Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites age-old dread, a fear soaked thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on top streamers

One hair-raising spectral suspense story from screenwriter / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an archaic curse when unknowns become instruments in a fiendish game. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking chronicle of perseverance and forgotten curse that will reshape horror this fall. Brought to life by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and atmospheric cinema piece follows five unacquainted souls who find themselves ensnared in a hidden shelter under the unfriendly will of Kyra, a troubled woman occupied by a legendary scriptural evil. Arm yourself to be immersed by a cinematic ride that weaves together soul-chilling terror with mythic lore, hitting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a long-standing theme in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is flipped when the presences no longer form from elsewhere, but rather from within. This suggests the haunting version of all involved. The result is a gripping spiritual tug-of-war where the story becomes a brutal contest between heaven and hell.


In a forsaken outland, five friends find themselves trapped under the sinister grip and inhabitation of a shadowy female presence. As the group becomes defenseless to fight her dominion, cut off and followed by terrors indescribable, they are driven to reckon with their core terrors while the deathwatch unforgivingly runs out toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion deepens and associations disintegrate, prompting each soul to examine their values and the structure of independent thought itself. The threat intensify with every second, delivering a scare-fueled ride that merges supernatural terror with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to uncover elemental fright, an entity born of forgotten ages, manipulating inner turmoil, and dealing with a evil that strips down our being when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra was centered on something rooted in terror. She is insensitive until the entity awakens, and that change is bone-chilling because it is so raw.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for home viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—so that subscribers worldwide can experience this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its original clip, which has gathered over massive response.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, spreading the horror to thrill-seekers globally.


Don’t miss this cinematic descent into hell. Watch *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to witness these terrifying truths about the human condition.


For behind-the-scenes access, behind-the-scenes content, and announcements from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit the movie portal.





Horror’s major pivot: the 2025 season U.S. release slate interlaces primeval-possession lore, independent shockers, paired with franchise surges

Kicking off with pressure-cooker survival tales infused with biblical myth and extending to IP renewals plus cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 looks like the most textured along with precision-timed year in years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio powerhouses lay down anchors with established lines, in tandem premium streamers pack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs together with legend-coded dread. In the indie lane, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is buoyed by the afterglow from a record 2024 festival run. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, distinctly in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are disciplined, and 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 capitalizes.

the Universal camp sets the tone with a confident swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in an immediate now. Guided by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. timed for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Led by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer winds down, Warner’s slate rolls out the capstone of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: nostalgic menace, trauma explicitly handled, along with eerie supernatural rules. This run ups the stakes, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, thickens the animatronic pantheon, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It arrives in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Offerings: No Budget, No Problem

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is destined for a fall landing.

Then there is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via 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 each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. 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.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No overstuffed canon. No series drag. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

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. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Trends to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror ascends again
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Outlook: Autumn density and winter pivot

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. 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 play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The next fear year to come: brand plays, original films, alongside A stacked Calendar optimized for chills

Dek: The current scare slate builds in short order with a January wave, following that flows through midyear, and well into the late-year period, marrying legacy muscle, new voices, and calculated release strategy. The major players are committing to cost discipline, theatrical exclusivity first, and social-fueled campaigns that transform the slate’s entries into culture-wide discussion.

Where horror stands going into 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the steady swing in studio calendars, a segment that can expand when it hits and still cushion the downside when it stumbles. After 2023 reconfirmed for executives that responsibly budgeted horror vehicles can shape the national conversation, the following year kept the drumbeat going with signature-voice projects and stealth successes. The upswing moved into 2025, where revivals and premium-leaning entries confirmed there is space for a variety of tones, from sequel tracks to original one-offs that export nicely. The takeaway for 2026 is a schedule that seems notably aligned across distributors, with strategic blocks, a balance of familiar brands and untested plays, and a sharpened focus on exclusive windows that increase tail monetization on premium on-demand and home streaming.

Executives say the space now performs as a fill-in ace on the rollout map. Horror can bow on most weekends, deliver a clear pitch for trailers and UGC-friendly snippets, and outstrip with patrons that turn out on Thursday nights and stay strong through the follow-up frame if the film pays off. After a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 rhythm reflects comfort in that model. The calendar opens with a weighty January corridor, then plants flags in spring and early summer for alternate plays, while carving room for a fall run that extends to the fright window and afterwards. The map also highlights the ongoing integration of specialized labels and home platforms that can launch in limited release, spark evangelism, and scale up at the precise moment.

