Age-old Evil Returns within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked supernatural thriller, launching October 2025 across top digital platforms

One chilling paranormal fear-driven tale from creator / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an long-buried fear when passersby become tokens in a devilish trial. Debuting October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish account of resilience and old world terror that will resculpt the fear genre this Halloween season. Crafted by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and gothic motion picture follows five strangers who come to locked in a wilderness-bound lodge under the malevolent influence of Kyra, a young woman dominated by a prehistoric biblical demon. Anticipate to be hooked by a theatrical event that fuses intense horror with mystical narratives, arriving on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a well-established pillar in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is subverted when the entities no longer form from an outside force, but rather internally. This suggests the malevolent element of the group. The result is a bone-chilling identity crisis where the tension becomes a perpetual struggle between heaven and hell.


In a bleak wild, five youths find themselves caught under the dark grip and overtake of a shadowy entity. As the companions becomes vulnerable to fight her curse, cut off and targeted by entities impossible to understand, they are compelled to reckon with their deepest fears while the countdown harrowingly counts down toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia builds and partnerships implode, forcing each person to examine their existence and the philosophy of conscious will itself. The hazard mount with every passing moment, delivering a cinematic nightmare that integrates otherworldly suspense with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to tap into pure dread, an entity born of forgotten ages, channeling itself through fragile psyche, and testing a entity that challenges autonomy when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra involved tapping into something more primal than sorrow. She is unseeing until the possession kicks in, and that shift is haunting because it is so intimate.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—so that subscribers internationally can dive into this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its first trailer, which has earned over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, extending the thrill to fans of fear everywhere.


Mark your calendar for this mind-warping voyage through terror. Confront *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to dive into these nightmarish insights about mankind.


For exclusive trailers, production insights, and updates from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across platforms and visit our horror hub.





Contemporary horror’s tipping point: 2025 across markets U.S. rollouts integrates ancient-possession motifs, festival-born jolts, alongside series shake-ups

Spanning last-stand terror suffused with biblical myth and onward to series comebacks paired with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is emerging as horror’s most layered together with carefully orchestrated year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. Top studios set cornerstones with familiar IP, at the same time OTT services stack the fall with unboxed visions set against archetypal fear. On another front, indie storytellers is fueled by the tailwinds from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, though in this cycle, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are methodical, thus 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: High-craft horror returns

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 deepens the push.

the Universal camp sets the tone with an audacious swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. targeting mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. From director Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer winds down, Warner’s pipeline sets loose the finale from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Despite a known recipe, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson resumes command, and the memorable motifs return: 70s style chill, trauma explicitly handled, with ghostly inner logic. This time the stakes climb, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The return delves further into myth, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It arrives in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Firsts: Lean budgets, heavy bite

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a sealed box body horror arc anchored by Alison Brie and 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. Absent a posted platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative with Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, 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 horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a smart play. No bloated canon. No continuity burden. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

From Festivals to Market

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

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. 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. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

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

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Long Running Lines: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. 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, from Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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 Worth Watching

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror retakes ground
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

What’s Next: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The upcoming scare season: brand plays, new stories, plus A hectic Calendar engineered for goosebumps

Dek: The brand-new horror year loads in short order with a January bottleneck, following that unfolds through the warm months, and well into the year-end corridor, fusing legacy muscle, novel approaches, and smart counterweight. The big buyers and platforms are focusing on tight budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and short-form initiatives that turn genre releases into water-cooler talk.

The genre’s posture for 2026

This space has proven to be the steady swing in programming grids, a lane that can scale when it catches and still limit the exposure when it fails to connect. After 2023 reminded studio brass that lean-budget shockers can galvanize social chatter, the following year kept energy high with auteur-driven buzzy films and sleeper breakouts. The carry translated to the 2025 frame, where re-entries and prestige plays underscored there is demand for many shades, from ongoing IP entries to director-led originals that travel well. The upshot for 2026 is a lineup that reads highly synchronized across companies, with obvious clusters, a harmony of recognizable IP and new packages, and a tightened strategy on theatrical windows that fuel later windows on premium rental and home platforms.

Buyers contend the genre now slots in as a fill-in ace on the release plan. Horror can roll out on numerous frames, furnish a clear pitch for trailers and vertical videos, and exceed norms with moviegoers that appear on opening previews and keep coming through the subsequent weekend if the picture pays off. Following a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration shows faith in that setup. The year kicks off with a crowded January lineup, then turns to spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while saving space for a October build that reaches into the Halloween frame and into early November. The gridline also spotlights the greater integration of indie arms and streamers that can develop over weeks, generate chatter, and grow at the strategic time.

