Antediluvian Dread Surfaces within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling shocker, arriving October 2025 across global platforms

A bone-chilling unearthly fright fest from scriptwriter / director Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an age-old entity when unknowns become puppets in a supernatural ordeal. Airings begin this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a intense narrative of staying alive and primordial malevolence that will revolutionize fear-driven cinema this spooky time. Guided by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and cinematic motion picture follows five unknowns who come to imprisoned in a remote wooden structure under the unfriendly dominion of Kyra, a central character overtaken by a two-thousand-year-old biblical demon. Arm yourself to be absorbed by a narrative adventure that merges soul-chilling terror with arcane tradition, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a legendary concept in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is reversed when the beings no longer emerge outside the characters, but rather within themselves. This echoes the haunting version of these individuals. The result is a psychologically brutal internal warfare where the drama becomes a brutal conflict between innocence and sin.


In a forsaken natural abyss, five young people find themselves marooned under the ominous influence and overtake of a haunted woman. As the victims becomes unresisting to reject her command, left alone and chased by entities inconceivable, they are confronted to wrestle with their deepest fears while the hours without pity ticks toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia escalates and bonds crack, forcing each member to examine their values and the concept of conscious will itself. The intensity intensify with every heartbeat, delivering a nightmarish journey that harmonizes paranormal dread with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to extract primal fear, an spirit beyond recorded history, operating within mental cracks, and challenging a being that erodes the self when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra was about accessing something beyond human emotion. She is clueless until the possession kicks in, and that shift is eerie because it is so raw.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for audience access beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring watchers no matter where they are can get immersed in this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its original promo, which has been viewed over 100K plays.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, presenting the nightmare to international horror buffs.


Tune in for this soul-jarring ride through nightmares. Confront *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to witness these dark realities about the human condition.


For bonus footage, production insights, and announcements from those who lived it, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across platforms and visit the official movie site.





The horror genre’s decisive shift: the year 2025 stateside slate braids together Mythic Possession, underground frights, together with Franchise Rumbles

Spanning life-or-death fear suffused with primordial scripture and onward to returning series plus keen independent perspectives, 2025 is shaping up as the most complex along with deliberate year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. top-tier distributors plant stakes across the year using marquee IP, simultaneously streaming platforms stack the fall with new perspectives as well as old-world menace. In parallel, indie storytellers is carried on the kinetic energy of 2024’s record festival wave. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the other windows are mapped with care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are targeted, hence 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: High-craft horror returns

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal banner kicks off the frame with an audacious swing: a modernized Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, inside today’s landscape. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. dated for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Under Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

When summer fades, Warner’s pipeline sets loose the finale within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: old school creep, trauma as theme, along with eerie supernatural rules. This time the stakes climb, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It bows in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a room scale body horror descent pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn starring Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, 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.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It reads as sharp positioning. No overweight mythology. No brand fatigue. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

What to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror swings back
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Cinemas are a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

The Road Ahead: Fall crush plus winter X factor

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

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



The next scare release year: Sequels, fresh concepts, as well as A hectic Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek: The new genre calendar loads immediately with a January traffic jam, then carries through the summer months, and continuing into the holidays, marrying marquee clout, fresh ideas, and shrewd release strategy. Studios and platforms are embracing efficient budgets, theatrical leads, and social-fueled campaigns that turn horror entries into all-audience topics.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror has shown itself to be the predictable move in annual schedules, a segment that can scale when it performs and still cushion the risk when it stumbles. After 2023 reminded top brass that cost-conscious genre plays can galvanize pop culture, the following year carried the beat with director-led heat and sleeper breakouts. The energy carried into 2025, where reawakened brands and awards-minded projects confirmed there is an opening for a variety of tones, from legacy continuations to director-led originals that carry overseas. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a programming that presents tight coordination across studios, with strategic blocks, a blend of marquee IP and untested plays, and a tightened focus on cinema windows that increase tail monetization on premium on-demand and streaming.

Studio leaders note the genre now slots in as a fill-in ace on the programming map. The genre can kick off on most weekends, provide a sharp concept for creative and short-form placements, and outstrip with viewers that respond on opening previews and hold through the next pass if the film hits. Coming out of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 layout indicates confidence in that approach. The calendar gets underway with a thick January window, then turns to spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while leaving room for a autumn stretch that pushes into holiday-adjacent weekends and past the holiday. The grid also highlights the stronger partnership of specialized labels and SVOD players that can build gradually, stoke social talk, and roll out at the optimal moment.

