Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes antediluvian malevolence, a nightmare fueled thriller, debuting Oct 2025 across top streaming platforms

One bone-chilling ghostly terror film from author / director Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an prehistoric dread when passersby become pawns in a fiendish ritual. Dropping this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing saga of resistance and primordial malevolence that will transform terror storytelling this fall. Brought to life by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and gothic thriller follows five people who are stirred sealed in a wilderness-bound cottage under the oppressive dominion of Kyra, a mysterious girl consumed by a millennia-old sacred-era entity. Brace yourself to be ensnared by a immersive experience that intertwines soul-chilling terror with ancient myths, arriving on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a well-established theme in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is reimagined when the spirits no longer emerge from external sources, but rather deep within. This mirrors the haunting version of the protagonists. The result is a emotionally raw inner struggle where the intensity becomes a perpetual face-off between good and evil.


In a unforgiving woodland, five souls find themselves trapped under the evil force and curse of a unidentified person. As the team becomes incapable to reject her influence, severed and chased by beings inconceivable, they are forced to stand before their darkest emotions while the seconds relentlessly ticks toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion escalates and teams fracture, pressuring each individual to challenge their character and the notion of conscious will itself. The danger mount with every tick, delivering a scare-fueled ride that merges ghostly evil with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to tap into raw dread, an force before modern man, working through inner turmoil, and testing a power that challenges autonomy when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra called for internalizing something far beyond human desperation. She is unseeing until the haunting manifests, and that flip is haunting because it is so unshielded.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for horror fans beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—making sure subscribers globally can face this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its original promo, which has earned over a viral response.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, delivering the story to international horror buffs.


Do not miss this soul-jarring fall into madness. Stream *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to confront these terrifying truths about the soul.


For film updates, production insights, and alerts from the cast and crew, follow @YACFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit the official website.





American horror’s Turning Point: calendar year 2025 domestic schedule melds archetypal-possession themes, Indie Shockers, together with tentpole growls

From survivor-centric dread drawn from legendary theology as well as franchise returns plus sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is emerging as horror’s most layered as well as intentionally scheduled year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. top-tier distributors lock in tentpoles by way of signature titles, as SVOD players flood the fall with first-wave breakthroughs together with ancestral chills. In parallel, the artisan tier is catching the carry of a peak 2024 circuit. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A fat September–October lane is customary now, notably this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are methodical, accordingly 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Premium genre swings back

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s pipeline begins the calendar with a statement play: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. landing in mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Steered by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial heat flags it as potent.

When summer fades, Warner’s pipeline sets loose the finale from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. While the template is known, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson returns, and the memorable motifs return: throwback unease, trauma as narrative engine, along with eerie supernatural rules. This pass pushes higher, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, courting teens and the thirty something base. It drops in December, buttoning the final window.

Streamer Exclusives: Modest spend, serious shock

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a sealed box body horror arc including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

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

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, 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 chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No bloated canon. No continuity burden. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. 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.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Long Running Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, with Francis Lawrence directing, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. 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.

Trend Lines

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror returns
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Forward View: Autumn density and winter pivot

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The 2026 chiller slate: continuations, non-franchise titles, as well as A stacked Calendar designed for screams

Dek The brand-new horror calendar crowds from the jump with a January pile-up, thereafter unfolds through the summer months, and pushing into the year-end corridor, braiding brand equity, untold stories, and savvy counterweight. The big buyers and platforms are doubling down on smart costs, big-screen-first runs, and viral-minded pushes that shape genre releases into four-quadrant talking points.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror filmmaking has shown itself to be the dependable swing in release plans, a segment that can spike when it performs and still hedge the drawdown when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year showed leaders that efficiently budgeted shockers can steer cultural conversation, the following year held pace with visionary-driven titles and slow-burn breakouts. The trend carried into 2025, where revivals and premium-leaning entries confirmed there is a market for multiple flavors, from ongoing IP entries to fresh IP that play globally. The end result for 2026 is a run that appears tightly organized across studios, with purposeful groupings, a combination of known properties and fresh ideas, and a reinvigorated strategy on release windows that boost PVOD and platform value on PVOD and subscription services.