An added macro current is brand management across unified worlds and established properties. Big banners are not just rolling another next film. They are shaping as ongoing narrative with a headline quality, whether that is a brandmark that telegraphs a refreshed voice or a talent selection that reconnects a incoming chapter to a heyday. At the simultaneously, the filmmakers behind the top original plays are prioritizing on-set craft, physical gags and concrete locations. That pairing offers the 2026 slate a smart balance of assurance and shock, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount fires first with two spotlight projects that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the focus, marketing it as both a lineage transfer and a DNA-forward character study. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance conveys a memory-charged angle without rehashing the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Watch for a push rooted in heritage visuals, first-look character reveals, and a trailer cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will emphasize. As a summer alternative, this one will build mainstream recognition through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format permitting quick switches to whatever tops horror talk that spring.

Universal has three differentiated entries. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is efficient, soulful, and high-concept: a grieving man installs an AI companion that evolves into a killer companion. The date places it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to reprise strange in-person beats and brief clips that interlaces romance and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under temporary titles 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 teaser payoff closer to the initial tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s work are positioned as director events, with a hinting teaser and a second beat that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor gives the studio room to command 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 commands, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has shown that a raw, on-set effects led mix can feel premium on a disciplined budget. Position this as a grime-caked summer horror hit that pushes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio sets two name-brand pushes in the this content back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, continuing a bankable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is positioning as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both franchise faithful and fresh viewers. navigate to this website The fall slot gives Sony time to build campaign pieces around lore, and monster aesthetics, elements that can lift premium screens and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by obsessive craft and period language, this time driven by werewolf stories. The company has already set the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is robust.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform strategies for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s genre slate move to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a stair-step that optimizes both opening-weekend urgency and sign-up spikes in the post-theatrical. Prime Video will mix licensed content with global acquisitions and targeted theatrical runs when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library curation, using curated hubs, holiday hubs, and editorial rows to increase tail value on lifetime take. Netflix keeps options open about Netflix films and festival wins, slotting horror entries near launch and eventizing launches with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a tiered of tailored theatrical exposure and prompt platform moves that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a discrete basis. The platform has been willing to acquire select projects with name filmmakers or star packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for monthly engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 runway with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is simple: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, updated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a theatrical-first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the September weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then leveraging the Christmas corridor to broaden. That positioning has helped for prestige horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception encourages. Anticipate 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 together, using limited runs to stir evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By volume, the 2026 slate skews toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate cultural cachet. The challenge, as ever, is fatigue. The go-to fix is to position each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is bringing forward core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French sensibility from a new voice. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and visionary-led titles keep the lungs full. 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, features Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the deal build is comforting enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

The last three-year set clarify the approach. In 2023, a cinema-first model that honored streaming windows did not stop a hybrid test from succeeding when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror over-performed in PLF. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they alter lens and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, creates space for marketing to tie installments through character arcs and themes and to continue assets in field without extended gaps.

Craft and creative trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind 2026 horror hint at a continued emphasis on in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that highlights texture and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in long-lead features and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for red-band excess, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and generates shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta reframe that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature execution and sets, which match well with con floor moments and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel irresistible. Look for trailers that foreground fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that explode in larger rooms.

Annual flow

January is full. 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 tonal palate cleanser amid macro-brand pushes. The month closes 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 stiff, but the mix of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

Post-January through spring tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now sustains 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 splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

August into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited disclosures that favor idea over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can play the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card use.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s intelligent companion shifts into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

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 run into a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 prickly boss work to survive on a cut-off island as the power balance reverses and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to nightmare, shaped by Cronin’s on-set craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting setup that twists the dread of a child’s tricky impressions. Rating: rating pending. Production: completed. 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 reuniting creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that lampoons current genre trends and true crime fascinations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: shoot planned 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 bursts, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a another family bound to old terrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A reboot designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on pure survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: TBA. Production: underway. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 primordial menace. Rating: pending. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026 lands now

Three operational forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that decelerated or rearranged in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and leaner 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 beaten straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate meme-ready beats from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will stack across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. 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.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the target range. 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where lean-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 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 navigate to this website 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, 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 fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, aural design, and framing 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 Strong 2026 Horizon

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand power where it counts, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, keep secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.