Age-old Horror awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding feature, bowing Oct 2025 on leading streamers

This unnerving metaphysical scare-fest from narrative craftsman / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an timeless dread when drifters become tools in a dark trial. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving story of endurance and mythic evil that will redefine fear-driven cinema this ghoul season. Helmed by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and eerie screenplay follows five teens who arise stuck in a off-grid shelter under the unfriendly command of Kyra, a female lead inhabited by a prehistoric ancient fiend. Get ready to be gripped by a visual adventure that melds primitive horror with spiritual backstory, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demonic control has been a well-established concept in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is twisted when the fiends no longer manifest from external sources, but rather from deep inside. This represents the most primal layer of these individuals. The result is a gripping emotional conflict where the story becomes a merciless tug-of-war between purity and corruption.


In a abandoned terrain, five adults find themselves confined under the sinister sway and infestation of a obscure entity. As the characters becomes powerless to break her dominion, isolated and preyed upon by beings indescribable, they are confronted to battle their deepest fears while the seconds brutally ticks onward toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust mounts and partnerships implode, pressuring each protagonist to reflect on their true nature and the philosophy of conscious will itself. The tension escalate with every breath, delivering a scare-fueled ride that harmonizes ghostly evil with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to channel deep fear, an presence that existed before mankind, influencing our weaknesses, and dealing with a entity that redefines identity when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra meant evoking something outside normal anguish. She is unseeing until the haunting manifests, and that transformation is soul-crushing because it is so unshielded.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for audiences beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—ensuring watchers across the world can experience this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its intro video, which has collected over notable views.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, making the film to thrill-seekers globally.


Be sure to catch this haunted trip into the unknown. Watch *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to dive into these terrifying truths about human nature.


For film updates, behind-the-scenes content, and insider scoops via the production team, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across entertainment pages and visit our spooky domain.





American horror’s decisive shift: calendar year 2025 stateside slate interlaces legend-infused possession, independent shockers, set against tentpole growls

Ranging from endurance-driven terror drawn from legendary theology and stretching into canon extensions set beside acutely observed indies, 2025 is emerging as the most variegated along with intentionally scheduled year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio majors hold down the year with franchise anchors, even as OTT services saturate the fall with new voices in concert with scriptural shivers. At the same time, horror’s indie wing is riding the kinetic energy from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, and now, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are methodical, as a result 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The majors are assertive. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal sets the tone with an audacious swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in an immediate now. From director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. arriving mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Helmed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer wanes, Warner Bros. unveils the final movement of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson resumes command, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: old school creep, trauma as theme, and eerie supernatural logic. This time the stakes climb, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The continuation widens the legend, stretches the animatronic parade, courting teens and the thirty something base. It drops in December, buttoning the final window.

Platform Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatrical skews franchise first, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a forensic chill anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a tight space body horror vignette with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Also rising is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Deep Possession Currents: 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. That is a savvy move. No bloated canon. No brand fatigue. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, steered by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Signals and Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

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

Streamers grow fangs
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Forward View: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The oncoming fear calendar year ahead: entries, Originals, together with A Crowded Calendar engineered for jolts

Dek: The fresh terror cycle loads right away with a January logjam, following that extends through the mid-year, and carrying into the year-end corridor, combining marquee clout, fresh ideas, and strategic counter-scheduling. Studios with streamers are leaning into cost discipline, cinema-first plans, and buzz-forward plans that turn these films into mainstream chatter.

Horror momentum into 2026

This category has emerged as the steady release in programming grids, a space that can break out when it resonates and still cushion the risk when it stumbles. After 2023 reassured leaders that low-to-mid budget pictures can lead mainstream conversation, 2024 extended the rally with festival-darling auteurs and surprise hits. The energy fed into the 2025 frame, where returns and filmmaker-prestige bets showed there is a lane for a variety of tones, from continued chapters to one-and-done originals that play globally. The end result for the 2026 slate is a calendar that presents tight coordination across the field, with defined corridors, a blend of legacy names and new packages, and a renewed focus on theatrical windows that drive downstream revenue on paid VOD and platforms.

Executives say the space now behaves like a versatile piece on the slate. The genre can arrive on virtually any date, yield a easy sell for spots and TikTok spots, and exceed norms with moviegoers that lean in on advance nights and keep coming through the next pass if the entry satisfies. On the heels of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 mapping telegraphs comfort in that setup. The slate gets underway with a front-loaded January block, then primes spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while making space for a fall cadence that connects to holiday-adjacent weekends and past Halloween. The calendar also illustrates the expanded integration of indie arms and streamers that can stage a platform run, grow buzz, and grow at the inflection point.

