Age-old Terror Rises in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling chiller, arriving October 2025 across global platforms

One unnerving mystic nightmare movie from literary architect / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an ancient dread when guests become victims in a fiendish conflict. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful saga of survival and primordial malevolence that will transform scare flicks this autumn. Realized by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and tone-heavy motion picture follows five people who are stirred isolated in a wooded cottage under the malignant control of Kyra, a female presence consumed by a 2,000-year-old holy text monster. Anticipate to be enthralled by a immersive spectacle that intertwines instinctive fear with biblical origins, landing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a legendary narrative in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is redefined when the spirits no longer develop externally, but rather inside their minds. This represents the malevolent layer of every character. The result is a relentless spiritual tug-of-war where the emotions becomes a unforgiving confrontation between light and darkness.


In a forsaken forest, five figures find themselves stuck under the possessive aura and curse of a unknown spirit. As the group becomes paralyzed to oppose her influence, disconnected and attacked by unknowns beyond reason, they are required to wrestle with their deepest fears while the doomsday meter without pause moves toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion amplifies and ties disintegrate, driving each participant to examine their core and the idea of conscious will itself. The consequences intensify with every instant, delivering a frightening tale that fuses unearthly horror with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to draw upon core terror, an darkness from ancient eras, manifesting in fragile psyche, and questioning a curse that redefines identity when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra meant evoking something more primal than sorrow. She is unaware until the curse activates, and that metamorphosis is bone-chilling because it is so private.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be released for public screening beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—so that horror lovers worldwide can get immersed in this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its first preview, which has been viewed over 100K plays.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, giving access to the movie to fans of fear everywhere.


Avoid skipping this bone-rattling voyage through terror. Watch *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to see these nightmarish insights about the human condition.


For sneak peeks, production insights, and social posts from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit our horror hub.





American horror’s inflection point: the 2025 season U.S. Slate fuses myth-forward possession, festival-born jolts, and series shake-ups

Beginning with endurance-driven terror steeped in mythic scripture all the way to returning series and surgical indie voices, 2025 is lining up as the most variegated combined with intentionally scheduled year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. Top studios lock in tentpoles via recognizable brands, as platform operators crowd the fall with debut heat plus old-world menace. At the same time, indie storytellers is surfing the momentum from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Since Halloween is the prized date, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, distinctly in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are methodical, as a result 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 presses the advantage.

the Universal camp leads off the quarter with a statement play: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, instead in a current-day frame. Steered by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. Slated for mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. From director Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer eases, the Warner Bros. banner rolls out the capstone of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re engages, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: vintage toned fear, trauma foregrounded, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The bar is raised this go, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The new chapter enriches the lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, reaching teens and game grownups. It books December, buttoning the final window.

Platform Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, 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 is virtually assured for fall.

Then there is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Authored 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 dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No bloated canon. No franchise baggage. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Franchise Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

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

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

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

Trends Worth Watching

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Near Term Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The next genre cycle: continuations, standalone ideas, alongside A Crowded Calendar Built For shocks

Dek: The current scare slate packs in short order with a January glut, after that runs through summer, and continuing into the winter holidays, fusing brand heft, novel approaches, and shrewd alternatives. The major players are betting on mid-range economics, theatrical-first rollouts, and influencer-ready assets that elevate these releases into cross-demo moments.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This space has solidified as the consistent tool in studio slates, a segment that can scale when it resonates and still cushion the exposure when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year demonstrated to greenlighters that cost-conscious horror vehicles can lead cultural conversation, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with visionary-driven titles and under-the-radar smashes. The carry translated to the 2025 frame, where resurrections and filmmaker-prestige bets underscored there is a market for different modes, from legacy continuations to one-and-done originals that resonate abroad. The sum for 2026 is a grid that shows rare alignment across companies, with strategic blocks, a pairing of brand names and new packages, and a renewed priority on box-office windows that enhance post-theatrical value on paid VOD and home streaming.

Marketers add the horror lane now works like a versatile piece on the release plan. Horror can open on open real estate, yield a quick sell for previews and short-form placements, and outperform with audiences that come out on Thursday nights and continue through the second weekend if the picture connects. Following a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 plan telegraphs conviction in that model. The slate starts with a loaded January schedule, then leans on spring and early summer for audience offsets, while carving room for a autumn stretch that reaches into late October and into post-Halloween. The grid also underscores the greater integration of indie arms and home platforms that can stage a platform run, grow buzz, and move wide at the right moment.

