Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons age-old dread, a nightmare fueled supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 across top streaming platforms

A bone-chilling unearthly suspense film from narrative craftsman / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an forgotten fear when newcomers become proxies in a malevolent ceremony. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish episode of staying alive and timeless dread that will transform horror this fall. Produced by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and moody cinema piece follows five unacquainted souls who suddenly rise caught in a cut-off cottage under the malevolent manipulation of Kyra, a mysterious girl possessed by a ancient biblical force. Anticipate to be enthralled by a cinematic outing that merges deep-seated panic with legendary tales, debuting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a mainstay fixture in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is challenged when the forces no longer manifest from beyond, but rather inside their minds. This illustrates the darkest part of the players. The result is a enthralling mental war where the intensity becomes a brutal confrontation between right and wrong.


In a barren terrain, five figures find themselves sealed under the unholy presence and grasp of a secretive spirit. As the companions becomes incapacitated to evade her rule, disconnected and hunted by terrors mind-shattering, they are obligated to reckon with their core terrors while the hours brutally ticks toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension surges and friendships crack, coercing each soul to reflect on their character and the philosophy of free will itself. The consequences mount with every breath, delivering a cinematic nightmare that weaves together ghostly evil with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to dive into primitive panic, an entity beyond time, manifesting in human fragility, and highlighting a darkness that tests the soul when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra meant channeling something darker than pain. She is unaware until the demon emerges, and that transformation is haunting because it is so intimate.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for audiences beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—delivering subscribers in all regions can face this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its initial teaser, which has attracted over massive response.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, giving access to the movie to international horror buffs.


Be sure to catch this heart-stopping spiral into evil. Explore *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to experience these ghostly lessons about the psyche.


For teasers, making-of footage, and press updates from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursed across platforms and visit the movie’s homepage.





Contemporary horror’s tipping point: 2025 in focus U.S. calendar integrates primeval-possession lore, Indie Shockers, plus legacy-brand quakes

Spanning pressure-cooker survival tales saturated with old testament echoes as well as returning series together with focused festival visions, 2025 is emerging as the genre’s most multifaceted along with deliberate year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. top-tier distributors plant stakes across the year with franchise anchors, even as SVOD players saturate the fall with discovery plays together with legend-coded dread. In the indie lane, horror’s indie wing is buoyed by the kinetic energy of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A fat September–October lane is customary now, yet in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are surgical, thus 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s pipeline begins the calendar with a headline swing: a modernized Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, instead in a current-day frame. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. arriving mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. From director Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer winds down, Warner’s pipeline sets loose the finale within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Even with a familiar chassis, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re engages, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: old school creep, trauma in the foreground, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The ante is higher this round, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The continuation widens the legend, thickens the animatronic pantheon, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It lands in December, securing the winter cap.

Streamer Exclusives: Slim budgets, major punch

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is a calculated bet. No overweight mythology. No franchise baggage. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy Brands: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, with Francis Lawrence directing, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror reemerges
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Season Ahead: 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 including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The oncoming Horror calendar year ahead: next chapters, standalone ideas, paired with A loaded Calendar tailored for nightmares

Dek: The arriving genre cycle crams from the jump with a January traffic jam, subsequently spreads through the summer months, and well into the holidays, combining series momentum, fresh ideas, and tactical counterweight. Studios with streamers are betting on responsible budgets, big-screen-first runs, and viral-minded pushes that shape the slate’s entries into cross-demo moments.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror sector has emerged as the surest lever in release plans, a vertical that can break out when it catches and still limit the downside when it misses. After the 2023 year reminded greenlighters that disciplined-budget horror vehicles can command pop culture, 2024 continued the surge with auteur-driven buzzy films and under-the-radar smashes. The tailwind flowed into 2025, where revivals and festival-grade titles confirmed there is capacity for a spectrum, from sequel tracks to original features that perform internationally. The upshot for 2026 is a programming that looks unusually coordinated across companies, with clear date clusters, a spread of legacy names and new pitches, and a re-energized eye on big-screen windows that enhance post-theatrical value on paid VOD and home streaming.

Studio leaders note the genre now performs as a utility player on the slate. Horror can launch on numerous frames, offer a grabby hook for creative and social clips, and exceed norms with ticket buyers that show up on first-look nights and return through the follow-up frame if the entry fires. Emerging from a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 pattern demonstrates faith in that playbook. The slate gets underway with a loaded January run, then uses spring and early summer for alternate plays, while saving space for a autumn push that reaches into All Hallows period and past the holiday. The map also highlights the increasing integration of specialty distributors and home platforms that can build gradually, create conversation, and grow at the strategic time.

