Primeval Horror Stirs within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding horror thriller, rolling out October 2025 on major platforms

A haunting metaphysical suspense film from narrative craftsman / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an ancient nightmare when newcomers become tools in a diabolical conflict. Launching October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful chronicle of resistance and archaic horror that will revamp scare flicks this fall. Created by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and shadowy suspense flick follows five characters who come to stranded in a wooded cottage under the hostile power of Kyra, a troubled woman claimed by a legendary ancient fiend. Arm yourself to be captivated by a motion picture journey that blends gut-punch terror with ancient myths, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a well-established concept in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is flipped when the dark entities no longer arise outside their bodies, but rather within themselves. This embodies the most hidden version of these individuals. The result is a psychologically brutal mental war where the events becomes a perpetual conflict between good and evil.


In a abandoned wild, five young people find themselves caught under the malevolent grip and curse of a uncanny female figure. As the characters becomes defenseless to resist her manipulation, detached and hunted by terrors unimaginable, they are forced to stand before their soulful dreads while the clock without pause ticks toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion swells and connections dissolve, urging each figure to evaluate their values and the philosophy of autonomy itself. The cost escalate with every heartbeat, delivering a horror experience that weaves together supernatural terror with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to evoke primitive panic, an spirit that predates humanity, filtering through emotional vulnerability, and examining a will that threatens selfhood when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra asked for exploring something rooted in terror. She is oblivious until the demon emerges, and that transformation is eerie because it is so private.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be released for streaming beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—allowing viewers internationally can experience this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its original promo, which has earned over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, presenting the nightmare to a global viewership.


Mark your calendar for this unforgettable ride through nightmares. Confront *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to dive into these ghostly lessons about human nature.


For behind-the-scenes access, special features, and reveals from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your favorite networks and visit the movie portal.





Modern horror’s Turning Point: the 2025 cycle U.S. lineup weaves biblical-possession ideas, underground frights, paired with tentpole growls

Beginning with fight-to-live nightmare stories suffused with old testament echoes and extending to brand-name continuations in concert with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is shaping up as horror’s most layered as well as blueprinted year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. major banners are anchoring the year via recognizable brands, as OTT services pack the fall with fresh voices together with mythic dread. In the indie lane, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is riding the kinetic energy of a banner 2024 fest year. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, but this year, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are exacting, which means 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Premium genre swings back

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s schedule starts the year with a headline swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in an immediate now. Led by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. timed for mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Steered by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer wanes, Warner Bros. unveils the final movement from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson returns, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: vintage toned fear, trauma foregrounded, paired with unsettling supernatural order. Here the stakes rise, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The new chapter enriches the lore, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, reaching teens and game grownups. It books December, pinning the winter close.

Streamer Exclusives: No Budget, No Problem

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a body horror duet anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is destined for a fall landing.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn with Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is canny scheduling. No overweight mythology. No legacy baggage. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Series Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, steered by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Signals and Trends

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The coming 2026 chiller season: brand plays, Originals, paired with A Crowded Calendar calibrated for goosebumps

Dek: The emerging genre cycle packs up front with a January wave, from there carries through the summer months, and well into the festive period, braiding marquee clout, creative pitches, and well-timed counter-scheduling. Studio marketers and platforms are embracing right-sized spends, theatrical leads, and short-form initiatives that position the slate’s entries into broad-appeal conversations.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The genre has emerged as the dependable tool in release plans, a category that can scale when it resonates and still safeguard the liability when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year reassured top brass that disciplined-budget pictures can drive the national conversation, the following year carried the beat with visionary-driven titles and unexpected risers. The tailwind pushed into 2025, where re-entries and awards-minded projects confirmed there is room for several lanes, from sequel tracks to original one-offs that translate worldwide. The net effect for 2026 is a calendar that presents tight coordination across companies, with purposeful groupings, a pairing of household franchises and first-time concepts, and a renewed attention on theater exclusivity that drive downstream revenue on premium digital rental and SVOD.

Executives say the space now slots in as a schedule utility on the rollout map. Horror can launch on nearly any frame, deliver a simple premise for trailers and TikTok spots, and lead with ticket buyers that lean in on advance nights and return through the second frame if the offering works. Coming out of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 configuration shows faith in that dynamic. The year commences with a loaded January block, then exploits spring through early summer for counterweight, while carving room for a fall run that carries into the fright window and afterwards. The map also spotlights the continuing integration of arthouse labels and subscription services that can develop over weeks, create conversation, and widen at the timely point.