An added macro current is brand curation across interlocking continuities and storied titles. The companies are not just making another continuation. They are trying to present story carry-over with a premium feel, whether that is a title design that signals a reframed mood or a lead change that ties a upcoming film to a foundational era. At the concurrently, the directors behind the most anticipated originals are prioritizing on-set craft, makeup and prosthetics and vivid settings. That combination hands 2026 a healthy mix of familiarity and invention, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount plants an early flag with two marquee bets that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the lead, signaling it as both a succession moment and a classic-mode character-first story. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture indicates a nostalgia-forward angle without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push driven by classic imagery, character previews, and a tiered teaser plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 back together, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will lean on. As a summer contrast play, this one will go after wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format allowing quick pivots to whatever defines genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three clear bets. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is elegant, sorrow-tinged, and easily pitched: a grieving man activates an intelligent companion that escalates into a fatal companion. The date slots it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to iterate on creepy live activations and bite-size content that interweaves devotion and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a proper title to become an fan moment closer to the 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 takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele projects are branded as event films, with a teaser with minimal detail and a follow-up trailer set that signal tone without plot the concept. The prime October weekend creates space for Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has proven that a tactile, physical-effects centered approach can feel deluxe on a controlled budget. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror shot that maximizes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio rolls out two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, maintaining a consistent supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is billing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both devotees and fresh viewers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build materials around mythos, and creature work, elements that can fuel format premiums and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by immersive craft and linguistic texture, this time orbiting lycan myth. Focus has already set the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform windowing in 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s slate move to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a structure that maximizes both initial urgency and subscription bumps in the late-window. Prime Video interleaves library titles with world buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in catalog discovery, using editorial spots, seasonal hubs, and staff picks to prolong the run on the annual genre haul. Netflix stays nimble about internal projects and festival acquisitions, timing horror entries near their drops and framing as events arrivals with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a hybrid of selective theatrical runs and prompt platform moves that drives paid trials from buzz. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown appetite to acquire select projects with recognized filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for platform stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 slate with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is clear: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, modernized for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a traditional cinema play for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the September weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, escorting the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then working the Christmas window to go wider. That positioning has shown results for elevated genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception supports. 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 together, using limited theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their user base.

Series vs standalone

By weight, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use name recognition. The potential drawback, as ever, is overexposure. The near-term solution is to present each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is underscoring character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-accented approach from a fresh helmer. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and visionary-led titles keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the bundle is anchored enough to spark pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Recent-year comps announce the logic. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that kept streaming intact did not hamper a same-day experiment from hitting when the brand was compelling. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror hit big in PLF. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reframe POV and scale the storytelling. 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters shot consecutively, gives leeway to marketing to cross-link entries through character web and themes and to keep assets alive without long breaks.

Creative tendencies and craft

The filmmaking conversations behind this slate hint at a continued preference for tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that centers mood and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and medieval diction, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in long-lead press and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and drives shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta refresh that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will live or die on monster aesthetics and world-building, which work nicely for con floor moments and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that accent razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that work in PLF.

Calendar cadence

January is packed. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid marquee brands. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the spread of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Early-year through spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

August and September into October leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a transitional slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a peekaboo tease plan and limited previews that stress concept over spoilers.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can thrive over the holidays horror when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and holiday gift-card burn.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s intelligent companion grows into something perilously amorous. 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back 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 finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: tone-first game 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 unyielding boss fight to survive on a remote island as the power dynamic upends and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 renewed take that returns the monster to fright, shaped by Cronin’s physical craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting narrative that explores the fear of a child’s fragile point of view. Rating: pending. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A send-up revival that pokes at present-day genre chatter and true-crime buzz. Rating: undetermined. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 ignites, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new family snared by lingering terrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A clean reboot designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on classic survival-horror tone over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBA. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: closely held. Rating: forthcoming. Production: proceeding. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 language and elemental fear. Rating: not yet rated. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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

Why 2026 lands now

Three hands-on forces drive this lineup. First, production that downshifted or migrated in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on clippable moments from test screenings, curated scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, making room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will coexist across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The dark-horse hunt 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 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. Expect a healthy 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.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, acoustics, and visual design 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

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is franchise muscle where it helps, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.