A second macro trend is brand management across connected story worlds and legacy IP. Studio teams are not just mounting another entry. They are aiming to frame connection with a headline quality, whether that is a typeface approach that indicates a recalibrated tone or a casting choice that reconnects a new entry to a early run. At the same time, the helmers behind the most buzzed-about originals are returning to physical effects work, special makeup and grounded locations. That convergence gives the 2026 slate a vital pairing of trust and novelty, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

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

Paramount leads early with two marquee bets that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the spine, steering it as both a lineage transfer and a classic-mode relationship-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a heritage-honoring campaign without retreading the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Plan for a rollout centered on classic imagery, first-look character reveals, and a staggered trailer plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will lean on. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will go after mass reach through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format supporting quick switches to whatever dominates trend lines that spring.

Universal has three differentiated strategies. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is elegant, grief-rooted, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man onboards an machine companion that evolves into a deadly partner. The date places it at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s marketing likely to bring back creepy live activations and short reels that fuses attachment and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a public title to become an earned moment closer to the first look. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s pictures are presented as filmmaker events, with a mystery-first teaser and a next wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The late-month date allows Universal to saturate 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has made clear that a tactile, makeup-driven execution can feel top-tier on a lean spend. Expect a grime-caked summer horror surge that spotlights international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio sets two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, sustaining a consistent supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is positioning as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both longtime followers and general audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build campaign pieces around world-building, and monster design, elements that can boost large-format demand and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by historical precision and linguistic texture, this time focused on werewolf legend. The specialty arm has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is glowing.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform tactics for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s genre entries head to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ordering that expands both FOMO and viewer acquisition in the later window. Prime Video interleaves library titles with global originals and select theatrical runs when the data supports it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in deep cuts, using seasonal hubs, horror hubs, and staff picks to stretch the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps optionality about own-slate titles and festival grabs, scheduling horror entries tight to release and staging as events premieres with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a tiered of precision theatrical plays and fast windowing that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has indicated interest to board select projects with established auteurs or celebrity-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for sustained usage when the genre conversation spikes.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 slate with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is simple: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, retooled for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has positioned a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, piloting the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday corridor to broaden. That positioning has served the company well for director-led genre with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception drives. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using select theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Franchises versus originals

By share, the 2026 slate skews toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit household recognition. The challenge, as ever, is viewer burnout. The operating solution is to present each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is underscoring character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is promising a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-accented approach from a rising filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a island-set survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the cast-creatives package is familiar enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Rolling three-year comps frame the model. In 2023, a theater-first model that kept clean windows did not obstruct a parallel release from hitting when the brand was sticky. In 2024, art-forward horror exceeded expectations in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they pivot perspective and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to cross-link entries through relationships and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without extended gaps.

Creative tendencies and craft

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 slate forecast a continued lean toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that emphasizes atmosphere and fear rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and gathers shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta-horror reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature and environment design, which are ideal for convention floor stunts and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel must-have. Look for trailers that elevate pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that sing on PLF.

The schedule at a glance

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 moody palate cleanser amid big-brand pushes. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the range of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth carries.

Late Q1 and spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Late summer into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a early fall window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a minimalist tease strategy and limited plot reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and holiday gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s digital partner shifts into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 demanding boss claw to survive on a isolated island as the power balance swivels and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. 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 not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to dread, based on Cronin’s physical craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting tale that mediates the fear via a minor’s unsteady inner lens. Rating: to be announced. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that skewers present-day genre chatter and true crime fervors. Rating: to be announced. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 erupts, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new clan bound to past horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A fresh restart designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: undetermined. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: TBA. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 antique diction and elemental dread. Rating: pending. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a big-screen run before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why this year, why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces organize this lineup. First, production that decelerated or re-slotted in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and condensed 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 surpassed straight-to-streaming releases. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work repeatable beats from test screenings, select scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, offering breathing room for genre entries that can command a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will line up across five weekends, which gives each navigate here title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, 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 momentum and variety. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, 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 warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, tight deployments, 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, sonics, and imagery 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 Is Well Positioned

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand heft where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the chills sell the seats.