Antediluvian Evil Stirs in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding horror thriller, launching October 2025 on major platforms

An hair-raising spiritual shockfest from cinematographer / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an prehistoric nightmare when unfamiliar people become instruments in a malevolent struggle. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching story of perseverance and timeless dread that will resculpt fear-driven cinema this ghoul season. Helmed by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and shadowy motion picture follows five characters who come to trapped in a unreachable structure under the oppressive influence of Kyra, a young woman claimed by a biblical-era sacred-era entity. Anticipate to be immersed by a filmic event that blends intense horror with arcane tradition, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a legendary theme in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is redefined when the monsters no longer descend outside their bodies, but rather through their own souls. This symbolizes the malevolent part of the players. The result is a intense identity crisis where the story becomes a constant clash between innocence and sin.


In a bleak backcountry, five individuals find themselves marooned under the ghastly rule and possession of a obscure figure. As the cast becomes incapacitated to withstand her command, left alone and stalked by powers unfathomable, they are compelled to reckon with their deepest fears while the seconds harrowingly moves toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety deepens and teams shatter, coercing each individual to examine their being and the nature of liberty itself. The stakes grow with every beat, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that marries otherworldly suspense with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to evoke elemental fright, an curse before modern man, feeding on our fears, and confronting a evil that questions who we are when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra meant channeling something darker than pain. She is clueless until the spirit seizes her, and that transformation is shocking because it is so unshielded.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be released for streaming beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—so that horror lovers worldwide can survive this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its release of trailer #1, which has received over massive response.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, presenting the nightmare to thrill-seekers globally.


Make sure to see this life-altering ride through nightmares. Explore *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to dive into these spiritual awakenings about the psyche.


For cast commentary, special features, and social posts from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across social media and visit our spooky domain.





U.S. horror’s Turning Point: 2025 U.S. Slate integrates ancient-possession motifs, independent shockers, and Franchise Rumbles

Across pressure-cooker survival tales suffused with legendary theology and stretching into brand-name continuations and focused festival visions, 2025 is coalescing into the genre’s most multifaceted combined with intentionally scheduled year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. studio powerhouses hold down the year using marquee IP, in parallel subscription platforms stack the fall with unboxed visions together with scriptural shivers. On the independent axis, the independent cohort is surfing the momentum from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween stays the prime week, the other windows are mapped with care. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and now, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are targeted, therefore 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: High-craft horror returns

The majors are assertive. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s slate sets the tone with a bold swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, in a modern-day environment. Steered by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. Booked into mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. From director Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

At summer’s close, Warner Bros. Pictures launches the swan song from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Though the outline is tried, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 follows. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re engages, and the tone that worked before is intact: retrograde shiver, trauma foregrounded, with ghostly inner logic. The stakes escalate here, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, builds out the animatronic fear crew, bridging teens and legacy players. It hits in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Offerings: Tight funds, wide impact

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is destined for a fall landing.

Then there is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga with Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, 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 horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. 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.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No puffed out backstory. No legacy baggage. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

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

Platform originals gain bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

What’s Next: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The approaching chiller release year: follow-ups, non-franchise titles, alongside A packed Calendar optimized for jolts

Dek The fresh genre calendar loads from day one with a January cluster, thereafter stretches through the warm months, and carrying into the year-end corridor, braiding series momentum, original angles, and well-timed calendar placement. The big buyers and platforms are betting on responsible budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and platform-native promos that transform the slate’s entries into culture-wide discussion.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has turned into the most reliable counterweight in annual schedules, a lane that can expand when it resonates and still safeguard the exposure when it does not. After 2023 reminded top brass that cost-conscious horror vehicles can drive the discourse, 2024 kept energy high with filmmaker-forward plays and unexpected risers. The head of steam pushed into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and awards-minded projects made clear there is room for a spectrum, from continued chapters to original features that travel well. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a schedule that looks unusually coordinated across players, with strategic blocks, a combination of known properties and novel angles, and a re-energized stance on exhibition windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium rental and subscription services.

Schedulers say the category now slots in as a plug-and-play option on the calendar. The genre can arrive on most weekends, yield a quick sell for ad units and vertical videos, and exceed norms with fans that line up on advance nights and stay strong through the next pass if the picture connects. After a work stoppage lag, the 2026 setup reflects trust in that playbook. The year commences with a front-loaded January band, then targets spring into early summer for counterprogramming, while holding room for a fall cadence that stretches into late October and into post-Halloween. The gridline also spotlights the stronger partnership of specialized imprints and home platforms that can platform a title, grow buzz, and expand at the optimal moment.

