Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens primeval malevolence, a bone chilling horror feature, bowing October 2025 on global platforms

One terrifying mystic horror tale from scriptwriter / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an prehistoric curse when strangers become victims in a devilish maze. Streaming this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking saga of perseverance and old world terror that will revolutionize the fear genre this harvest season. Brought to life by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and atmospheric cinema piece follows five teens who come to confined in a far-off wooden structure under the menacing manipulation of Kyra, a mysterious girl inhabited by a time-worn sacred-era entity. Brace yourself to be gripped by a cinematic display that blends raw fear with arcane tradition, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a historical theme in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is flipped when the malevolences no longer form from a different plane, but rather deep within. This suggests the grimmest facet of each of them. The result is a edge-of-seat internal warfare where the narrative becomes a unforgiving confrontation between heaven and hell.


In a barren natural abyss, five adults find themselves contained under the possessive influence and overtake of a shadowy female figure. As the team becomes vulnerable to deny her rule, detached and preyed upon by powers inconceivable, they are made to wrestle with their deepest fears while the clock brutally pushes forward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear rises and friendships collapse, pushing each figure to challenge their character and the nature of personal agency itself. The tension mount with every second, delivering a paranormal ride that weaves together mystical fear with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to extract basic terror, an threat rooted in antiquity, channeling itself through mental cracks, and dealing with a being that erodes the self when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra involved tapping into something more primal than sorrow. She is innocent until the takeover begins, and that evolution is harrowing because it is so close.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for audience access beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that households across the world can witness this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its initial teaser, which has seen over a viral response.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, making the film to fans of fear everywhere.


Mark your calendar for this unforgettable trip into the unknown. Watch *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to acknowledge these chilling revelations about mankind.


For exclusive trailers, making-of footage, and reveals straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across online outlets and visit the official movie site.





U.S. horror’s inflection point: 2025 U.S. lineup interlaces legend-infused possession, festival-born jolts, in parallel with brand-name tremors

Beginning with survivor-centric dread steeped in near-Eastern lore all the way to franchise returns alongside acutely observed indies, 2025 is shaping up as the richest together with carefully orchestrated year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. the big studios set cornerstones via recognizable brands, while digital services pack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs paired with old-world menace. In the indie lane, indie storytellers is riding the echoes from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, but this year, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are methodical, and 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige fear returns

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s slate opens the year with a statement play: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Led by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. Slated for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Guided by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer wanes, Warner’s pipeline launches the swan song of its steadiest horror franchise: 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. Even if the pattern is recognizable, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson is back, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: vintage toned fear, trauma foregrounded, with spooky supernatural reasoning. Here the stakes rise, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, grows the animatronic horror lineup, speaking to teens and older millennials. It arrives in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

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

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a tight space body horror vignette featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable led by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. From writer director 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 night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in 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 looks like sharp programming. No overstuffed canon. No continuity burden. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather 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 revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, led by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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.

Key Trends

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror ascends again
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Outlook: Fall stack and winter swing card

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The new spook calendar year ahead: continuations, standalone ideas, together with A brimming Calendar geared toward chills

Dek: The fresh terror calendar lines up right away with a January logjam, thereafter runs through June and July, and well into the year-end corridor, mixing IP strength, fresh ideas, and strategic counter-scheduling. Studios with streamers are committing to cost discipline, theatrical-first rollouts, and platform-native promos that pivot genre releases into all-audience topics.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror has turned into the consistent play in studio lineups, a lane that can accelerate when it catches and still safeguard the losses when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year proved to buyers that modestly budgeted chillers can steer the zeitgeist, the following year kept energy high with auteur-driven buzzy films and surprise hits. The head of steam carried into 2025, where resurrections and filmmaker-prestige bets underscored there is room for diverse approaches, from brand follow-ups to one-and-done originals that export nicely. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a calendar that is strikingly coherent across the field, with purposeful groupings, a spread of recognizable IP and new pitches, and a sharpened priority on release windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium home window and platforms.

Planners observe the space now behaves like a utility player on the distribution slate. The genre can open on virtually any date, deliver a clear pitch for ad units and TikTok spots, and outperform with fans that come out on first-look nights and maintain momentum through the next pass if the picture works. On the heels of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 rhythm shows comfort in that setup. The calendar opens with a loaded January corridor, then uses spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while carving room for a fall run that extends to spooky season and afterwards. The gridline also spotlights the ongoing integration of specialty arms and digital platforms that can platform a title, ignite recommendations, and roll out at the proper time.

