Antediluvian Terror Stirs in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding supernatural thriller, launching Oct 2025 on major platforms

This bone-chilling ghostly horror tale from screenwriter / director Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an mythic nightmare when drifters become tools in a malevolent ritual. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving saga of survival and old world terror that will alter terror storytelling this spooky time. Produced by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and tone-heavy feature follows five lost souls who suddenly rise locked in a hidden lodge under the ominous manipulation of Kyra, a central character dominated by a ancient sacrosanct terror. Anticipate to be immersed by a narrative adventure that melds visceral dread with ancestral stories, unleashing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demonic control has been a legendary narrative in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is challenged when the demons no longer emerge from elsewhere, but rather deep within. This symbolizes the most primal part of all involved. The result is a bone-chilling cognitive warzone where the suspense becomes a brutal clash between right and wrong.


In a desolate landscape, five figures find themselves confined under the ominous aura and control of a secretive character. As the group becomes unable to fight her curse, cut off and preyed upon by forces impossible to understand, they are forced to wrestle with their raw vulnerabilities while the timeline ruthlessly edges forward toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread rises and teams erode, driving each character to contemplate their true nature and the idea of volition itself. The cost escalate with every minute, delivering a paranormal ride that combines supernatural terror with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to explore instinctual horror, an curse beyond recorded history, operating within mental cracks, and confronting a power that challenges autonomy when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra needed manifesting something beyond human emotion. She is oblivious until the control shifts, and that metamorphosis is shocking because it is so unshielded.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for home viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—delivering watchers no matter where they are can be part of this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its release of trailer #1, which has garnered over 100,000 views.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, exporting the fear to lovers of terror across nations.


Join this bone-rattling journey into fear. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this launch day to dive into these fearful discoveries about the soul.


For featurettes, behind-the-scenes content, and insider scoops straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursed across online outlets and visit youngandcursed.com.





The horror genre’s watershed moment: the year 2025 U.S. Slate integrates Mythic Possession, Indie Shockers, stacked beside returning-series thunder

Moving from last-stand terror steeped in old testament echoes and including returning series together with keen independent perspectives, 2025 looks like the most variegated plus blueprinted year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. major banners lock in tentpoles with established lines, as subscription platforms crowd the fall with new voices paired with ancestral chills. In the indie lane, horror’s indie wing is buoyed by the carry from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A fat September–October lane is customary now, notably this year, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are targeted, hence 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: High-craft horror returns

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s pipeline opens the year with a confident swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in an immediate now. Led by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. timed for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. From director Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

Toward summer’s end, the WB camp launches the swan song from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson resumes command, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: nostalgic menace, trauma in the foreground, along with eerie supernatural rules. This pass pushes higher, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It drops in December, pinning the winter close.

Streamer Exclusives: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, 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. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. 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 the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. That is a savvy move. No heavy handed lore. No legacy baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, under Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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.

Key Trends

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror comes roaring back
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn density and winter pivot

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

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The coming 2026 Horror cycle: continuations, non-franchise titles, together with A Crowded Calendar engineered for Scares

Dek: The incoming terror year crams in short order with a January traffic jam, from there unfolds through the warm months, and carrying into the year-end corridor, braiding brand heft, fresh ideas, and shrewd counterplay. Distributors with platforms are leaning into lean spends, cinema-first plans, and influencer-ready assets that pivot these offerings into culture-wide discussion.

Where horror stands going into 2026

Horror has shown itself to be the surest play in release plans, a pillar that can lift when it breaks through and still protect the liability when it falls short. After the 2023 year proved to buyers that cost-conscious horror vehicles can drive the zeitgeist, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with signature-voice projects and surprise hits. The energy fed into the 2025 frame, where returns and premium-leaning entries highlighted there is a lane for a variety of tones, from series extensions to original features that resonate abroad. The aggregate for 2026 is a grid that shows rare alignment across studios, with mapped-out bands, a equilibrium of familiar brands and new pitches, and a tightened priority on exhibition windows that drive downstream revenue on premium digital rental and home streaming.

Executives say the horror lane now acts as a fill-in ace on the release plan. Horror can premiere on a wide range of weekends, offer a sharp concept for previews and reels, and outperform with ticket buyers that appear on opening previews and maintain momentum through the subsequent weekend if the film lands. Exiting a work stoppage lag, the 2026 plan signals conviction in that model. The year launches with a crowded January lineup, then uses spring and early summer for contrast, while clearing room for a late-year stretch that stretches into late October and into early November. The grid also features the tightening integration of boutique distributors and OTT outlets that can build gradually, generate chatter, and broaden at the optimal moment.

