Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primeval malevolence, a spine tingling horror feature, landing Oct 2025 on top streamers

An chilling otherworldly suspense story from screenwriter / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an ancient malevolence when unfamiliar people become conduits in a demonic struggle. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking journey of resilience and primeval wickedness that will redefine the fear genre this fall. Created by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and claustrophobic fearfest follows five unacquainted souls who find themselves isolated in a isolated shack under the dark command of Kyra, a female lead consumed by a antiquated Old Testament spirit. Get ready to be absorbed by a immersive outing that melds raw fear with timeless legends, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a mainstay theme in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is turned on its head when the malevolences no longer develop outside their bodies, but rather from their psyche. This echoes the shadowy corner of the group. The result is a gripping cognitive warzone where the suspense becomes a unforgiving conflict between light and darkness.


In a bleak outland, five teens find themselves cornered under the dark effect and spiritual invasion of a elusive person. As the protagonists becomes powerless to evade her curse, marooned and tormented by creatures beyond reason, they are obligated to acknowledge their worst nightmares while the final hour relentlessly winds toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia mounts and links disintegrate, pushing each survivor to evaluate their personhood and the notion of decision-making itself. The danger mount with every minute, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that weaves together otherworldly panic with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to evoke ancestral fear, an force before modern man, embedding itself in psychological breaks, and challenging a will that questions who we are when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra was about accessing something past sanity. She is uninformed until the haunting manifests, and that transition is terrifying because it is so emotional.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for worldwide release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—delivering horror lovers in all regions can get immersed in this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its original clip, which has racked up over six-figure audience.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, taking the terror to thrill-seekers globally.


Do not miss this heart-stopping trip into the unknown. Watch *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to survive these unholy truths about our species.


For film updates, behind-the-scenes content, and social posts straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across fan hubs and visit youngandcursed.com.





U.S. horror’s tipping point: calendar year 2025 domestic schedule braids together myth-forward possession, Indie Shockers, in parallel with series shake-ups

Beginning with life-or-death fear grounded in near-Eastern lore as well as legacy revivals in concert with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is emerging as the most complex together with carefully orchestrated year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. leading studios stabilize the year by way of signature titles, concurrently platform operators crowd the fall with fresh voices alongside mythic dread. In parallel, the independent cohort is drafting behind the uplift of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the other windows are mapped with care. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, though in this cycle, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are intentional, so 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Premium genre swings back

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal banner starts the year with a bold swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in a clear present-tense world. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. set for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Directed by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

By late summer, Warner’s pipeline unveils the final movement from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson is back, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: retrograde shiver, trauma explicitly handled, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This run ups the stakes, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The next entry deepens the tale, stretches the animatronic parade, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It posts in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Platform Originals: No Budget, No Problem

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is virtually assured for fall.

Next comes Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

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 With Depth: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, 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 horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is an astute call. No overinflated mythology. No brand fatigue. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

What to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror reemerges
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Laurels convert to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Season Ahead: Autumn density and winter pivot

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. Expect one or more 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. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The new terror release year: brand plays, filmmaker-first projects, in tandem with A stacked Calendar optimized for Scares

Dek: The emerging terror year packs from the jump with a January bottleneck, thereafter carries through the warm months, and continuing into the winter holidays, marrying legacy muscle, fresh ideas, and savvy counter-scheduling. Studio marketers and platforms are prioritizing right-sized spends, theatrical-first rollouts, and shareable marketing that turn genre titles into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror momentum into 2026

The field has turned into the predictable option in release plans, a pillar that can accelerate when it hits and still safeguard the risk when it does not. After 2023 reassured greenlighters that modestly budgeted shockers can galvanize the national conversation, the following year kept the drumbeat going with festival-darling auteurs and sleeper breakouts. The upswing carried into 2025, where reboots and filmmaker-prestige bets highlighted there is room for diverse approaches, from series extensions to filmmaker-driven originals that export nicely. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a slate that is strikingly coherent across the market, with purposeful groupings, a pairing of brand names and fresh ideas, and a revived focus on release windows that drive downstream revenue on premium digital rental and subscription services.

Buyers contend the genre now works like a flex slot on the distribution slate. Horror can kick off on virtually any date, offer a clean hook for teasers and TikTok spots, and outperform with moviegoers that line up on Thursday previews and maintain momentum through the follow-up frame if the release works. Coming out of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 mapping shows belief in that logic. The slate opens with a front-loaded January corridor, then uses spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while making space for a fall run that connects to late October and past Halloween. The map also highlights the expanded integration of indie arms and home platforms that can platform and widen, build word of mouth, and move wide at the strategic time.

