Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primordial evil, a nerve shredding chiller, premiering Oct 2025 on top streamers

An unnerving metaphysical shockfest from cinematographer / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an prehistoric fear when guests become subjects in a satanic maze. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping story of resilience and mythic evil that will reconstruct the fear genre this ghoul season. Produced by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and tone-heavy fearfest follows five strangers who regain consciousness imprisoned in a cut-off cottage under the malevolent control of Kyra, a young woman claimed by a 2,000-year-old biblical demon. Steel yourself to be seized by a immersive experience that combines visceral dread with ancestral stories, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a legendary theme in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is turned on its head when the fiends no longer come from elsewhere, but rather deep within. This marks the malevolent version of the players. The result is a gripping psychological battle where the events becomes a intense fight between heaven and hell.


In a forsaken backcountry, five young people find themselves contained under the malicious control and spiritual invasion of a haunted spirit. As the protagonists becomes defenseless to evade her power, exiled and stalked by entities mind-shattering, they are confronted to confront their inner horrors while the clock unceasingly draws closer toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease grows and bonds dissolve, coercing each survivor to doubt their being and the principle of independent thought itself. The pressure amplify with every tick, delivering a frightening tale that harmonizes otherworldly suspense with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to dig into basic terror, an power rooted in antiquity, embedding itself in fragile psyche, and navigating a presence that redefines identity when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra was centered on something deeper than fear. She is innocent until the takeover begins, and that conversion is terrifying because it is so close.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be released for home viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—allowing users anywhere can engage with this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its release of trailer #1, which has pulled in over 100,000 views.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, giving access to the movie to a global viewership.


Experience this mind-warping journey into fear. Explore *Young & Cursed* this launch day to see these fearful discoveries about human nature.


For featurettes, production news, and insider scoops straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursed across online outlets and visit youngandcursed.com.





Contemporary horror’s pivotal crossroads: calendar year 2025 U.S. Slate interlaces myth-forward possession, festival-born jolts, stacked beside franchise surges

Spanning last-stand terror saturated with primordial scripture and stretching into legacy revivals paired with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is coalescing into the most textured and precision-timed year of the last decade.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. studio majors lock in tentpoles with known properties, while SVOD players front-load the fall with debut heat and ancient terrors. In parallel, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is carried on the afterglow of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, yet in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are intentional, so 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Premium dread reemerges

The majors are assertive. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 presses the advantage.

the Universal banner kicks off the frame with an audacious swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, in an immediate now. Guided by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. targeting mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Directed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer winds down, the WB camp sets loose the finale from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: old school creep, trauma foregrounded, and a cold supernatural calculus. This time, the stakes are raised, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The follow up digs further into canon, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It posts in December, securing the winter cap.

Platform Plays: No Budget, No Problem

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a sealed box body horror arc starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is destined for a fall landing.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: 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

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled 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 terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No heavy handed lore. No franchise baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Series Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia 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, 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.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, with Francis Lawrence directing, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Signals and Trends

Mythic currents go mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

What’s Next: Fall pileup, winter curveball

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The next fright slate: installments, standalone ideas, alongside A busy Calendar geared toward shocks

Dek The incoming genre slate crowds at the outset with a January traffic jam, and then spreads through peak season, and straight through the holiday frame, combining IP strength, new concepts, and tactical counter-scheduling. Major distributors and platforms are relying on cost discipline, box-office-first windows, and platform-native promos that frame horror entries into culture-wide discussion.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror marketplace has become the dependable option in annual schedules, a vertical that can grow when it hits and still insulate the downside when it doesn’t. After 2023 reminded executives that low-to-mid budget horror vehicles can own mainstream conversation, the following year maintained heat with auteur-driven buzzy films and quiet over-performers. The run fed into 2025, where revivals and prestige plays showed there is appetite for different modes, from returning installments to standalone ideas that perform internationally. The sum for the 2026 slate is a programming that presents tight coordination across the major shops, with defined corridors, a mix of legacy names and new pitches, and a revived attention on exclusive windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium digital rental and home streaming.

