Age-old Terror Emerges within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding supernatural thriller, launching Oct 2025 on major platforms

This hair-raising metaphysical thriller from screenwriter / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an primeval entity when drifters become proxies in a devilish conflict. Launching this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking tale of struggle and primeval wickedness that will revolutionize genre cinema this Halloween season. Brought to life by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and atmospheric cinema piece follows five characters who suddenly rise stuck in a wilderness-bound shack under the malevolent rule of Kyra, a possessed female dominated by a biblical-era biblical force. Get ready to be shaken by a motion picture event that intertwines instinctive fear with mystical narratives, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a time-honored element in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is redefined when the demons no longer emerge from a different plane, but rather from within. This represents the most sinister element of all involved. The result is a emotionally raw mental war where the story becomes a unforgiving tug-of-war between light and darkness.


In a desolate landscape, five souls find themselves imprisoned under the dark sway and domination of a shadowy woman. As the survivors becomes vulnerable to fight her curse, abandoned and followed by beings ungraspable, they are required to face their raw vulnerabilities while the timeline without pause moves toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust surges and teams disintegrate, forcing each soul to scrutinize their character and the idea of liberty itself. The intensity climb with every short lapse, delivering a nightmarish journey that connects paranormal dread with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to dive into core terror, an evil beyond time, feeding on emotional vulnerability, and wrestling with a evil that challenges autonomy when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra meant evoking something more primal than sorrow. She is unaware until the entity awakens, and that shift is soul-crushing because it is so close.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be released for home viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving viewers in all regions can engage with this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its initial teaser, which has gathered over notable views.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, exporting the fear to fans of fear everywhere.


Make sure to see this haunted ride through nightmares. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to experience these ghostly lessons about existence.


For sneak peeks, filmmaker commentary, and social posts via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across your favorite networks and visit youngandcursed.com.





Contemporary horror’s decisive shift: 2025 in focus U.S. release slate weaves biblical-possession ideas, art-house nightmares, alongside franchise surges

From last-stand terror steeped in legendary theology and stretching into brand-name continuations set beside acutely observed indies, 2025 is coalescing into the genre’s most multifaceted combined with calculated campaign year in recent memory.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. top-tier distributors lay down anchors with established lines, at the same time subscription platforms stack the fall with debut heat plus legend-coded dread. Across the art-house lane, the art-house flank is propelled by the echoes from a record 2024 festival run. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are precise, as a result 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Premium genre swings back

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal Pictures leads off the quarter with a risk-forward move: a contemporary Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Shepherded by 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. dated for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. Pictures unveils the final movement inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Scott Derrickson is back, and the memorable motifs return: old school creep, trauma in the foreground, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The stakes escalate here, 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, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, thickens the animatronic pantheon, bridging teens and legacy players. It opens in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Originals: Economy, maximum dread

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a tight space body horror vignette starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped 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 reads as sharp positioning. No overweight mythology. No brand fatigue. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Series Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

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. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trends to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror ascends again
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forward View: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The next scare Year Ahead: entries, filmmaker-first projects, plus A brimming Calendar geared toward Scares

Dek: The fresh genre slate crams up front with a January glut, after that spreads through June and July, and carrying into the festive period, combining brand equity, creative pitches, and shrewd release strategy. Studios and platforms are relying on cost discipline, cinema-first plans, and buzz-forward plans that turn genre releases into water-cooler talk.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has turned into the dependable tool in studio slates, a genre that can grow when it lands and still buffer the floor when it misses. After the 2023 year re-taught studio brass that modestly budgeted entries can drive audience talk, 2024 sustained momentum with auteur-driven buzzy films and under-the-radar smashes. The trend translated to the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and arthouse crossovers showed there is an opening for different modes, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that carry overseas. The combined impact for 2026 is a programming that appears tightly organized across studios, with clear date clusters, a spread of household franchises and novel angles, and a recommitted attention on exclusive windows that drive downstream revenue on premium rental and digital services.

Distribution heads claim the space now performs as a fill-in ace on the calendar. The genre can debut on most weekends, provide a sharp concept for creative and social clips, and lead with patrons that arrive on Thursday previews and sustain through the sophomore frame if the release pays off. Following a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration underscores belief in that equation. The slate starts with a weighty January stretch, then uses spring and early summer for balance, while leaving room for a autumn stretch that flows toward the Halloween corridor and afterwards. The grid also features the increasing integration of specialized imprints and streamers that can platform and widen, spark evangelism, and expand at the timely point.

