Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens primeval malevolence, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing October 2025 on premium platforms

One frightening unearthly fright fest from writer / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an primeval force when strangers become tokens in a hellish ritual. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching saga of living through and old world terror that will reconstruct genre cinema this scare season. Guided by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and tone-heavy film follows five young adults who regain consciousness isolated in a far-off cabin under the dark command of Kyra, a female lead inhabited by a 2,000-year-old scriptural evil. Steel yourself to be captivated by a visual venture that harmonizes intense horror with ancestral stories, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a mainstay element in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is inverted when the demons no longer form from elsewhere, but rather deep within. This mirrors the grimmest shade of the cast. The result is a enthralling psychological battle where the conflict becomes a brutal battle between virtue and vice.


In a isolated forest, five adults find themselves contained under the ghastly presence and overtake of a unidentified character. As the companions becomes unresisting to withstand her rule, cut off and tracked by unknowns beyond comprehension, they are driven to encounter their greatest panics while the seconds unceasingly pushes forward toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety deepens and teams crack, pressuring each survivor to rethink their being and the philosophy of free will itself. The risk mount with every breath, delivering a fear-soaked story that combines mystical fear with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to evoke ancestral fear, an darkness from prehistory, operating within our weaknesses, and dealing with a force that redefines identity when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra demanded embodying something past sanity. She is uninformed until the takeover begins, and that evolution is deeply unsettling because it is so visceral.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for public screening beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—delivering fans internationally can get immersed in this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original promo, which has received over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, delivering the story to viewers around the world.


Mark your calendar for this bone-rattling fall into madness. Face *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to witness these haunting secrets about our species.


For exclusive trailers, production news, and news from behind the lens, follow @YACFilm across fan hubs and visit youngandcursed.com.





U.S. horror’s Turning Point: calendar year 2025 U.S. calendar blends biblical-possession ideas, Indie Shockers, together with tentpole growls

Ranging from last-stand terror grounded in ancient scripture through to installment follow-ups in concert with pointed art-house angles, 2025 is tracking to be the most textured together with deliberate year in recent memory.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. major banners lay down anchors with established lines, even as SVOD players stack the fall with emerging auteurs alongside ancestral chills. In the indie lane, festival-forward creators is drafting behind the carry from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, but this year, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are calculated, accordingly 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 scales the plan.

the Universal camp sets the tone with a marquee bet: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, instead in a current-day frame. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell anchored 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 joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Guided by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer wanes, the WB camp launches the swan song inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. While the template is known, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re engages, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: old school creep, trauma centered writing, along with eerie supernatural rules. This pass pushes higher, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The return delves further into myth, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It drops in December, pinning the winter close.

Platform Plays: Lean budgets, heavy bite

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a two hander body horror spiral led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is virtually assured for fall.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Written and directed 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. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, 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.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is an astute call. No overweight mythology. No sequel clutter. 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 Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

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 surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, 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 Brands: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

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. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Trends to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror retakes ground
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The 2026 scare slate: entries, Originals, together with A stacked Calendar designed for Scares

Dek: The fresh genre calendar loads at the outset with a January cluster, thereafter stretches through peak season, and pushing into the festive period, balancing IP strength, original angles, and calculated counter-scheduling. Distributors with platforms are committing to right-sized spends, theatrical exclusivity first, and social-fueled campaigns that pivot these films into cross-demo moments.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The genre has turned into the bankable option in programming grids, a pillar that can lift when it breaks through and still insulate the drawdown when it underperforms. After 2023 reassured strategy teams that lean-budget entries can lead the discourse, the following year kept energy high with auteur-driven buzzy films and quiet over-performers. The run carried into 2025, where resurrections and festival-grade titles showed there is an opening for diverse approaches, from ongoing IP entries to one-and-done originals that play globally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a programming that presents tight coordination across companies, with strategic blocks, a pairing of marquee IP and new packages, and a tightened attention on theater exclusivity that drive downstream revenue on premium digital rental and subscription services.

Studio leaders note the genre now behaves like a wildcard on the release plan. The genre can bow on virtually any date, generate a quick sell for marketing and platform-native cuts, and punch above weight with patrons that arrive on Thursday nights and stay strong through the week two if the feature connects. Coming out of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 rhythm signals confidence in that playbook. The slate commences with a crowded January stretch, then plants flags in spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while carving room for a fall run that reaches into late October and into the next week. The layout also illustrates the deeper integration of arthouse labels and OTT outlets that can develop over weeks, ignite recommendations, and widen at the precise moment.