A reinforcing pattern is brand management across interlocking continuities and veteran brands. Big banners are not just pushing another next film. They are shaping as ongoing narrative with a heightened moment, whether that is a title presentation that indicates a recalibrated tone or a talent selection that binds a new installment to a vintage era. At the very same time, the helmers behind the most watched originals are prioritizing material texture, practical gags and site-specific worlds. That interplay affords 2026 a strong his comment is here blend of recognition and freshness, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount fires first with two front-of-slate projects that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the heart, steering it as both a succession moment and a DNA-forward character piece. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the creative stance conveys a roots-evoking treatment without replaying the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Watch for a push fueled by iconic art, first-look character reveals, and a staggered trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

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 reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will spotlight. As a summer contrast play, this one will drive wide buzz through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick adjustments to whatever owns horror talk that spring.

Universal has three discrete pushes. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is straightforward, loss-driven, and commercial: a grieving man installs an algorithmic mate that shifts into a killer companion. The date locates it at the front of a front-loaded month, with the studio’s marketing likely to echo viral uncanny stunts and short-form creative that hybridizes love and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a public title to become an headline beat closer to the early tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. His entries are framed as signature events, with a mystery-first teaser and a later creative that shape mood without giving away the concept. The late-October frame opens a lane to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a flesh-and-blood, hands-on effects treatment can feel high-value on a middle budget. Expect a gore-forward summer horror shot that leans hard into global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio rolls out two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, extending a reliable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is selling as a reset 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 charge to serve both diehards and casuals. The fall slot hands Sony window to build artifacts around setting detail, and creature builds, elements that can stoke IMAX and PLF uptake and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror driven by meticulous craft and period language, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus Features has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is positive.

Digital platform strategies

Platform plans for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal titles window into copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a cadence that boosts both premiere heat and sign-up spikes in the late-window. Prime Video combines third-party pickups with global originals and limited cinema engagements when the data points to it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in library pulls, using seasonal hubs, October hubs, and collection rows to sustain interest on the horror cume. Netflix keeps options open about own-slate titles and festival grabs, finalizing horror entries closer to launch and elevating as drops arrivals with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a dual-phase of targeted theatrical exposure and swift platform pivots that translates talk to trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a per-project basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to buy select projects with name filmmakers or star-driven packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 slate with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is uncomplicated: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, reimagined for modern sound and cinematography. 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 cinema-first plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late-season weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through festival season if the cut is ready, then using the holiday dates to widen. That positioning has worked well for elevated genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception encourages. Plan on 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 jointly, using targeted theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their user base.

Brands and originals

By share, 2026 tilts in favor of the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness marquee value. The concern, as ever, is diminishing returns. The preferred tactic is to market each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is elevating character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is this page suggesting a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a European tilt from a fresh helmer. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the package is recognizable enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Past-three-year patterns outline the model. In 2023, a exclusive window model that held distribution windows did not hamper a parallel release from performing when the brand was trusted. In 2024, director-craft horror surged in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they rotate perspective and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, lets marketing to connect the chapters through character and theme and to keep assets in-market without pause points.

How the look and feel evolve

The director conversations behind the 2026 entries telegraph a continued tilt toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that underscores texture and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft coverage before rolling out a first look that elevates tone over story, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and earns shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta refresh that centers an original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster work and world-building, which work nicely for booth activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that center pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that explode in larger rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is jammed. 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 tonal palate cleanser amid marquee brands. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the spread of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth holds.

Q1 into Q2 seed summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

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

Late Q3 into Q4 leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a bridge slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited disclosures that elevate concept over story.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift card usage.

Title snapshots

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 re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s digital partner unfolds into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

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 shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: aura-driven adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss claw to survive on a uninhabited island as the power dynamic tilts and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to fright, founded on Cronin’s practical craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 family-home haunting tale that channels the fear through a kid’s uneven point of view. Rating: pending. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house 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 satire sequel that pokes at of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fixations. Rating: undetermined. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 surges, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new family lashed to old terrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for true survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: pending. Production: moving forward. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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 fear. Rating: undetermined. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three grounded forces frame this lineup. First, production that stalled or recalendared in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly 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 placements. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will line up across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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-hit hunt continues in Q1, where modest-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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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 sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, 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 build month to month, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, soundcraft, and cinematography that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand heft where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shudders sell the seats.