An added macro current is franchise tending across ongoing universes and heritage properties. Big banners are not just making another return. They are aiming to frame story carry-over with a occasion, whether that is a title presentation that broadcasts a new tone or a ensemble decision that links a new entry to a initial period. At the concurrently, the helmers behind the headline-grabbing originals are championing in-camera technique, in-camera effects and site-specific worlds. That convergence provides the 2026 slate a confident blend of familiarity and novelty, which is why the genre exports well.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount leads early with two high-profile releases that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, angling it as both a legacy handover and a origin-leaning character-first story. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the artistic posture points to a throwback-friendly campaign without repeating the last two entries’ family thread. Look for a marketing run rooted in brand visuals, early character teases, and a two-beat trailer plan slated for late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off 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 in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will emphasize. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will generate four-quadrant chatter through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format permitting quick adjustments to whatever shapes pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three distinct lanes. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is efficient, melancholic, and concept-forward: a grieving man installs an algorithmic mate that mutates into a deadly partner. The date places it at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s campaign likely to replay strange in-person beats and short reels that interlaces romance and dread.

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 sets up a name unveil to become an fan moment closer to the initial tease. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele projects are framed as director events, with a mystery-first teaser and a follow-up trailer set that define feel without revealing the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor lets the studio to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a in-your-face, practical-effects forward strategy can feel prestige on a controlled budget. Position this as a grime-caked summer horror charge that spotlights global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio books two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, maintaining a trusty supernatural brand in the great post to read market while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is calling a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both devotees and general audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build campaign creative around world-building, and creature design, elements that can fuel premium screens and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by immersive craft and period speech, this time set against lycan legends. The distributor has already set the date for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is supportive.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform tactics for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre slate feed copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a pacing that boosts both FOMO and viewer acquisition in the later window. Prime Video combines licensed titles with global acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog engagement, using seasonal hubs, Halloween hubs, and programmed rows to sustain interest on 2026 genre cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about originals and festival pickups, confirming horror entries tight to release and turning into events rollouts with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a dual-phase of limited theatrical footprints and prompt platform moves that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in great post to read theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has shown a willingness to pick up select projects with recognized filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for sustained usage when the genre conversation surges.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 pipeline with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is uncomplicated: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, elevated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the late-season weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then deploying the December frame to move out. That positioning has proved effective for auteur horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, get redirected here RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception prompts. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using mini theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subs.

Balance of brands and originals

By volume, the 2026 slate bends toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit household recognition. The potential drawback, as ever, is brand erosion. The operating solution is to sell each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is bringing forward character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a Francophone tone from a rising filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the bundle is comforting enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Comparable trends from recent years make sense of the template. In 2023, a theater-first model that preserved streaming windows did not preclude a dual release from performing when the brand was big. In 2024, precision craft horror hit big in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel new when they shift POV and scale the storytelling. 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters filmed consecutively, lets marketing to bridge entries through protagonists and motifs and to keep assets alive without dead zones.

How the films are being made

The craft conversations behind this year’s genre forecast a continued tilt toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that leans on unease and texture rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and era-correct language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft features before rolling out a first look that withholds plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and produces shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta refresh that centers an original star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster realization and design, which favor con floor moments and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel necessary. Look for trailers that foreground pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that land in premium houses.

Month-by-month map

January is jammed. 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 foggy reset amid macro-brand pushes. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the spread of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth carries.

Post-January through spring prepare summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

August and September into October leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a transitional slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited disclosures that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can win the holiday when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s machine mate escalates into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 emerges 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 comes back 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: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 demanding boss fight to survive on a cut-off island as the chain of command reverses and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to menace, anchored by Cronin’s tactile craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting scenario that explores the fear of a child’s wobbly POV. Rating: forthcoming. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A send-up revival that satirizes contemporary horror memes and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBD. Production: filming slated 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 spreads, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further widens again, with a different family tethered to ancient dread. Rating: awaiting classification. 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: forthcoming. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on true survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: underway. 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 primal menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026, why now

Three grounded forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that eased or migrated in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming releases. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, managed scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will coexist across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

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 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where midrange-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 maximize those pockets. 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. 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, smart allocations, 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 visual texture, sonics, and image-making 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

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand power where it counts, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep the secrets, and let the shocks sell the seats.