A parallel macro theme is brand curation across linked properties and classic IP. Major shops are not just greenlighting another installment. They are trying to present connection with a headline quality, whether that is a brandmark that conveys a re-angled tone or a talent selection that connects a latest entry to a first wave. At the same time, the creative teams behind the most anticipated originals are favoring tactile craft, practical gags and distinct locales. That mix affords the 2026 slate a smart balance of assurance and newness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount fires first with two big-ticket moves that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the center, angling it as both a lineage transfer and a rootsy character piece. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the creative stance points to a classic-referencing angle without recycling the last two entries’ family thread. Count on a promo wave centered on recognizable motifs, first images of characters, and a tease cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

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 reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will spotlight. As a summer relief option, this one will drive large awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format supporting quick adjustments to whatever leads the discourse that spring.

Universal has three separate plays. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is clean, sorrow-tinged, and big-hook: a grieving man implements an synthetic partner that escalates into a perilous partner. The date positions it at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s campaign likely to bring back uncanny-valley stunts and short-cut promos that interlaces love and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a official title to become an earned moment closer to the first trailer. The timing gives 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 made his own before. His entries are branded as auteur events, with a teaser that reveals little and a subsequent trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The spooky-season slot allows Universal to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a gnarly, practical-first aesthetic can feel top-tier on a disciplined budget. Position this as a viscera-heavy summer horror hit that centers global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio rolls out two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, extending a trusty supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is describing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both fans and new audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign creative around setting detail, and creature effects, elements that can lift large-format demand and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by rigorous craft and period language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The specialty arm has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is supportive.

Digital platform strategies

Platform strategies for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s genre entries flow to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a structure that optimizes both first-week urgency and platform bumps in the later phase. Prime Video interleaves licensed films with worldwide buys and limited cinema engagements when the data points to it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in catalog discovery, using editorial spots, fright rows, and curated strips to prolong the run on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix films and festival wins, timing horror entries tight to release and making event-like launches with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a two-step of selective theatrical runs and quick platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a per-project basis. The platform has signaled readiness to take on select projects with top-tier auteurs or star packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for monthly engagement when the genre conversation builds.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 pipeline with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is straightforward: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, elevated for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the September weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then using the year-end corridor to widen. That positioning has delivered for filmmaker-first horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception encourages. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using limited runs to seed evangelism that fuels their membership.

Balance of brands and originals

By tilt, 2026 favors the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on franchise value. The risk, as ever, is viewer burnout. The practical approach is to pitch each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is foregrounding core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-tinted vision from a ascendant talent. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival shocker premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the cast-creatives package is comforting enough to drive advance ticketing and first-night audiences.

Past-three-year patterns outline the plan. In 2023, a cinema-first model that kept streaming intact did not prevent a day-date move from performing when the brand was sticky. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror outperformed in premium formats. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they reorient and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters filmed in sequence, builds a path for marketing to cross-link entries through cast and motif and to maintain a flow of assets without doldrums.

Craft and creative trends

The shop talk behind 2026 horror indicate a continued shift toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that leans on atmosphere and fear rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in craft profiles and guild coverage before rolling out a preview that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and creates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-referential reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature and environment design, which work nicely for convention floor stunts and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that accent surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that shine in top rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is stacked. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid macro-brand pushes. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the spread of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth holds.

Late Q1 and spring seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, useful reference a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

End of summer through fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a bridge slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event occupies October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a opaque tease strategy and limited disclosures that elevate concept over story.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can play the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday card usage.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s digital partner escalates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: aura-driven 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 tough boss work to survive on a lonely island as the chain of command tilts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to fear, anchored by Cronin’s practical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting narrative that routes the horror through a child’s uneven subjective lens. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-grade and celebrity-led eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that pokes at of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime manias. Rating: not yet rated. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. 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 bursts, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new clan linked to older hauntings. Rating: to be announced. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward pure survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: closely held. Rating: undetermined. Production: continuing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and primal menace. Rating: TBD. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why this year, why now

Three practical forces inform this lineup. First, production that decelerated or recalendared in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate bite-size scare clips from test screenings, metered scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, offering breathing room for genre entries that can capture a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will line up across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 lean-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 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, 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 cadence and diversity. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, 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 escalate across the year, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, acoustics, and image-making 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 Looks Exciting

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand heft where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing 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 late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.