Another broad trend is brand management across shared universes and legacy franchises. Distribution groups are not just mounting another entry. They are seeking to position connection with a headline quality, whether that is a typeface approach that suggests a new vibe or a ensemble decision that reconnects a next entry to a classic era. At the alongside this, the filmmakers behind the high-profile originals are leaning into in-camera technique, practical effects and grounded locations. That convergence gives the 2026 slate a robust balance of recognition and shock, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount marks the early tempo with two front-of-slate projects that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the center, positioning the film as both a passing of the torch and a return-to-roots relationship-driven entry. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the authorial approach indicates a memory-charged approach without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Expect a marketing push rooted in legacy iconography, first images of characters, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm landing toward late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will lean on. As a summer contrast play, this one will go after wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format allowing quick updates to whatever defines genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three clear releases. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is straightforward, tragic, and high-concept: a grieving man activates an machine companion that mutates into a perilous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s marketing likely to recreate off-kilter promo beats and bite-size content that blurs devotion and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a official title to become an event moment closer to the debut look. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele titles are sold as creative events, with a mystery-first teaser and a follow-up trailer set that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The late-month date affords 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, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has long shown that a flesh-and-blood, physical-effects centered style can feel prestige on a moderate cost. Look for a grime-caked summer horror shock that pushes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio lines up two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, maintaining a evergreen supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is positioning as a reimagined 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 mission to serve both fans and first-timers. The fall slot lets Sony to build artifacts around environmental design, and monster craft, elements that can fuel deluxe auditorium demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes 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 driven by historical precision and dialect, this time circling werewolf lore. The imprint has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform windowing in 2026 run on well-known grooves. The Universal horror run transition to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ordering that expands both launch urgency and trial spikes in the after-window. Prime Video will mix third-party pickups with cross-border buys and small theatrical windows when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library pulls, using featured rows, October hubs, and curated strips to prolong the run on the annual genre haul. Netflix plays opportunist about in-house releases and festival buys, timing horror entries near their drops and framing as events arrivals with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a two-step of tailored theatrical exposure and swift platform pivots that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has signaled readiness to secure select projects with established auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is curating a 2026 pipeline with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is direct: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, recalibrated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the October weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, managing the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas corridor to widen. That positioning has proved effective for arthouse 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 commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception warrants. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using select theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subs.

Known brands versus new stories

By count, 2026 is weighted toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on name recognition. The challenge, as ever, is brand wear. The practical approach is to frame each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is elevating character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a European tilt from a rising filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the cast-creatives package is comforting enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday previews.

Recent-year comps clarify the More about the author template. In 2023, a theater-first model that preserved streaming windows did not deter a day-and-date experiment from hitting when the brand was potent. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror outperformed in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they shift POV and increase ambition. 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 two-step approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, creates space for marketing to relate entries through cast and motif and to hold creative in the market without hiatuses.

Craft and creative trends

The craft conversations behind this slate point to a continued tilt toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that highlights mood and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in craft profiles and guild coverage before rolling out a mood teaser that leans on mood over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and spurs shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta-horror reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature and environment design, which work nicely for convention floor stunts and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel irresistible. Look for trailers that foreground razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that work in PLF.

Calendar cadence

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 quiet contrast amid marquee brands. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the menu of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth carries.

Winter into spring load in summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The 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 splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

August and September into October leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited plot reveals that put concept first.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s AI companion evolves into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 work to survive on a desolate island as the control balance swivels and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

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 modern reimagining that returns the monster to menace, founded on Cronin’s tactile craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting premise that twists the terror of a child’s mercurial interpretations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

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 parody reboot that satirizes today’s horror trends and true crime fascinations. 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 detonates, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a young family lashed to old terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-driven horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: forthcoming. 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: purposely secretive. Rating: pending. Production: active. 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 antique diction and elemental menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026, why now

Three pragmatic forces structure this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-sequenced in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more methodical 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 drops. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage clippable moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Calendar math also matters. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will cluster across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The search for sleepers 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 press those advantages. 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, 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 sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, audio design, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Ready To Roar

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand gravity where needed, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, guard the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.