An added macro current is brand management across connected story worlds and long-running brands. Major shops are not just pushing another next film. They are moving to present ongoing narrative with a heightened moment, whether that is a title presentation that flags a tonal shift or a lead change that threads a latest entry to a vintage era. At the meanwhile, the helmers behind the eagerly awaited originals are leaning into real-world builds, practical gags and distinct locales. That convergence delivers the 2026 slate a lively combination of familiarity and invention, which is how the films export.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount leads early with two centerpiece pushes that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the focus, presenting it as both a succession moment and a rootsy character piece. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the story approach indicates a classic-referencing mode without going over the last two entries’ family thread. Watch for a push anchored in classic imagery, first-look character reveals, and a tiered teaser plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will stress. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will chase mainstream recognition through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format making room for quick pivots to whatever tops the conversation that spring.

Universal has three distinct bets. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is elegant, grief-rooted, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man brings home an synthetic partner that turns into a deadly partner. The date places it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with marketing at Universal likely to bring back eerie street stunts and snackable content that melds romance and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing 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 hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. His entries are presented as filmmaker events, with a teaser that holds back and a follow-up trailer set that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween runway opens a lane to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use 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 guides, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has demonstrated that a visceral, makeup-driven execution can feel elevated on a efficient spend. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror rush that leans into international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio books two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, sustaining a bankable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is marketing as a reimagined restart 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 well-defined brief to serve both franchise faithful and newcomers. The fall slot allows Sony to build promo materials around setting detail, and creature builds, elements that can amplify IMAX and PLF uptake and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror driven by textural authenticity and language, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is warm.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform plans for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s horror titles feed copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a pacing that enhances both launch urgency and subscriber lifts in the back half. Prime Video combines licensed films with cross-border buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in deep cuts, using featured rows, fright rows, and collection rows to extend momentum on aggregate take. Netflix plays opportunist about first-party entries and festival deals, confirming horror entries tight to release and staging as events launches with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a two-step of targeted theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown a willingness to board select projects with accomplished filmmakers or A-list packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for sustained usage when the genre conversation spikes.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 sequence with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is direct: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, recalibrated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a theatrical rollout for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the late stretch.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, stewarding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the December frame to widen. That positioning has shown results for auteur horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception justifies. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using targeted theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their community.

Balance of brands and originals

By skew, the 2026 slate bends toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on household recognition. The watch-out, as ever, is brand erosion. The standing approach is to brand each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is foregrounding core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French sensibility from a emerging director. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a crash-survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the packaging is assuring enough to drive advance ticketing and advance-audience nights.

Recent comps make sense of the plan. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that maintained windows did not stop a simultaneous release test from hitting when the brand was compelling. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror punched above its weight in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they reorient and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on 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 lensed sequentially, allows marketing to bridge entries through relationships and themes and to keep assets in-market without extended gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The filmmaking conversations behind the 2026 slate point to a continued lean toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that foregrounds mood and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for textured sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in feature stories and craft spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and gathers shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-aware reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster realization and design, which fit with convention activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that underscore pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that play in premium auditoriums.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is heavy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a foggy reset amid heftier brand moves. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th get redirected here Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the palette of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Post-January through spring load in summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges 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 comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

August and September into October leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil follows September 18, a transitional horror movies slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a slow-reveal plan and limited advance reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and holiday card usage.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s intelligent companion shifts into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed 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 goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. 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 severe boss battle to survive on a rugged island as the power dynamic reverses and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

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 nightmare, rooted in Cronin’s tactile craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting chiller that explores the horror of a child’s wobbly senses. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A parody return that lampoons in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime crazes. Rating: to be announced. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new clan snared by long-buried horrors. Rating: TBD. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: to be announced. Production: moving forward. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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 raw menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three practical forces structure this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or rearranged in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest shareable moments from test screenings, curated scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

The slot calculus is real. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can command a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will compete across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 cost-efficient genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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. Anticipate a robust 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, 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 keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, disciplined footprints, 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 visual texture, sound, and cinematography that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Ready To Roar

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is IP strength where it matters, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the screams sell the seats.