Schedulers say the space now slots in as a plug-and-play option on the programming map. The genre can bow on many corridors, yield a simple premise for teasers and shorts, and exceed norms with crowds that appear on first-look nights and sustain through the follow-up frame if the movie hits. Emerging from a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 layout telegraphs conviction in that playbook. The year begins with a weighty January run, then leans on spring and early summer for audience offsets, while saving space for a September to October window that pushes into the fright window and into November. The calendar also includes the deeper integration of specialty arms and home platforms that can launch in limited release, fuel WOM, and roll out at the sweet spot.

A notable top-line trend is legacy care across interlocking continuities and classic IP. Major shops are not just greenlighting another follow-up. They are working to present brand continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a graphic identity that signals a refreshed voice or a star attachment that anchors a next entry to a early run. At the in tandem, the filmmakers behind the top original plays are doubling down on material texture, practical gags and vivid settings. That fusion gives 2026 a vital pairing of recognition and newness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount defines the early cadence with two high-profile releases that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, setting it up as both a handoff and a return-to-roots character-forward chapter. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach signals a fan-service aware framework without going over the last two entries’ sisters thread. Anticipate a campaign centered on brand visuals, first images of characters, and a staggered trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will foreground. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one his comment is here will hunt four-quadrant chatter through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format allowing quick updates to whatever defines genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three unique pushes. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is tight, loss-driven, and high-concept: a grieving man sets up an virtual partner that shifts into a killer companion. The date puts it at the front of a busy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to iterate on odd public stunts and bite-size content that fuses longing and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a title reveal to become an teaser payoff closer to the initial tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. The filmmaker’s films are sold as signature events, with a concept-forward tease and a second wave of trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date allows Universal to own 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, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a gritty, practical-first style can feel elevated on a efficient spend. Position this as a red-band summer horror hit that centers global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio books two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, sustaining a reliable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is describing as a fresh 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 directive to serve both loyalists and fresh viewers. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign creative around universe detail, and practical creature work, elements that can drive premium screens and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror centered on historical precision and dialect, this time set against lycan legends. The imprint has already locked the day for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is positive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre slate window into copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a ordering that expands both FOMO and sub growth in the tail. Prime Video continues to mix third-party pickups with cross-border buys and small theatrical windows when the data signals it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library curation, using prominent placements, genre hubs, and curated rows to keep attention on aggregate take. Netflix retains agility about Netflix originals and festival pickups, dating horror entries closer to drop and coalescing around go-lives with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a tiered of limited theatrical footprints and fast windowing that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a situational basis. The platform has proven amenable to take on select projects with accomplished filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation heats up.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 lane with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is straightforward: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, retooled for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a big-screen first plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the December frame to increase reach. That positioning has paid off for arthouse horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception drives. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using select theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their community.

Legacy titles versus originals

By volume, 2026 is weighted toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate fan equity. The challenge, as ever, is diminishing returns. The operating solution is to present each entry as a new angle. Paramount is bringing forward character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a continental coloration from a rising filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival shocker premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the bundle is grounded enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years clarify the playbook. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that kept clean windows did not foreclose a day-date try from thriving when the brand was big. In 2024, director-craft horror hit big in large-format rooms. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they alter lens and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward 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 lensed back-to-back, lets marketing to interlace chapters through protagonists and motifs and to continue assets in field without long breaks.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The filmmaking conversations behind the 2026 entries signal a continued tilt toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that underscores creep and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and era-correct language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and technical spotlights before rolling out a preview that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and sparks shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta inflection that centers its original star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster realization and design, which fit with convention activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel must-have. Look for trailers that spotlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that work in PLF.

How the year maps out

January is stacked. 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 foggy reset amid marquee brands. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the palette of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Pre-summer months seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The 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 clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a bridge slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited teasers that stress concept over spoilers.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and holiday gift-card burn.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s intelligent companion unfolds into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss try to survive on a lonely island as the control balance upends and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

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 from-today rework that returns the monster to fear, shaped by Cronin’s practical craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting piece that twists the unease of a child’s shaky perceptions. Rating: pending. Production: post-ready. 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 involved creatively again. Logline: {A satirical comeback that satirizes contemporary horror memes and true-crime obsessions. Rating: to be announced. Production: lensing scheduled 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 ignites, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a young family entangled with residual nightmares. Rating: not yet rated. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-core horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: pending. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBD. Production: proceeding. 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 period-specific language and primordial menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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

Why this year, why now

Three workable forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that paused or rearranged in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and compressed 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming placements. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can command a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will coexist across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance 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 appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, sound field, 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.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand power where it counts, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the shudders sell the seats.