A reinforcing pattern is legacy care across shared IP webs and veteran brands. Distribution groups are not just rolling another entry. They are looking to package story carry-over with a must-see charge, whether that is a logo package that broadcasts a reframed mood or a ensemble decision that links a incoming chapter to a first wave. At the very same time, the writer-directors behind the headline-grabbing originals are leaning into real-world builds, physical gags and concrete locations. That mix provides the 2026 slate a strong blend of brand comfort and novelty, which is how the films export.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount defines the early cadence with two headline bets that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, weblink with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the center, positioning the film as both a passing of the torch and a origin-leaning character study. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture conveys a memory-charged approach without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Plan for a rollout centered on signature symbols, initial cast looks, and a promo sequence arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will double down on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will pursue four-quadrant chatter through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick redirects to whatever shapes the social talk that spring.

Universal has three differentiated entries. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is elegant, sorrow-tinged, and easily pitched: a grieving man activates an intelligent companion that escalates into a fatal companion. The date sets it at the front of a busy month, with marketing at Universal likely to bring back uncanny-valley stunts and short reels that mixes affection and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a official title to become an PR pop closer to the initial promo. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s releases are presented as event films, with a opaque teaser and a later creative that shape mood without giving away the concept. The prime October weekend opens a lane to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on 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 commands, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has established that a gnarly, in-camera leaning style can feel premium on a mid-range budget. Expect a gore-forward summer horror blast that maximizes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio places two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, sustaining a evergreen supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is marketing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both players and general audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build artifacts around canon, and monster design, elements that can lift premium booking interest and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror defined by obsessive craft and language, this time set against lycan legends. The label has already set the date for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is robust.

Digital platform strategies

Platform plans for 2026 run on known playbooks. The Universal horror run head to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ordering that boosts both FOMO and subscription bumps in the later phase. Prime Video interleaves licensed content with global acquisitions and targeted theatrical runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library pulls, using timely promos, seasonal hubs, and handpicked rows to sustain interest on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps flexible about Netflix originals and festival deals, locking in horror entries on shorter runways and staging as events rollouts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a laddered of selective theatrical runs and fast windowing that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a selective basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to take on select projects with award winners or star-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation spikes.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 corridor 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 clear: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, modernized for modern sound and cinematography. 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 hinted a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late stretch.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, marshalling the project through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday frame to open out. That positioning has paid off for elevated genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception drives. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using mini theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their membership.

Brands and originals

By number, 2026 is weighted toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage legacy awareness. The watch-out, as ever, is brand erosion. The preferred tactic is to brand each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is elevating character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-accented approach from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the team and cast is grounded enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Comparable trends from recent years illuminate the plan. In 2023, a cinema-first model that honored streaming windows did not foreclose a hybrid test from winning when the brand was potent. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror hit big in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they shift POV and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to link the films through cast and motif and to hold creative in the market without lulls.

Technique and craft currents

The craft rooms behind this year’s genre foreshadow a continued move toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that emphasizes grain and menace rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft features before rolling out a first look that withholds plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and generates shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta reframe that centers an original star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature craft and set design, which play well in convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel necessary. Look for trailers that accent fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that play in premium auditoriums.

The schedule at a glance

January is heavy. 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 foggy reset amid big-brand pushes. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the range of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

Pre-summer months build the summer base. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late summer into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a pre-October slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited previews that prioritize concept over plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s machine mate shifts into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively 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 travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. 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 abrasive boss work to survive on a far-flung island as the power balance of power inverts and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to menace, based on Cronin’s material craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting tale that plays with the terror of a child’s tricky perspective. Rating: TBA. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-crafted and toplined haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that pokes at modern genre fads and true-crime manias. Rating: undetermined. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 international twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further opens again, with a another family caught in lingering terrors. Rating: TBA. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A restart designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward classic survival-horror tone over set-piece spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: TBA. Production: advancing. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on antique diction and elemental dread. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three workable forces inform this lineup. First, production that paused or reshuffled in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical 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 drops. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work repeatable beats from test screenings, metered scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Another factor is the scheduling math. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, clearing runway for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will compete across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The sleeper chase continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, acoustics, 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

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is recognizable IP where it plays, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the fear sell the seats.