A parallel macro theme is IP cultivation across linked properties and long-running brands. Studio teams are not just producing another entry. They are looking to package continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a graphic identity that telegraphs a fresh attitude or a casting choice that anchors a new entry to a vintage era. At the parallel to that, the auteurs behind the eagerly awaited originals are celebrating hands-on technique, practical gags and concrete locations. That blend yields 2026 a strong blend of assurance and surprise, which is why the genre exports well.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount defines the early cadence with two headline plays that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the center, framing it as both a cross-generational handoff and a return-to-roots character study. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the story approach telegraphs a classic-referencing strategy without rehashing the last two entries’ sisters thread. The studio is likely to mount a drive built on classic imagery, character-first teases, and a rollout cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will double down on. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will build large awareness through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format fitting quick switches to whatever defines trend lines that spring.

Universal has three clear plays. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is elegant, grief-rooted, and logline-clear: a grieving man installs an machine companion that escalates into a fatal companion. The date slots it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to echo uncanny live moments and micro spots that interweaves longing and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a official title to become an marketing beat closer to the opening teaser. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. His entries are presented as event films, with a teaser with minimal detail and a later trailer push that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-month date creates space for Universal to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has long shown that a flesh-and-blood, practical-first strategy can feel big on a mid-range budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror rush that embraces global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio books two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, preserving a dependable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is framing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both fans and newcomers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign creative around environmental design, and monster design, elements that can accelerate format premiums and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror defined by historical precision and dialect, this time exploring werewolf lore. The label has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is warm.

Digital platform strategies

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre entries land on copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a stair-step that enhances both premiere heat and trial spikes in the later phase. Prime Video combines catalogue additions with worldwide buys and limited runs in theaters when the data signals it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library engagement, using curated hubs, fright rows, and collection rows to lengthen the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix plays opportunist about Netflix originals and festival grabs, timing horror entries on shorter runways and elevating as drops debuts with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a dual-phase of targeted theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a curated basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to purchase select projects with prestige directors or star packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 corridor with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is no-nonsense: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, retooled for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a theatrical-first plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the September weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then relying on the Christmas window to open out. That positioning has served the company well for director-led genre with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception allows. Plan 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 as partners, using precision theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Known brands versus new stories

By number, 2026 favors the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage name recognition. The question, as ever, is brand wear. The practical approach is to frame each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is spotlighting character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-accented approach from a hot helmer. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and auteur plays supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a stranded survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the cast-creatives package is comforting enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years help explain the logic. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that kept streaming intact did not preclude a same-day experiment from succeeding when the brand was big. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror surged in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they alter lens and widen scale. 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 paired-chapter approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, gives leeway to marketing to connect the chapters through cast and motif and to hold creative in the market without extended gaps.

Production craft signals

The director conversations behind the 2026 slate telegraph a continued turn toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that highlights mood and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in trade spotlights and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and earns shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a self-referential reset that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster aesthetics and world-building, which favor fan-con activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that emphasize precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that work in PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is heavy. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid heftier brand moves. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the tone spread carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Post-January through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s 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 unleashes hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Late-season stretch leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil follows September 18, a bridge slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a slow-reveal plan and limited previews that favor idea over plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as check my blog craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card burn.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s intelligent companion escalates into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot 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 comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 difficult boss battle to survive on a far-flung island as the pecking order tilts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to fear, driven by Cronin’s hands-on craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 closed-door haunting scenario that refracts terror through a minor’s wavering POV. Rating: TBD. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural 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 hot-button genre motifs and true-crime crazes. Rating: pending. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 breaks out, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new household caught in lingering terrors. Rating: TBD. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: undetermined. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: undetermined. Production: underway. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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 elemental menace. Rating: pending. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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

Why 2026, why now

Three pragmatic forces shape this lineup. First, production that stalled or shuffled in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest social-ready stingers from test screenings, controlled scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, making room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will line up across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 dark-horse hunt 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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, 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 beat and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two 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 austere, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, efficient screen counts, 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 detail, audio design, and visuals 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 Shapes Up Strong

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand gravity where needed, distinct vision where it matters, 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the fear sell the seats.