Buyers contend the space now behaves like a wildcard on the distribution slate. The genre can premiere on open real estate, supply a grabby hook for marketing and reels, and lead with fans that show up on advance nights and keep coming through the next pass if the movie hits. Coming out of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 mapping indicates conviction in that playbook. The year launches with a loaded January lineup, then uses spring and early summer for balance, while reserving space for a September to October window that pushes into the fright window and into November. The arrangement also illustrates the continuing integration of specialized labels and platforms that can launch in limited release, grow buzz, and widen at the right moment.

A notable top-line trend is legacy care across interlocking continuities and classic IP. The studios are not just mounting another chapter. They are aiming to frame lore continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a logo package that conveys a new tone or a star attachment that links a upcoming film to a foundational era. At the alongside this, the visionaries behind the headline-grabbing originals are returning to hands-on technique, practical gags and concrete locations. That blend yields 2026 a lively combination of home base and newness, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount opens strong with two prominent plays that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the spine, setting it up as both a baton pass and a return-to-roots character-centered film. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach conveys a roots-evoking campaign without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Plan for a rollout rooted in signature symbols, intro reveals, and a rollout cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will feature. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will build mainstream recognition through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick switches to whatever defines pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three differentiated lanes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is tight, soulful, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man purchases an digital partner that escalates into a lethal partner. The date positions it at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s promo team likely to bring back uncanny live moments and micro spots that hybridizes longing and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official great post to read release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a branding reveal to become an PR pop closer to the opening teaser. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. His projects are marketed as director events, with a opaque teaser and a next wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween runway gives the studio room to dominate 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a flesh-and-blood, in-camera leaning strategy can feel top-tier on a efficient spend. Frame it as a viscera-heavy summer horror blast that pushes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio places two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, keeping a steady supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is billing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both fans and newcomers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build promo materials around universe detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can fuel premium booking interest and fan-culture participation.

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 continues Eggers’ run of period horror built on obsessive craft and linguistic texture, this time focused on werewolf legend. The label has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is favorable.

Digital platform strategies

Platform plans for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s horror titles flow to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a pacing that fortifies both opening-weekend urgency and sign-up spikes in the downstream. Prime Video blends acquired titles with worldwide buys and select theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their edges in deep cuts, using timely promos, genre hubs, and curated strips to stretch the tail on overall cume. Netflix plays opportunist about originals and festival snaps, securing horror entries closer to launch and staging as events arrivals with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a one-two of tailored theatrical exposure and quick platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a discrete basis. The platform has signaled readiness to board select projects with recognized filmmakers or star-driven packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation builds.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is curating a 2026 corridor with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is no-nonsense: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, upgraded for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late-season weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, shepherding the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the year-end corridor to scale. That positioning has paid off for arthouse horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception prompts. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using targeted theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subs.

Brands and originals

By share, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap cultural cachet. The potential drawback, as ever, is diminishing returns. The standing approach is to package each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is leading with character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French sensibility from a emerging director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the team and cast is grounded enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday-night turnout.

Recent comps illuminate the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that held distribution windows did not stop a day-date move from winning when the brand was sticky. In 2024, art-forward horror punched above its weight in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they reorient and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step 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 shop talk behind the upcoming entries indicate a continued lean toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that underscores grain and menace rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and artisan spotlights before rolling out a first look that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and spurs shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta recalibration that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature work and production design, which fit with fan conventions and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel definitive. Look for trailers that underscore hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that shine in top rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is stacked. 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 brooding contrast amid heftier brand moves. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the tone spread makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Post-January through spring tee up summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens 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 steps 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 lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can connect 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 run their PLF course.

End of summer through fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited disclosures that favor idea over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s AI companion escalates into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: aura-driven adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her severe boss battle to survive on a lonely island as the pecking order flips and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. 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 not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to chill, anchored by Cronin’s material craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting narrative that toys with the fright of a child’s fragile impressions. Rating: TBD. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that skewers contemporary horror memes and true-crime manias. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 detonates, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new family entangled with lingering terrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A restart designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-core horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBD. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and primal menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a cinema-first path before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that paused or re-sequenced in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and tighter schedules. 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 exceeded straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify turnkey scare beats from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can capture a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will stack 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 target range. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 surprise-hit pursuit 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 quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, 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 momentum and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, smart allocations, 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 texture, audio design, 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.

A Promising 2026

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is name recognition where it counts, 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 sharp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the screams sell the seats.