Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts ancient terror, a hair raising feature, rolling out October 2025 across premium platforms

A terrifying spectral suspense story from literary architect / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an primordial terror when foreigners become pawns in a hellish ordeal. Releasing on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a intense narrative of resilience and archaic horror that will reshape fear-driven cinema this fall. Created by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and shadowy motion picture follows five teens who snap to locked in a cut-off wooden structure under the hostile power of Kyra, a haunted figure inhabited by a millennia-old sacred-era entity. Prepare to be absorbed by a screen-based outing that combines soul-chilling terror with ancient myths, arriving on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a legendary fixture in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is turned on its head when the entities no longer originate from elsewhere, but rather from their core. This represents the darkest facet of every character. The result is a psychologically brutal emotional conflict where the emotions becomes a relentless face-off between good and evil.


In a isolated natural abyss, five youths find themselves caught under the possessive rule and possession of a uncanny spirit. As the characters becomes helpless to break her rule, abandoned and tormented by spirits inconceivable, they are thrust to battle their worst nightmares while the final hour coldly winds toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease builds and bonds crack, forcing each soul to scrutinize their self and the integrity of independent thought itself. The danger amplify with every instant, delivering a horror experience that combines demonic fright with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to uncover deep fear, an malevolence that existed before mankind, manipulating emotional vulnerability, and dealing with a spirit that redefines identity when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra was centered on something beyond human emotion. She is oblivious until the curse activates, and that pivot is eerie because it is so unshielded.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be available for on-demand beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—offering customers from coast to coast can face this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its intro video, which has received over a viral response.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, delivering the story to a worldwide audience.


Experience this visceral descent into darkness. Confront *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to experience these evil-rooted truths about mankind.


For featurettes, production insights, and insider scoops from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACFilm across online outlets and visit our spooky domain.





Current horror’s tipping point: the year 2025 U.S. lineup integrates myth-forward possession, independent shockers, stacked beside tentpole growls

From endurance-driven terror steeped in biblical myth as well as franchise returns set beside focused festival visions, 2025 is tracking to be the most textured as well as blueprinted year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. the big studios bookend the months with familiar IP, in parallel streamers pack the fall with new voices paired with primordial unease. Across the art-house lane, the art-house flank is carried on the carry from a record 2024 festival run. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, notably this year, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are targeted, as a result 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige fear returns

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 set the base, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s pipeline kicks off the frame with a confident swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. Guided by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. Booked into mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Under Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

At summer’s close, Warner’s pipeline delivers the closing chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson resumes command, and those signature textures resurface: retro dread, trauma driven plotting, with spooky supernatural reasoning. Here the stakes rise, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The follow up digs further into canon, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It posts in December, securing the winter cap.

Platform Plays: No Budget, No Problem

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

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a close quarters body horror study pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn with Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a smart play. No swollen lore. No brand fatigue. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

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

SXSW 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, and Tribeca’s genre set plays 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 IP: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Emerging Currents

Myth turns 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 extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror ascends again
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Projection: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The next fear slate: entries, new stories, paired with A hectic Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek The incoming genre calendar stacks right away with a January bottleneck, after that carries through June and July, and pushing into the December corridor, weaving brand equity, novel approaches, and tactical calendar placement. Studio marketers and platforms are prioritizing cost discipline, big-screen-first runs, and social-fueled campaigns that frame these pictures into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The horror sector has shown itself to be the steady tool in programming grids, a pillar that can lift when it resonates and still protect the exposure when it doesn’t. After 2023 reassured strategy teams that lean-budget chillers can galvanize cultural conversation, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with buzzy auteur projects and quiet over-performers. The run translated to the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and critical darlings highlighted there is an opening for many shades, from ongoing IP entries to director-led originals that export nicely. The combined impact for 2026 is a slate that appears tightly organized across companies, with planned clusters, a mix of recognizable IP and fresh ideas, and a recommitted commitment on exclusive windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium video on demand and subscription services.

Executives say the genre now operates like a fill-in ace on the distribution slate. The genre can roll out on nearly any frame, deliver a clean hook for ad units and platform-native cuts, and exceed norms with crowds that lean in on opening previews and stay strong through the sophomore frame if the offering lands. On the heels of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 setup signals certainty in that logic. The slate gets underway with a stacked January block, then taps spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while holding room for a autumn push that reaches into All Hallows period and into post-Halloween. The layout also shows the expanded integration of specialized labels and streamers that can platform and widen, generate chatter, and grow at the inflection point.

