Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens ancient dread, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 on global platforms

This unnerving ghostly suspense film from writer / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an long-buried fear when foreigners become tokens in a demonic trial. Dropping this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish tale of struggle and old world terror that will revolutionize scare flicks this October. Visualized by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and claustrophobic film follows five individuals who arise locked in a cut-off shelter under the malevolent manipulation of Kyra, a troubled woman consumed by a biblical-era biblical demon. Be prepared to be enthralled by a theatrical experience that fuses raw fear with folklore, unleashing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a iconic pillar in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is challenged when the entities no longer appear from elsewhere, but rather deep within. This illustrates the grimmest dimension of the cast. The result is a edge-of-seat identity crisis where the events becomes a brutal face-off between heaven and hell.


In a forsaken no-man's-land, five teens find themselves cornered under the unholy aura and overtake of a mysterious figure. As the protagonists becomes vulnerable to withstand her grasp, severed and pursued by creatures mind-shattering, they are compelled to wrestle with their deepest fears while the moments unforgivingly runs out toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust amplifies and associations erode, forcing each character to contemplate their character and the philosophy of volition itself. The cost climb with every tick, delivering a horror experience that intertwines mystical fear with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to uncover core terror, an malevolence beyond recorded history, emerging via fragile psyche, and highlighting a power that redefines identity when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra was about accessing something deeper than fear. She is oblivious until the entity awakens, and that metamorphosis is haunting because it is so private.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for home viewing beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—allowing households internationally can watch this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its first preview, which has been viewed over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, delivering the story to global fright lovers.


Make sure to see this life-altering fall into madness. Watch *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to confront these nightmarish insights about human nature.


For exclusive trailers, making-of footage, and reveals from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across platforms and visit the official website.





Current horror’s Turning Point: the 2025 season American release plan blends biblical-possession ideas, underground frights, plus series shake-ups

Kicking off with survival horror suffused with biblical myth through to brand-name continuations paired with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is lining up as the most variegated plus carefully orchestrated year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. top-tier distributors plant stakes across the year via recognizable brands, concurrently SVOD players saturate the fall with discovery plays and legend-coded dread. On the independent axis, the independent cohort is propelled by the kinetic energy of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the other windows are mapped with care. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, however this time, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are exacting, which means 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

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

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s pipeline opens the year with an audacious swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a crisp modern milieu. Guided by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. targeting mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Eli Craig directs anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer wanes, Warner’s schedule drops the final chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Despite a known recipe, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson returns, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: retrograde shiver, trauma as narrative engine, paired with unsettling supernatural order. Here the stakes rise, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It opens in December, locking down the winter tail.

Digital Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a sealed box body horror arc anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It looks like sharp programming. No overweight mythology. No franchise baggage. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Series Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Trends to Watch

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

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

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Outlook: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The approaching fright year to come: returning titles, filmmaker-first projects, paired with A busy Calendar aimed at frights

Dek The new horror season builds up front with a January bottleneck, then rolls through peak season, and running into the holiday frame, blending name recognition, novel approaches, and calculated counterprogramming. The big buyers and platforms are betting on responsible budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and shareable marketing that convert these films into mainstream chatter.

Horror momentum into 2026

This category has solidified as the steady release in programming grids, a space that can expand when it performs and still cushion the risk when it fails to connect. After 2023 reconfirmed for greenlighters that modestly budgeted pictures can lead social chatter, 2024 carried the beat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam translated to the 2025 frame, where revivals and critical darlings signaled there is room for several lanes, from returning installments to filmmaker-driven originals that play globally. The sum for 2026 is a schedule that presents tight coordination across the field, with clear date clusters, a balance of marquee IP and fresh ideas, and a revived focus on big-screen windows that drive downstream revenue on premium video on demand and streaming.

Planners observe the category now operates like a plug-and-play option on the rollout map. Horror can roll out on many corridors, supply a clean hook for promo reels and shorts, and outperform with ticket buyers that turn out on first-look nights and sustain through the second weekend if the release fires. After a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 cadence demonstrates confidence in that approach. The calendar gets underway with a thick January window, then plants flags in spring and early summer for alternate plays, while holding room for a late-year stretch that runs into holiday-adjacent weekends and past Halloween. The arrangement also shows the ongoing integration of specialized labels and streamers that can launch in limited release, generate chatter, and broaden at the proper time.