A second macro trend is brand strategy across shared IP webs and established properties. The studios are not just mounting another chapter. They are aiming to frame threaded continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a brandmark that announces a re-angled tone or a lead change that reconnects a new installment to a initial period. At the very same time, the auteurs behind the most watched originals are favoring real-world builds, in-camera effects and place-driven backdrops. That mix produces the 2026 slate a healthy mix of familiarity and freshness, which is how the films export.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount marks the early tempo with two spotlight pushes that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the heart, setting it up as both a handoff and a rootsy character-first story. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the story approach telegraphs a roots-evoking angle without going over the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Expect a marketing push rooted in legacy iconography, character spotlights, and a trailer cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will stress. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will generate broad awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format enabling quick pivots to whatever dominates horror talk that spring.

Universal has three defined pushes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is tidy, somber, and big-hook: a grieving man brings home an synthetic partner that evolves into a perilous partner. The date locates it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s marketing likely to revisit eerie street stunts and quick hits that fuses intimacy and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a title reveal to become an headline beat closer to the debut look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s work are branded as filmmaker events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second wave of trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The late-October frame offers Universal room to saturate 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 leads, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a in-your-face, hands-on effects execution can feel top-tier on a disciplined budget. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror hit that centers global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio lines up two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, holding a dependable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is framing as a from-the-ground-up reboot 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 well-defined brief to serve both loyalists and curious audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build artifacts around narrative world, and creature design, elements that can boost large-format demand and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror centered on obsessive craft and linguistic texture, this time driven by werewolf stories. The specialty arm has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is warm.

How the platforms plan to play it

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s genre slate window into copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a structure that maximizes both FOMO and sub growth in the downstream. Prime Video will mix licensed titles with international acquisitions and limited cinema engagements when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in library engagement, using prominent placements, seasonal hubs, and staff picks to lengthen the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about Netflix films and festival additions, locking in horror entries toward the drop and elevating as drops arrivals with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a tiered of precision theatrical plays and accelerated platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a discrete basis. The platform has been willing to secure select projects with top-tier auteurs or star packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly engagement when the genre conversation swells.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 arc with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is straightforward: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, reimagined for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the autumn weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, marshalling the project through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the December frame to scale. That positioning has been successful for elevated genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception merits. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using mini theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their membership.

Series vs standalone

By proportion, 2026 tilts in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit legacy awareness. The trade-off, as ever, is fatigue. The standing approach is to present each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is centering character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a continental coloration from a emerging director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the configuration is familiar enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and Thursday previews.

Recent-year comps contextualize the plan. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that observed windows did not obstruct a same-day experiment from thriving when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror surged in large-format rooms. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they alter lens 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 two-film strategy, with chapters shot back-to-back, permits marketing to thread films through cast and motif and to hold creative in the market without hiatuses.

Production craft signals

The creative meetings behind this year’s genre signal a continued preference for tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that centers grain and menace rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and era-correct language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in craft journalism and artisan spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that withholds plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and drives shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-aware reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster aesthetics and world-building, which fit with fan conventions and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel definitive. Look for trailers that elevate pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that sing on PLF.

How the year maps out

January is packed. 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 quiet contrast amid marquee brands. The month buttons 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 legit, but the menu of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth carries.

Winter into spring load in summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a opaque tease strategy and limited asset reveals that favor idea over plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and card redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s intelligent companion unfolds into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back 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 face a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: mood-led 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 demanding boss claw to survive on a lonely island as the chain of command inverts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to terror, founded on Cronin’s hands-on craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting scenario that explores the fear of a child’s mercurial interpretations. Rating: rating pending. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A spoof revival that needles present-day genre chatter and true-crime crazes. Rating: not yet rated. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites detonates, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: movies undisclosed. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new household caught in long-buried horrors. Rating: TBD. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survivalist horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBA. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: TBA. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and elemental fear. Rating: to be announced. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. 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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three nuts-and-bolts forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-slotted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, precision scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can lead a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 breakout 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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two 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 icy, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, sound field, and visual design 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 Looks Exciting

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is IP strength where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, guard the secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.