A parallel macro theme is series management across connected story worlds and heritage properties. Studio teams are not just rolling another installment. They are seeking to position brand continuity with a occasion, whether that is a title design that broadcasts a new vibe or a talent selection that ties a fresh chapter to a heyday. At the very same time, the auteurs behind the eagerly awaited originals are leaning into hands-on technique, real effects and grounded locations. That interplay hands 2026 a solid mix of familiarity and invention, which is the formula for international play.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount opens strong with two marquee projects that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the front, marketing it as both a succession moment and a back-to-basics relationship-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance hints at a heritage-honoring treatment without replaying the last two entries’ sibling arc. Look for a marketing run stacked with franchise iconography, character-first teases, and a tease cadence aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reawakens 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 behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will spotlight. As a summer relief option, this one will generate mass reach through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format enabling quick adjustments to whatever drives the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three specific lanes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is simple, soulful, and premise-first: a grieving man implements an algorithmic mate that turns into a deadly partner. The date puts it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to renew odd public stunts and short-form creative that hybridizes romance and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules 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 official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a proper title to become an marketing beat closer to the opening teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. His projects are positioned as director events, with a opaque teaser and a next wave of trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween runway gives Universal room to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has made clear that a gritty, practical-effects forward treatment can feel top-tier on a controlled budget. Expect a blood-and-grime summer horror rush that embraces global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio books two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, maintaining a trusty supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is positioning as a reimagined 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 well-defined brief to serve both players and casuals. The fall slot hands Sony window to build promo materials around canon, and practical creature work, elements that can accelerate premium screens and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror centered on obsessive craft and archaic language, this time set against lycan legends. Focus’s team has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform tactics for 2026 run on known playbooks. The studio’s horror films feed copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a structure that boosts both week-one demand and subscriber lifts in the after-window. Prime Video will mix licensed films with world buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu work their edges in archive usage, using featured rows, seasonal hubs, and featured rows to keep attention on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays nimble about originals and festival snaps, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and elevating as drops go-lives with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a tiered of precision theatrical plays and swift platform pivots that turns chatter to conversion. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a discrete basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to board select projects with top-tier auteurs or name-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is curating a 2026 lane with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is clean: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, updated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has positioned a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then leveraging the year-end corridor to expand. That positioning has served the company well for craft-driven horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception supports. Watch for 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 a pair, using limited theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

IP versus fresh ideas

By skew, the 2026 slate leans toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on name recognition. The caveat, as ever, is viewer burnout. The workable fix is to sell each entry as a new angle. Paramount is elevating character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a Francophone tone from a emerging director. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the assembly is comforting enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Recent-year comps clarify the approach. In 2023, a exclusive window model that maintained windows did not preclude a same-day experiment from winning when the brand was powerful. In 2024, art-forward horror over-performed in premium formats. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel new when they alter lens and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, lets marketing to interlace chapters through cast and motif and to continue assets in field without long gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft conversations behind the upcoming entries telegraph a continued tilt toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that emphasizes atmosphere and fear rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in feature stories and artisan spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and produces shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta reframe that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature and environment design, which fit with fan-con activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel compelling. Look for trailers that spotlight disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that work in PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is jammed. 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 atmospheric change-up amid marquee brands. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the spread of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Late winter and spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can pop 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.

End of summer through fall leans horror IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a opaque tease strategy and limited asset reveals that center concept over reveals.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and holiday card usage.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s machine mate evolves into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her prickly boss fight to survive on a desolate island as the power dynamic tilts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to menace, driven by Cronin’s practical craft and quiet 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 closed-door haunting premise that manipulates the horror of a child’s mercurial senses. Rating: not yet rated. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-supported and star-led eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that skewers in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime manias. Rating: pending. Production: production booked for 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 breaks out, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new family caught in residual nightmares. Rating: undetermined. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: pending. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survivalist horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: not yet rated. Production: active. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and ancient menace. Rating: TBA. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 and why now

Three operational forces inform this lineup. First, production that decelerated or migrated in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, select scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will share space across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. 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.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where value-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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first unexpected 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. 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.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back 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 shadowed, 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 scale over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, audio design, and picture 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 shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand equity where it matters, 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.