Another broad trend is brand strategy across ongoing universes and established properties. Major shops are not just pushing another follow-up. They are aiming to frame ongoing narrative with a must-see charge, whether that is a title treatment that flags a new vibe or a ensemble decision that reconnects a fresh chapter to a original cycle. At the in tandem, the creative teams behind the eagerly awaited originals are championing in-camera technique, practical gags and site-specific worlds. That fusion gives 2026 a strong blend of home base and newness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount defines the early cadence with two prominent titles that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the lead, signaling it as both a baton pass and a foundation-forward character-centered film. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach suggests a nostalgia-forward framework without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive leaning on legacy iconography, first images of characters, and a tease cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will stress. As a counterweight in summer, this one will drive mainstream recognition through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format enabling quick adjustments to whatever owns the social talk that spring.

Universal has three unique bets. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is clean, soulful, and high-concept: a grieving man activates an machine companion that shifts into a perilous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a packed window, with Universal’s campaign likely to replay viral uncanny stunts and short-form creative that hybridizes devotion and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a final title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s releases are framed as creative events, with a teaser that reveals little and a follow-up trailer set that define feel without revealing the concept. The prime October weekend offers Universal room to fill 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has established that a gnarly, practical-first strategy can feel deluxe on a disciplined budget. Expect a gore-forward summer horror jolt that emphasizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio launches two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, holding a steady supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is marketing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both longtime followers and newcomers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build artifacts around environmental design, and creature builds, elements that can stoke premium screens and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in minute detail and language, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is positive.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform strategies for 2026 run on predictable routes. The studio’s horror films flow to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a ladder that elevates both initial urgency and sub growth in the after-window. Prime Video pairs licensed content with global originals and brief theater runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in deep cuts, using timely promos, horror hubs, and handpicked rows to prolong the run on aggregate take. Netflix remains opportunistic about own-slate titles and festival wins, securing horror entries closer to drop and turning into events arrivals with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a two-step of targeted theatrical exposure and speedy platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has indicated interest to pick up select projects with top-tier auteurs or marquee packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation swells.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 corridor with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is clear: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, elevated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the Christmas corridor to broaden. That positioning has been successful 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 often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception encourages. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using limited theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their community.

Series vs standalone

By tilt, 2026 is weighted toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use franchise value. The caveat, as ever, is brand wear. The pragmatic answer is to market each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is foregrounding character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French sensibility from a new voice. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and talent-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a stranded survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, get redirected here eerie tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the configuration is recognizable enough to spark pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

The last three-year set announce the template. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that held distribution windows did not hamper a parallel release from performing when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror punched above its weight in premium formats. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they rotate perspective and expand the canvas. 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 double feature plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, enables marketing to cross-link entries through protagonists and motifs and to keep assets in-market without doldrums.

Behind-the-camera trends

The production chatter behind the 2026 slate hint at a continued emphasis on material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that centers tone and tension rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft profiles and artisan spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and produces shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta inflection that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature execution and sets, which lend themselves to fan-con activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that foreground hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that play in premium auditoriums.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

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. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid larger brand plays. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the palette of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

February through May tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

End of summer through fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil follows September 18, a transitional slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a peekaboo tease plan and limited teasers that put concept first.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card use.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits 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 widowed man’s artificial companion unfolds into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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 rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back 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 mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. 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 severe boss try to survive on a isolated island as the power dynamic swivels and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

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 modern reimagining that returns the monster to horror, grounded in Cronin’s material craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting narrative that explores the fear of a child’s mercurial read. Rating: pending. Production: locked. 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 rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A send-up revival that pokes at of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime manias. Rating: not yet rated. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a another family caught in long-buried horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A fresh restart designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-driven horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBD. Production: ongoing. 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 time-true diction and elemental menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three hands-on forces define this lineup. First, production that downshifted or recalendared in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous 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 click to read more teams behind these titles will harvest shareable moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can command a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will share space across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, 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 underdog 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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces 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 icy, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, acoustics, and camera work 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 Robust 2026 On Deck

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is IP strength where it matters, 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 late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the screams sell the seats.