to relate entries through cast and motif and to hold creative in the market without pause points.

Craft and creative trends

The craft conversations behind this slate telegraph a continued lean toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that centers mood and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft spotlights before rolling out a tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and gathers shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta recalibration that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature and environment design, which align with booth activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel compelling. Look for trailers that emphasize hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that shine in top rooms.

Month-by-month map

January is heavy. 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 heftier brand moves. The month concludes 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 ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth persists.

February through May prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Shoulder season into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a transitional slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited advance reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s artificial companion shifts into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem 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 comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. 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 severe boss battle to survive on a cut-off island as the hierarchy upends and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. 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 not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to fear, based on Cronin’s tactile craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting premise that routes the horror through a preteen’s uneven subjective view. Rating: TBD. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-supported and headline-actor led ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that teases in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime buzz. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 flares, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a unlucky family snared by lingering terrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-core horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

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

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and bone-deep menace. Rating: pending. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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

Why the moment is 2026

Three operational forces organize this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-sequenced in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on clippable moments from test screenings, curated scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

A fourth factor is programming math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will coexist across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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 cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal 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 cold, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, aural 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 Robust 2026 On Deck

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is franchise muscle where it helps, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, keep the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.