Another broad trend is series management across shared universes and legacy IP. Studio teams are not just rolling another next film. They are looking to package brand continuity with a specialness, whether that is a typeface approach that suggests a reframed mood or a lead change that anchors a next entry to a original cycle. At the parallel to that, the visionaries behind the marquee originals are favoring physical effects work, in-camera effects and vivid settings. That alloy gives 2026 a smart balance of assurance and newness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount establishes early momentum with two front-of-slate titles that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the focus, setting it up as both a handoff and a DNA-forward character-driven entry. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the directional approach indicates a memory-charged campaign without recycling the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. The studio is likely to mount a drive stacked with brand visuals, first-look character reveals, and a trailer cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will spotlight. As a summer counter-slot, this one will go after four-quadrant chatter through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format inviting quick pivots to whatever drives the discourse that spring.

Universal has three specific bets. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is efficient, loss-driven, and big-hook: a grieving man implements an artificial companion that becomes a perilous partner. The date sets it at the front of a thick month, with the Universal machine likely to recreate creepy live activations and short reels that interweaves companionship and chill.

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 public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a official title to become an attention spike closer to the initial promo. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s work are treated as marquee events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a next wave of trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date allows Universal to fill 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, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a blood-soaked, practical-effects forward mix can feel cinematic on a middle budget. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror jolt that leans into offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio rolls out two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, keeping a reliable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what Sony is marketing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both longtime followers and new audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build artifacts around narrative world, and creature design, elements that can increase premium screens and community activity.

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 carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in textural authenticity and language, this time set against lycan legends. The label has already locked the day for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is enthusiastic.

How the platforms plan to play it

Windowing plans in 2026 run on well-known grooves. The studio’s horror films flow to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a tiered path that optimizes both FOMO and viewer acquisition in the tail. Prime Video combines third-party pickups with worldwide entries and small theatrical windows when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library curation, using curated hubs, genre hubs, and editorial rows to extend momentum on overall cume. Netflix retains agility about originals and festival acquisitions, finalizing horror entries near their drops and turning into events debuts with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a laddered of precision theatrical plays and swift platform pivots that turns chatter to conversion. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a curated basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to invest in select projects with recognized filmmakers or star packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly activity when the genre conversation spikes.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 slate with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is clear: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, refined for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the late-season weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then working the holiday slot to go wider. That positioning has helped for craft-driven horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception justifies. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON get redirected here title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using limited theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their audience.

Brands and originals

By skew, 2026 leans toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate brand equity. The caveat, as ever, is audience fatigue. The operating solution is to sell each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is bringing forward character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-flavored turn from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and visionary-led titles keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the cast-creatives package is assuring enough to spark pre-sales and early previews.

Recent-year comps illuminate the approach. In 2023, a exclusive window model that kept clean windows did not hamper a simultaneous release test from thriving when the brand was sticky. In 2024, precision craft horror popped in PLF. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they angle differently and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues 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 shot in tandem, lets marketing to connect the chapters through relationships and themes and to hold creative in the market without long breaks.

How the films are being made

The creative meetings behind the upcoming entries signal a continued preference for in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that centers creep and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and era-correct language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft coverage before rolling out a initial teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and produces shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta pivot that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature execution and sets, which work nicely for con floor moments and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that highlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that land in premium houses.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

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 moody palate cleanser amid larger brand plays. The navigate here month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the mix of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Late Q1 and spring prime the summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a early fall window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a minimalist tease strategy and limited asset reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can win the holiday when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and holiday gift-card burn.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s intelligent companion evolves into something lethally affectionate. 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: atmospheric 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 fight to survive on a lonely island as the control dynamic upends and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 in the vault in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to nightmare, grounded in Cronin’s physical craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: 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 tale that threads the dread through a youth’s uneven point of view. Rating: rating pending. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that lampoons current genre trends and true crime fixations. Rating: TBD. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites ignites, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new family lashed to residual nightmares. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survivalist horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: to be announced. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBD. Production: moving forward. 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 historical diction and raw menace. Rating: TBD. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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

Why 2026 and why now

Three grounded forces inform this lineup. First, production that downshifted or re-slotted in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work repeatable beats from test screenings, managed scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

There is also the slotting calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can command a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will line up across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can make hay in 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 sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, 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 scale over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, soundcraft, and cinematography 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

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is franchise muscle where it helps, inventive vision where it helps, 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, lock the reveals, and let the frights sell the seats.