A further high-level trend is IP stewardship across brand ecosystems and long-running brands. Distribution groups are not just greenlighting another next film. They are working to present threaded continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a art treatment that conveys a re-angled tone or a casting move that connects a upcoming film to a initial period. At the concurrently, the visionaries behind the most anticipated originals are embracing practical craft, makeup and prosthetics and grounded locations. That pairing produces 2026 a vital pairing of assurance and unexpected turns, which is what works overseas.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount defines the early cadence with two marquee entries that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back navigate here at the center, marketing it as both a cross-generational handoff and a rootsy character-driven entry. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the story approach telegraphs a classic-referencing strategy without recycling the last two entries’ sibling arc. Anticipate a campaign anchored in signature symbols, character spotlights, and a trailer cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will stress. As a summer contrast play, this one will pursue four-quadrant chatter through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format allowing quick redirects to whatever rules genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three defined bets. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is elegant, grief-rooted, and big-hook: a grieving man activates an intelligent companion that evolves into a deadly partner. The date lines it up at the front of a stacked January, with the studio’s marketing likely to reprise viral uncanny stunts and short-cut promos that threads longing and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a title reveal to become an event moment closer to the debut look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. The filmmaker’s films are marketed as marquee events, with a mystery-first teaser and a second trailer wave that shape mood without giving away the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date allows Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has consistently shown that a in-your-face, on-set effects led strategy can feel big on a lean spend. Frame it as a hard-R summer horror surge that leans hard into global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio mounts two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, maintaining a reliable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is presenting as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both players and first-timers. The fall slot gives Sony time to build materials around mythos, and monster craft, elements that can fuel premium screens and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by textural authenticity and linguistic texture, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is warm.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform strategies for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre entries land on copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a cadence that fortifies both first-week urgency and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video blends licensed titles with cross-border buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data backs it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in catalog engagement, using prominent placements, horror hubs, and featured rows to lengthen the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix plays opportunist about first-party entries and festival snaps, slotting horror entries with shorter lead times and elevating as drops debuts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a staged of selective theatrical runs and rapid platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown appetite to pick up select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-driven packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for sustained usage when the genre conversation heats up.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is quietly building 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 appeal is clean: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, refined for modern sonics and picture. 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 announced a big-screen first plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the fall weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through festival season if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas corridor to broaden. That positioning has been successful for director-led genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception drives. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using limited runs to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Known brands versus new stories

By skew, 2026 tilts in favor of the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage cultural cachet. The caveat, as ever, is staleness. The pragmatic answer is to pitch each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is bringing forward character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is floating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-flavored turn from a buzzed-about director. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and auteur plays add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the cast-creatives package is steady enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Recent-year comps help explain the approach. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that preserved streaming windows did not prevent a day-and-date experiment from thriving when the brand was big. In 2024, auteur craft horror over-performed in premium large format. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they pivot perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, allows marketing to thread films through personae and themes and to sustain campaign assets without doldrums.

How the films are being made

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind this slate point to a continued preference for hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that emphasizes mood and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft features before rolling out a initial teaser that leans on mood over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and gathers shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta reframe that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature design and production design, which play well in fan conventions and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel must-have. Look for trailers that elevate pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that sing on PLF.

Release calendar overview

January is crowded. 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 brooding contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the mix of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Early-year through spring seed summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with heritage buzz. 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 hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can win 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 moved through premium slots.

Late-season stretch leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a transitional slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a minimalist tease strategy and limited disclosures that prioritize concept over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s virtual companion evolves into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 battle to survive on a rugged island as the hierarchy swivels and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to horror, driven by Cronin’s practical craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting premise that filters its scares through a young child’s unreliable POV. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-supported and star-fronted eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A send-up revival that targets hot-button genre motifs and true crime fascinations. Rating: undetermined. Production: check over here cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites surges, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a unlucky family anchored to past horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on true survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: pending. Production: moving forward. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and ancient menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. 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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three grounded forces inform this lineup. First, production that paused or reshuffled in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming landings. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on social-ready stingers from test screenings, precision scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

The slot calculus is real. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will line up across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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 rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, 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 fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

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

2026, Ready To Roar

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand heft 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the scares sell the seats.